Dmitriy Balandin pulled off a stunning upset in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke, winning from the eighth lane to put his central Asian country on the swimming medal stand for the first time. Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary won the bronze medal in 1:53.62.
Advertisement
Team USA takes home Gold medal in the 4x200m relay during the Olympics swim final Wednesday.
Ledecky also claimed silver in the 4×100 free relay and has two more races to go, setting herself up for a medal haul that would fully live up to the enormous expectations she faced coming into the Olympics.
Then there’s Kazakhstan, which claimed its first Olympic swimming medal.
The medal was the fourth of the Rio Games for Ledecky, the third for DiRado and the second for Schmitt and Smith. Emma McKeon of Australia won the bronze medal. “I think we were all swimming for Schmitty”.
Ledecky turned in a split of 1 minute, 53.74 seconds, which was almost 2 1-2 seconds faster than her next-fastest teammate, Allison Schmitt in 1:56.21.
Tamsin Cook touched out for Australia in 7:44.87 and Canada’s anchor Penny Oleksiak finished close behind in 7:45.39 with China fourth. “If you watch her hand go in the water, there is nearly no splash”.
The teenager from suburban Washington, D.C., has one more race to go in these Olympics, and it might be the biggest lock of all.
Ledecky will be an overwhelming favorite Thursday in the 800-meter freestyle race, for which she is the current world-record holder.
In semifinals Tuesday night, reigning Olympic champion Nathan Adrian entered the 100 freestyle as the slowest of 16 qualifiers.
ESPN writer Wayne Drehs told ABC News the distance freestyler’s 200-meter gold medal “is like having a marathon runner try to chase down Usain Bolt in a 200 yard dash”.
Missy Franklin, who had qualified second in the 200 free at USA trials six weeks ago, did not get to swim the final, adding to a disappointing week for the darling of the London Games.
The 21-time Olympic champion was a half a second ahead of longtime American rival Ryan Lochte, who was the second-fastest qualifier.
“That event was kind of like my bread and butter, and that was the last time I’ll ever swim it”.
Lochte will be right next to him again, ranking second in 1:56.28.
Fellow American Adrian seeks to defend his Olympic title in the 100m freestyle but he faces stiff opposition in the blue riband event from young guns led by Australian speedster Cameron McEvoy and team-mate Kyle Chalmers. The top-ranked American won’t get a chance to defend the gold she won in London.
In the relay, Schmitt captured gold in what was likely the final race of her career. She also has the individual 800m freestyle event to come. He also captured gold previous year in the World University Games.
Oh, and let’s not forget Missy Franklin, the darling of the London Games.
A 21-year-old man from Kazakhstan has come out of nowhere to take the gold from US in the Men’s 200m breaststroke.
Advertisement
After two silvers and a bronze, the Spanish swimmer made it to the top rung of the podium with a victory in the women’s 200-meter butterfly. “I am so proud to be a medalist for two Olympiads”.
