His victory in the 200m individual medley made him the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Games.
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Firm favourite Katie Ledecky just missed out on a new world record with her time of 3:58:71, which was still an Olympic best, and the US sensation is expected to take gold. She was swimming world record pace for most of her run, but finished just underneath it. Ledecky already holds world records in the 400m, 800m and 1500m but she doesn’t consider herself a sprinter.
Her personal record of 4:31.15 also was nowhere near Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.
Maya DiRado spent most of the 400m individual medley on world record pace – yet she still lost by almost five seconds to Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, whose time of 4:26.36 broke the world record by more than two seconds.
“I was really honored to be put on that relay and have that experience here”, said Ledecky.
University of Georgia and Team Canada swimmer Brittany MacLean qualified for the 400-meter freestyle Gold medal final Sunday at Olympic Aquatic Stadium.
At the 2015 World Championships, she broke the 800m world record (which she would later break) and the 1500m world record twice-once in the preliminaries, and again in the final.
But something about the relay called to her.
On the same day Phelps was part of the victorious 4x200m free relay team.
The results were not surprising.
Maya Di Rado of the US also swims in the 200m individual medley; Along with Michael Phelps and Ledecky, the Stanford grad is one of three USA swimmers racing in three individual events.
Campbell will be joined by her sister Bronte, the 100 free world champion, on the relay.
In cycling, the women’s road race will take place at Copacabana Fort (11:30 a.m.), where, at 42 and in her third Games, Kristin Armstrong will become one of Team USA’s oldest cyclists ever. “Hopefully that means I can be faster tonight”, said the 19-year-old, with the record clearly in her sights.
The swimmer from Bethesda, Maryland, still has a chance to win four gold medals with the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle races and 800 relay still to come. But Marsh said coaches wanted to broaden Ledecky’s range.
“I didn’t want to spin my wheels too much”, she said, “so I just kind of backed off and kept it easy [in the front half of the race]”.
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Like most of her career to date, the question is really only by how much? Stanford’s redshirt sophomore Simone Manuel leadoff, followed by Cal’s incoming freshman Abbey Weitzeil 2nd.
