China's Sun Yang fell short of his attempt to a back-to-back gold in one of the program's long-distance freestyle races due to an upset performance from Australia's Mack Horton. Heading into the final lap with a narrow 0.14-second lead, Horton managed to hold off the fast-charging Sun towards the finish for his first individual gold medal in 3:41.55.[2] Unable to catch his Aussie rival near the wall by 13-hundredths of a second, Sun settled for the silver in 3:41.68. Meanwhile, Gabriele Detti picked up the bronze with a time of 3:43.49 to become Italy's first male Olympic medalist in swimming since 2000.[3]
Conor Dwyer (3:44.01), the fastest swimmer headed into the final, and fellow American Connor Jaeger (3:44.16) finished off the podium in fourth and fifth respectively, separated by a 0.15-second margin.[4] Great Britain's James Guy led the pack towards the halfway mark under a world record pace, but faded to sixth in 3:44.68. Horton's teammate David McKeon (3:45.28) and France's Jordan Pothain (3:49.07) rounded out the field.[3]
South Korean swimmer and Beijing 2008 champion Park Tae-hwan, as well as Canada's long distance ace Ryan Cochrane, did not advance to the final, finishing tenth and eleventh in the prelims.[5]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and a final. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.[1]