Paris Olympics: Great Britain Rests Duncan Scott in 800 Free Relay Prelims; U.S. Uses Chris Guiliano (Relay Names)
Top-seeded Great Britain will try to get through prelims of the men’s 800 freestyle relay at the Paris Olympics without either Matt Richards or Duncan Scott, while the U.S. is going with Chris Guiliano in the Tuesday morning session.
Great Britain is the reigning Olympic champion and won the 800 free relay at World Championships in 2023. It looks every bit the favorite after Richards won silver and Scott finished fourth just .08 off the podium Monday night in the 200 freestyle final.
But Tuesday morning, neither are in prelims of the 800 free relay. Richards was to be expected, given that he swims the 100 free prelims in the same session. That leaves 2021 Olympic champ Tom Dean to anchor with veteran James Guy, Jack McMillan and Kieran Bird. The Brits are the only team with a seed time under 7 minutes.
The U.S. has perhaps the opposite problem, requiring Guiliano to prove himself in the 200 free after a 1:47.60 that finished 19th in prelims. He had finished second at Olympic Trials.
Guiliano will swim prelims with Drew Kibler, Brooks Curry and Blake Pieroni. That leaves Kieran Smith for finals, after he finished fourth at Trials in 1:45.61. Though Smith didn’t make it back to the final of the 400 free in Paris, he is a relay stalwart who delivered a team-best anchor leg of 1:44.35 in leading the U.S. to gold in Fukuoka and split 1:44.47 to help the U.S. to silver in Budapest at Worlds in 2022.
Luke Hobson, a new bronze medalist in the 200 free, is guaranteed for finals. Carson Foster, who has been 1:45.57, is likely the fourth swimmer.
Elsewhere, South Korea fields a strong lineup with Kim Woo-Min anchoring. It will have Hwang Sun-Woo to enter if it progresses. Hwang is in the 100 free. Germany is going with Lukas Martens and Rafael Miroslaw, both of its 200 free individual qualifiers, out front.
Australia will hold in reserve Max Guiliani, who made the final of the 200 free. It rolls with Kai Taylor, Zac Incerti, Flynn Southam and Thomas Neill, the latter having been eliminated from the 200 free in semifinals. China will be without Pan Zhanle, who swims the 100 free. Ji Xinjie, Niu Guangsheng, Fei Liwei and Zhang Zhanshou are the quartet. Neither Pan nor Ji made it out of semis in the 200 free. Niu was due to swim the 200 butterfly Tuesday morning but did not start.