The U.S. 4x200m freestyle relay easily made it into Tuesday night’s final after clocking seven minutes, 6.74 seconds in the preliminary Tuesday afternoon. Only Great Britain’s team was faster.
Ryan Lochte anchored the squad, made up of Olympic rookies Clark Smith, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz. It was Lochte’s first Rio Olympic swim.
The lineup for Tuesday night’s final relay team has not yet been revealed. Though, by participating in the morning heat, Smith, Conger, Bentz and Lochte are all eligible to receive medals, should the nighttime quartet win one.
American teams have won gold in this event each Olympics dating back to 2004.