Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre individual medley
| Men's 400 metre individual medley at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Olympic Aquatics Centre, Paris La Défense Arena | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 28 July 2024 (Heats & Final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 16 from 12 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 4:02.95 OR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Qualification | |||
| Freestyle | |||
| 50 m | men | women | |
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| 400 m | men | women | |
| 800 m | men | women | |
| 1500 m | men | women | |
| Backstroke | |||
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| Breaststroke | |||
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| Butterfly | |||
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| Individual medley | |||
| 200 m | men | women | |
| 400 m | men | women | |
| Freestyle relay | |||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women | |
| 4 × 200 m | men | women | |
| Medley relay | |||
| 4 × 100 m | men | mixed | women |
| Marathon | |||
| 10 km | men | women | |
The men's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 28 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena.[1]
The world record holder Léon Marchand of France was the heavy favourite going into the event. He qualified for the finals with the fastest seed, while the USA's defending Olympic champion Chase Kalisz and Australia's defending Olympic bronze medallist Brendon Smith both failed to qualify for the finals. Also in the heats, Germany's Cedric Büssing swam a time of 4:11.52 to break his country's national record.
In the finals, Marchand led from beginning to end, finishing with a new Olympic record of 4:02.95, winning him his first Olympic medal. Japanese swimmer Tomoyuki Matsushita won silver with 4:08.62 and the USA's Carson Foster won bronze with 4:08.66. Great Britain's Max Litchfield finished fourth with a new national record of 4:08.85.
Background
[edit]France's Léon Marchand won the event at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. At the 2023 Worlds, he broke Michael Phelps' world record in the event, setting it at 4:02.50.[2] SwimSwam opined that he was "the clear and obvious front-runner", while Swimming World also said he was the favourite.[2][3] Other contenders were the USA's Carson Foster, who finished second at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships; his training partner and defending Olympic champion Chase Kalisz; Japan's bronze medallist at the 2023 World Championships, Daiya Seto; and Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita, the 2023 Junior World Champion.[2]
Qualification
[edit]Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT).[4] For this event, the OQT was 4:12.50. World Aquatics then filled the rest of the event places with athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT.[4][5] In total, 16 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, while no athletes qualified through universality places.[5]
Heats
[edit]Two heats took place on 28 July 2024, starting at 11:15.[a][6] The swimmers with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final. Leon Marchand qualified with the fastest seed in the second heat, while Carson Foster won the first.[7] The USA's defending Olympic champion Chase Kalisz and Australia's defending Olympic bronze medallist Brendon Smith both failed to qualify.[8] Germany's Cedric Büssing qualified for the final in joint sixth place, breaking the nine-year-old national record with a time of 4:11.52 and becoming the first swimmer in the NCAA Division II to qualify for an Olympic final.[9][10]
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Léon Marchand |  France |
4:08.30 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | Max Litchfield |  Great Britain |
4:09.51 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | Daiya Seto |  Japan |
4:10.92 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | Carson Foster |  United States |
4:11.07 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 6 | Tomoyuki Matsushita | Japan |
4:11.18 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 3 | Alberto Razzetti |  Italy |
4:11.52 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Lewis Clareburt |  New Zealand |
4:11.52 | Q | |
| 2 | 8 | Cedric Büssing |  Germany |
4:11.52 | Q, NR | |
| 9 | 2 | 7 | Balázs Holló |  Hungary |
4:12.20 | |
| 10 | 1 | 8 | Zhang Zhanshuo |  China |
4:12.71 | |
| 11 | 1 | 5 | Chase Kalisz | United States |
4:13.36 | |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | William Petric |  Australia |
4:13.58 | |
| 13 | 2 | 2 | Brendon Smith | Australia |
4:14.36 | |
| 14 | 1 | 7 | Gábor Zombori | Hungary |
4:14.88 | |
| 15 | 1 | 2 | Apostolos Papastamos |  Greece |
4:15.32 | |
| 16 | 2 | 1 | Tristan Jankovics |  Canada |
4:18.23 |
Final
[edit]The final took place at 20:30 on 28 July.[11] Léon Marchand led the race from start to finish, splitting the first 50 metres 0.65 ahead of his world record pace. He was also 0.19 ahead of his world record at 350 metres but lost this lead in the final 50 metres to finish in 4:02.95.[12][13] At the 100 and 200 metre marks, Daiya Seto was in second and was followed by Carson Foster in third, but over the breaststroke leg (200 – 300 m), Foster overtook Seto for second. Over the final 100 metres, Seto moved down to seventh while fellow Japanese swimmer Tomoyuki Matsushita moved up from fifth to second, pushing Foster to third and claiming the silver medal with a time of 4:08.62. Foster finished the race in third with 4:08.66, winning the bronze.[12] Great Britain's Max Litchfield finished fourth for the third consecutive Olympics with a time of 4:08.85—a new national record.[14][15]
