Michael Phelps of the U.S., center, jokes with fellow silver medal winners Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, left, and South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, right, in the men’s 100-meter butterfly final on Friday. The three had identical times and all received silver medals. Phelps has won four golds and a silver in Rio, and swims his final race on Saturday night. Lee Jin-man/AP hide caption
toggle caption Lee Jin-man/AP
U.S. Swimming hopes to close Rio’s Summer Games with a bang Saturday, in what could be the last Olympic event ever for Michael Phelps. On swimming’s last night, the American men’s and women’s 4×100-meter medley relay teams hope to repeat their golden races of the London 2012 games.
In addition to Phelps, we’ll also see newly minted Olympic champion Simone Manuel – who made history this week as the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in swimming. Manuel is expected to race in two of tonight’s four finals, the 50-meter freestyle to the women’s relay.
We’ll update this post with news from the event in Brazil (so be careful if you don’t want spoilers). Here’s a preview:
While the teams’ lineups won’t be released until an hour before start time, we haven’t heard a peep about Phelps possibly not racing. To pick these teams, Team USA has the luxury of calling on several swimmers who won medals in their individual disciplines, from Lilly King (gold in the 100-meter breaststroke) to Ryan Murphy (gold in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke).
The women’s race is set for 10:49 p.m. local time in Brazil, which is an hour ahead of U.S. East Coast time. But NBC will time-delay its broadcast for an hour, so it will air at 10:49 p.m. ET. The men’s race follows at 11:04 p.m. ET.
Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay
The U.S. holds the world record, at 3:52.05 – a time that the American team clocked at the London 2012 Games.
The likely lineup, from USA Swimming:
Kathleen Baker (silver in 100-meter backstroke)
Lilly King (gold in 100-meter breaststroke)
Dana Vollmer (bronze in 100-meter butterfly)
Simone Manuel (gold in 100-meter freestyle)
Tonight, the biggest challenges could come from Canada, which was second-fastest in the qualifying heats, and from Denmark, which qualified third. But we’ll also keep an eye on 2012 silver medalist Australia, which had a decent qualifying round at fifth.
Russia was fourth-fastest in the heats – and the team barely missed the podium in 2012. Also racing: China, Italy, and Great Britain.
There’s only one holdover from the 2012 gold medal team: Dana Vollmer. In London, she swam this relay with Rebecca Soni, Allison Schmitt, and Bonnie Franklin.
Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay
The U.S. holds the world and Olympic records in this event — 3:27.28 for the world record that was set in 2009 and 3:29.34 for the Olympic mark that dates to Beijing 2008.
Likely lineup, from USA Swimming:
Ryan Murphy (gold in the 100-meter backstroke)
Cody Miller (silver and a U.S. record in 100-meter breaststroke)
Michael Phelps (silver in 100-meter butterfly)
Nathan Adrian (bronze in 100-meter freestyle)
The top threats to the U.S. will likely come from Great Britain, which posted the fastest time in qualifying heats – and is hungry for a medal after finishing fourth in this event at London’s 2012 Olympics.
Other contenders: Japan, the 2012 silver medalist, and Australia, which took bronze at the last games. Those two teams were third- and fourth-fastest in qualifying. Also racing: China; Russia; Germany; and Brazil.
This is an event the U.S. has owned: the Americans have set the past 10 world records in this relay, dating back to 1984 at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Phelps and Adrian were teammates on the 2012 gold-medal team.