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The Outstanding, but Overlooked Men’s Swims From the Tokyo Olympics BY DAVID RIEDER
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t the Tokyo Olympics, Caeleb Dressel stormed to three individual Olympic golds, a total only Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps had ever previously achieved in one Olympics, and he shepherded the U.S. men to a pair of gold medals in the 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. He set a world record in the 100 butterfly. Kristof Milak and Adam Peaty were among the expected stars to win Olympic gold in Tokyo, and swimmers like Evgeny Rylov and Bobby Finke joined that list with amazing performances. But which performances were very impressive but maybe not headline-grabbing — a silver or bronze medalist or even someone just off the podium, maybe a relay contributor? There were plenty of those moments over the nine days of racing in Tokyo, and after the women got their just due, here are the swims on the men’s side that went a bit under-reported.
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1. Italian Men Put Pieces Together for Medal-Winning Medley Relay Outside of distance star Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy’s men were not expected to reach the Olympic podium much in swimming. Nicolo Martinenghi was a 100 breast medal threat, and maybe someone like Federico Burdisso in the 200 fly or Alessandro Miressi in the 100 free had a shot. Indeed, Italy’s men won three individual medals in Tokyo. But relays? Almost no one considered Italy a serious medal threat in those events, but the men ended up earning silver in the 400 freestyle relay and bronze in the 400 medley relay and taking fifth in the 800 freestyle relay. The 400 free relay silver was a total surprise as Lorenzo Zazzeri and Manuel Frigo joined Miressi and Thomas Ceccon for a briliant performance, but by the time the medley relay rolled around, we should not have been surprised to see Italy
