Waiting for the evening swim session, I was just going through some of the times from the morning vs Tokyo. I had another look at the men's 4x100 relay, the one Canada finished a close 4th in. Obviously it was Chalmers' last leg that got AUS ahead of Canada, but the numbers are something else.
Chalmers had the fasted time in the relay by far (a quarter of a second ahead of Apple's 2nd fastest, 7/10 of a second ahead of Canada's Kisil's 3rd fastest).
If Chalmers went slow enough for Canada to remain in 3rd at the end, he still would have had the 2nd fastest time comfortably.
Chalmers' 56.44 was the fastest 100 at the Olympics since Lezak's inhuman's time (46.06) in 2008 in his anchor leg to get Phelps' his 8th gold, and 2nd fastest ever. And remember, 2008 was during the fast suit era.
Canada's time in Tokyo would have got them on the podium in every Olympics except 2008, again the fast suit era.
The reason I find all this interesting is because I feel like the men's 4th place is often overlooked, but it was completely unexpected and without a crazy last leg from Chalmers would have gotten them on the podium last year. Here's hoping they can do something special in Budapest, even though I know it's not likely.