“We’re racers, it’s meets like these that I love the most where he and I get to go and kind of duke it out”.
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“It hurt a little bit, but with a good rest this afternoon think I’ll be fine”, he said. Australia would take silver while Canada picked up the bronze.
The American secured his spot after he held his closest opponent Sakai by just.04 seconds in their final battle.
The race may have been Schmitt’s last swim but she was not ready to confirm anything. “No, as you can see”, – said German Marco Koch, who finished seventh in the men’s 200m breaststroke final.
Efimova notched the eighth fastest time in an event led by Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen while King was 15th-fastest.
Russia’s Evgeny Rylov led qualifying for the men’s 200m backstroke semis in 1:55.02. Neither Scott Goldblatt nor Dan Ketchum – two possible replacements for Phelps – swam faster than 1 minute, 48 seconds in Round 1 for the US men’s team, illustrating how critical Phelps was to the team’s chances at reaching the podium.
Belmonte Garcia used one last half-stroke to get to the wall ahead of Madeline Groves in 2:04.85.
London gold medalist Ranomi Kromowidjojo was fourth-fastest. She will swim the 800-meter freestyle, an event she owns, later in the week. Joe Clarke (kayak (K1) men) and divers Chris Mears and Jack Laugher (men’s synchronised 3m springboard) were the gold medallists as GB took its tally to three.
Also on the fifth night of swimming at the Olympic Aquatic Center, Cal alum and defending 100-freestyle champion Nathan Adrian was dethroned by 18-year-old Australian Kyle Chalmers, who became the first Australian to be crowned king of speed in 48 years.
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Katie Ledecky, of the United States, won her second gold medal of the meeting and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu her third, extending their dominance of women’s swimming in feats that on any other day would have grabbed top billing.
