The incoming Stanford freshman has emerged at the 2016 Summer Olympics as one of history’s greatest freestyle swimmers. In the official Olympic medal count, relay teams, including the men’s and women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relays that Haas, Conger, Smith and Ledecky were on, are only counted as one medal for the country. Aussie anchor Tamsin Cook was cooked before the rivals completed the first of two laps. The Americans have won the race five of the six times it has been contested in the Olympics.
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Katie Ledecky set a new Olympic record on Thursday in qualifying for the women’s 800-meter freestyle final.
Another victory, which given the 19-year-old’s dominance of the discipline seems inevitable, would bring her a third individual gold of the Games and match Debbie Meyer as the only woman to claim the 200m, 400m and 800m titles in the same edition. Not bad for the 19-year-old who is the world record holder in the 400, 800 and 1500 meter freestyles.
The Iron Lady is chasing her fourth gold medal.
Instead, the bubbly Coloradoan was relegated to the morning preliminaries of the 800 relay Wednesday.
The U.S. finished in 7 minutes, 43.03 seconds, with Ledecky a full body length ahead of Tamsin Cook, who touched in 7:44.87 to give Australia the silver. Maya DiRado of the United States, who has won gold, silver and bronze at her first Olympics, was third fastest in 2:08.60.
Oh, and let’s not forget Missy Franklin, the darling of the London Games.
Cal’s swimming program, however, isn’t anxious about celebrity at the moment.
Maryland and Virginia swimmers are making a splash at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. The Australian settled for the silver, just three-hundredths of a second behind. “I’m happy I get tonight off, get tomorrow [afternoon] off”.
Prenot, a physics major, miscalculated his charge to the wall, saying, “I started my final sprint home a little earlier than I normally would have”. He’s also got a chance to pull off that feat in the 100 butterfly. “I try not to even think about it because then I get focused on that”. Phelps made a tactical error, though, in the 100 fly heats. Murphy’s Berkeley teammate Jacob Pebley also advanced with a time of 1:54.92.
The same goes for Michael Phelps, who clinched a spot in the men’s 100-meter butterfly semifinals with a fine showing in the heats.
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary qualified fastest for the 200 backstroke in 2:06.09. Singapore’s Joseph Schooling topped the lists with 51.41 seconds to Phelps’ 51.60.
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“It’s good consistency, I guess”, she said nonchalantly.
