Men's 4×100 metre freestyle relay (begins in 2 hours)
>pictured are the 12 fastest teams since 2014
The Men's 4×100 freestyle relay is arguably the most exciting event in sports
>what American can forget the legendary 2008 Olympics when when Jason Lezak chased down France's Alain Bernard with the fastest 100 split in history, a victory that kept Phelps on course to win a record eight gold medals in Beijing?)
That 2008 USA team set a world record in the event that has never been broken (3:08.24). However, ovet the last 5 years, the event has been dominated by France, who the the Associated Press swimming experts have as the favorite to win Gold this year. Batch out for Australia though, the experts at swimswam.com aren't sure who is the best between France and Australia (who features the greatest 100m freestyle swimmer in the world right now in Cameron McEvoy)
USA, Russia (who came first in qualifying earlier today without their best swimmer), and the home team Brazil (who dominated the 90s in this event) are expected to fight it out for the other medal
>2015 World Championship (every 2 years)
3:10.74 - France (GOLD)
3:11.19 - Russia (SILVER)
3:12.53 - Italy (BRONZE)
3:13.22 - Brazil (4th place)
...
3:16.01 - USA (11th place in prelims, didn't make final)
>2013 World Championship (every 2 years)
3:11.18 - France (GOLD)
3:11.42 - USA (SILVER)
3:11.44 - Russia (BRONZE)
3:11.58 - Australia (4th place)
>2012 Olympics (every 4 yesrs)
3:09.93 - France (GOLD)
3:10.38 - USA (SILVER)
3:11.41 - Russia (BRONZE)
3:11.63 - Australia (4th place)
>2011 World Championship (every 2 years)
3:11.00 - Australia (GOLD)
3:11.14 - France (SILVER)
3:11.96 - USA (BRONZE)
3:12.39 - Italy (4th place)
3:12.99 -Russia (5th place)
of the above teams listed (FRA/AUS/RUS/ITA/BRA/USA), all are among the 8 qualified for the final this year, except for Italy, who was the first team out by 0.05 of a second (Belgium, Canada and Japan will be the other three teams in this year's final)
