The U.S. men defended their title from Rio five years earlier, producing the fastest swim in 13 years.
Caeleb Dressel (47.26) gave the U.S. an early lead which
Blake Pieroni (47.58) and
Bowe Becker (47.44) would maintain over the next 200 m. With Italy two-tenths off a second back after the final changeover,
Zach Apple had a sterling anchor leg of 46.69 to separate the U.S. from the field and touch first in 3:08.97. Meanwhile Italy's
Alessandro Miressi (47.72),
Thomas Ceccon (47.45) and
Lorenzo Zazzeri (47.31) moved from fourth to second before handing over to
Manuel Frigo (47.63) who ensured the Italians their first-ever medal in the event, winning silver in a national record of 3:10.11. Australia's
Matthew Temple (48.07),
Zac Incerti (47.55) and
Alexander Graham (48.16), struggled to chase against the rest of the teams throughout the race, until anchor
Kyle Chalmers launched a late attack on the home stretch with a 46.44 split - the fastest in the field - to deliver the Australian quartet their second-straight bronze medal in 3:10.22. Swimming in lane 1, Canada were surprisingly in podium contention after receiving strong splits from
Brent Hayden (47.99),
Joshua Liendo (47.51) and
Yuri Kisil (47.15). While
Markus Thormeyer (48.17) could not hold off Chalmers's powerful finish, the Canadians shattered their national record to place fourth in 3:10.82. Hungary's
Kristóf Milák (48.24),
Szebasztián Szabó (47.44),
Richárd Bohus (47.81) and
Nándor Németh (47.57) improved throughout the race to come fifth in a national record of 3:11.06. While France received a strong start from
Maxime Grousset (47.52) - only 0.26 off the U.S.' Dressel -
Florent Manaudou (47.62),
Clément Mignon (48.01) and
Mehdy Metella (47.94) could not maintain the pace, coming sixth in 3:11.09. While
Andrei Minakov (47.71) kept ROC in third at the 100 m mark, the pre-race favourites struggled to mount a challenge against the field and fell to seventh in 3:12.20. Brazil (3:13.41) rounded out the championship field. ==Records==