diff --git a/gateway/src/commonMain/kotlin/ratelimit/IdentifyRateLimiter.kt b/gateway/src/commonMain/kotlin/ratelimit/IdentifyRateLimiter.kt
index c3e7b008391e..b0743bbd2ee9 100644
--- a/gateway/src/commonMain/kotlin/ratelimit/IdentifyRateLimiter.kt
+++ b/gateway/src/commonMain/kotlin/ratelimit/IdentifyRateLimiter.kt
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.SharedFlow
 import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.first
 import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.onSubscription
 import kotlinx.coroutines.sync.Mutex
-import kotlinx.coroutines.sync.withLock
 import kotlin.coroutines.resume
 import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.seconds
 
@@ -94,15 +93,15 @@ private class IdentifyRateLimiterImpl(
     ) = scope.launch {
         val rateLimitKey = shardId % maxConcurrency
         val mutex = mutexesByRateLimitKey[rateLimitKey]
-        // best effort, only used for logging (might be false even if mutex.withLock suspends later if we are unlucky)
-        val wasLocked = mutex.isLocked
+        val wasLocked = !mutex.tryLock()
         if (wasLocked) {
             logger.debug {
                 "Waiting for other shard(s) with rate_limit_key $rateLimitKey to identify before identifying on " +
                     "shard $shardId"
             }
+            mutex.lock()
         }
-        mutex.withLock { // in case something terrible happens, ensure the mutex is unlocked
+        try { // in case something terrible happens, ensure the mutex is unlocked
             // using a timeout so a broken gateway won't block its rate_limit_key for a long time
             val responseToIdentify = withTimeoutOrNull(IDENTIFY_TIMEOUT) {
                 events.onSubscription { // onSubscription ensures we don't miss events
@@ -126,6 +125,8 @@ private class IdentifyRateLimiterImpl(
                 } + ", delaying $DELAY_AFTER_IDENTIFY before freeing up rate_limit_key $rateLimitKey"
             }
             delay(DELAY_AFTER_IDENTIFY) // delay before unlocking mutex to free up the current rateLimitKey
+        } finally {
+            mutex.unlock()
         }
     }