During the breaststroke leg of the race, the crowd cheered "allez!" (French for "go") each time Marchand's head was above the water. SwimSwam later reported that "For that brief period during tonight’s session, it was a symbiotic relationship between Marchand and the crowd", and Marchand later said "The atmosphere was amazing, I don’t know how to explain it".[16]
Marchand's winning time of 4:02.95 broke Michael Phelps' Olympic record from Beijing 2008 and won him his first Olympic medal.[17][18] It was also the biggest margin of victory ever for this event at the Olympics.[19] He went on to win three more gold medals at the same Games, in the 200 butterfly, 200 IM and 200 breaststroke.[20]
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | Léon Marchand | France |
4:02.95 | OR |
 |
2 | Tomoyuki Matsushita | Japan |
4:08.62 | |
 |
6 | Carson Foster | United States |
4:08.66 | |
| 4 | 5 | Max Litchfield | Great Britain |
4:08.85 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Alberto Razzetti | Italy |
4:09.38 | |
| 6 | 1 | Lewis Clareburt | New Zealand |
4:10.44 | |
| 7 | 3 | Daiya Seto | Japan |
4:11.78 | |
| 8 | 8 | Cedric Büssing | Germany |
4:17.16 |
| Name | 100 metre split | 200 metre split | 300 metre split | Time | Stroke rate (strokes/min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Léon Marchand | 00:54.32 | 01:56.76 | 03:04.24 | 4:02.95 | 40.7 |
| Tomoyuki Matsushita | 00:56.52 | 02:01:13 | 03:11.56 | 4:08.62 | 42.5 |
| Carson Foster | 00:55.64 | 01:59.75 | 03:10.70 | 4:08.66 | 39.7 |
| Max Litchfield | 00:56.23 | 02:00.02 | 03:11.35 | 4:08.85 | 41.3 |
| Alberto Razzetti | 00:56.00 | 02:01.21 | 03:11.86 | 4:09.38 | 39.8 |
| Lewis Clareburt | 00:56.03 | 02:00.42 | 03:12.30 | 4:10.44 | 40.0 |
| Daiya Seto | 00:54.88 | 01:59.66 | 03:10.91 | 4:11.78 | 43.1 |
| Cedric Büssing | 00:57.92 | 02:03.24 | 03:16.29 | 4:17.16 | 38.2 |
Notes
[edit]- ^ All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
References
[edit]- ^ Burgaud, Florian (22 July 2024). "From concert hall and rugby stadium to Olympic swimming pool arena in a matter of weeks, the metamorphosis of the Paris La Défense Arena is complete". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee (IOC). Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ a b c Wild, Mark (18 July 2024). "2024 Olympic Previews: The Sky's the Limit in 400 IM for Marchand, but Battle Brews for 3rd". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 12 December 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Rieder, David (22 July 2024). "Olympic Swimming Predictions, Day 2: Leon Marchand Heavily Favored For First Gold Medal". Swimming World. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ a b "Paris 2024 – Swimming Info". World Aquatics. 5 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ^ a b Entries list - Swimming, World Aquatics, archived from the original on 12 July 2024, retrieved 18 December 2024
- ^ a b "Results" (PDF). olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
- ^ Rosado, Laura (28 July 2024). "2024 Paris Olympics: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 23 December 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Bush, Bradley (28 July 2024). "2024 Paris Olympics Data Dive (Day 2 Prelims)". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 7 September 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Race, Retta (28 July 2024). "Cedric Buessing Becomes First NCAA Division II Swimmer To Make Olympic Final". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 13 December 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Bush, Bradley (28 July 2024). "2024 Paris Olympics Data Dive (Day 2 Prelims)". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 7 September 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ a b "Results" (PDF). olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
- ^ a b Dominique, Hérailh (9 September 2024). "Analyzing The Men's 400 IM Final In Paris: Two Races In One". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 22 December 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Sarah, Kezele (28 July 2024). "Leon Marchand rises to the moment, thrills Paris with 400m IM gold | NBC Olympics". NBC Olympic broadcasts. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ Stafford, Katie (28 July 2024). "Olympic swimming: France's Leon Marchand wins 400m medley gold in Olympic record time". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ Race, Retta (28 July 2024). "Litchfield Nails British 400 IM Record, Finishes In Fourth At Third Consecutive Olympics". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ Kaufman, Sophie (28 July 2024). "Paris 2024, European Recap Day 2: Leon Marchand Answers The Hype With An Olympic Record". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 19 September 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Ransom, Ian (28 July 2024). "Magic Marchand delivers 400 metres IM gold for France". Reuters. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ Pelshaw, Anya (28 July 2024). "Leon Marchand Breaks Michael Phelps' Olympic Record With 4:02.95 400 IM". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 19 September 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Bush, Bradley (29 July 2024). "2024 Paris Olympics Finals Day 2: Fun Facts". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ Sutherland, James (2 August 2024). "Leon Marchand Becomes Fourth Swimmer In History To Win Four Individual Golds At Single Games". SwimSwam. Archived from the original on 22 December 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Bodard, Simon; Decron, Nathan; Dernoncourt, Eric; Hui, Pierre; Jambu, Clément; Loisel, Camille; Pla, Robin; Raineteau, Yannis. "Jeux Olympiques 2024: Analyses de course des Finales" (PDF). French Swimming Federation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 August 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
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