Tokyo Olympics 2020: Day One Predictions for Men?s 400m Individual Medley, 400m Freestyle, 100m Breastroke and Women?s 400m Individual Medley, 4×100 Meter Freestyle Relay

The swimming events for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 start today. After a five-year absence, the Olympic Games is back with a bang. The swimming program begins with many interesting events on display. The men’s heats events start with the 400-meter individual medley, 400-meter freestyle, and 100-meter breaststroke. Moreover, the 400-meter individual medley and the 4 ? 100-meter freestyle relay are the women’s events on display today.

These are our predictions for today’s events.

Predictions for Day one at Tokyo Olympics 2020

Men’s 400-meter Individual Medley

The men’s 400-meter individual medley race starts today. There will be four heats in which the top two swimmers will qualify for tomorrow’s finals. Notably, Daiya Seto is the outright favorite to win the event in Tokyo. The Japanese swimmer was the gold medalist in both the 200m and 400m individual medley events in the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju. With Michael Phelps’ individual medley record up for grabs, Daiya Seto will look to smash the world record.

Leon Marchand, Jay Litherland, and Chase Kalisz are the other major competitors in the event.

Men’s 100-meter Breaststroke Event

One name that comes to our mind when we talk about this event is Adam Peaty. No other swimmer can come close to him in the breaststroke events in the swimming pool. The Brit is currently the world record holder for both the 50m and 100m breaststroke events. Moreover, he won the gold medal for both these events in the 2019 World Championships in South Korea. Therefore, there are no doubts regarding the winner of this event.

Men’s 400-meter Freestyle Event

Mack Horton, who won the event at Rio 2016, failed to qualify this time around. On the other hand, Sun Yang, banned for not meeting the anti-doping regulations, will only return in Paris 2024.

With two of the best swimmers not featuring in Tokyo, Elijah Winnington looks set to win the event in this year’s Olympics. Furthermore, the field is wide open for new swimmers to win the 400-meter freestyle event. Martin Malyutin from Russia is another major medal contender. Also, Jack McLoughlin, who set a time of 3:43.27 in the Australian Trials, will be a name to watch out for.

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Women’s swimming predictions for Tokyo Olympics- Day 1

Women’s 400-meter Individual Medley

The ‘Iron Lady’ from Hungary is similar to Daiya Seto in terms of dominance in the medley events. She is the current world record holder for 200m and 400m individual medley events in the world. Having won two gold medals for the aforementioned events in Gwangju, Katinka Hosszu is once again the favorite to take home the gold. She smashed the record in the Rio Olympics and finished 5 seconds above her closest competitor.

Apart from Hosszu, homegirl Yui Ohashi and America’s Hali Flickinger are the other principal challengers.

Women’s 4 ? 100 freestyle relay

The first of the most exciting events in the games is the women’s 4 ? 100-meter freestyle relay. Throughout the years, the USA and Australia have battled it out against each other to reign supreme in these events. But this time, Australia is expected to win the event. Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell are some of the fastest freestyle swimmers in the world. Along with Madison Wilson and Meg Harris, the Australian team looks invincible.

Team USA may call upon Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel during these events. Both these swimmers will be crucial to their success in the relay event.

As day one of the swimming events in Tokyo gets underway, the onus is on these competitors to provide a good show to all the fans watching worldwide. Swimming is one of the most-watched events in the Olympics and fans expect swimmers to raise the roof in Tokyo.

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