After winning the
200 m butterfly title less than an hour earlier, the double gold rush continued for U.S. swimming icon
Michael Phelps, as he helped his teammates
Conor Dwyer, youngster
Townley Haas, and eleven-time medalist
Ryan Lochte solidify their historic seventeenth Olympic title in this event. The American foursome of Dwyer (1:45.23), Haas (1:44.14), Lochte (1:46.03), and Phelps (1:45.26) dominated the race from the start to put together a first-place finish in 7:00.26. As the Americans defended their Olympic title, Phelps also earned a twenty-first gold to raise his overall medal tally to twenty-five. Great Britain's
Stephen Milne (1:46.97),
Duncan Scott (1:45.05), and
Daniel Wallace (1:46.26) struggled to chase against the rest of the teams throughout the race, until anchor
James Guy launched a late attack on the home stretch with a 1:44.85 split to deliver the British quartet a historic relay silver medal in 7:03.13. Meanwhile, Japan's
Kosuke Hagino (1:45.34), along with his teammates
Naito Ehara (1:46.11) and
Yuki Kobori (1:45.71) held the runner-up spot for three-fourths of the race, but their anchor and four-time Olympian
Takeshi Matsuda (1:46.34) could not keep off Guy towards a close finish, leaving the Japanese with a bronze in a final time of 7:03.50. Australia's
Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:45.81),
David McKeon (1:45.63),
Daniel Smith (1:47.37), and
Mack Horton (1:45.37) missed the podium by nearly three tenths of a second behind Japan, finishing with a fourth-place time in 7:04.18. The Russian team of
Danila Izotov (1:46.72),
Aleksandr Krasnykh (1:45.67),
Nikita Lobintsev (1:46.31), and
Mikhail Dovgalyuk (1:47.00) picked up the fifth spot in 7:05.70, with Germany (7:07.28), the Netherlands (7:09.10), and Belgium (7:11.64) following them by a couple of seconds to round out the top eight. In the medal ceremony, the medals for the competition were presented by Karl Stoss, Austria,
IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Pipat Panangvait, Thailand, Honorary Treasurer of
FINA. ==Records==