Semifinal – Women’s 200m Individual Medley Semifinals – Olympic Aquatics Stadium – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 08/08/2016.
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Nicknamed “The Iron Lady”, Hosszu had considered quitting after a disappointing London 2012, admitting to suffering depression.
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu pulled out of the 200 metres Olympic butterfly heats to save her energies for the 200m individual medley that could bring her a third gold of the Games on Tuesday. The Brit fell seven-tenths of a second behind, and now American Maya DiRado was in contention with 100 meters to go, a second back.
Hosszu set a new world record when claiming gold in the 400m individual medley on Saturday, and she topped the podium after the 100m backstroke final on Monday too. She also was second at the 2015 World Championship behind Hosszu in both cases.
“I would have been OK grabbing any color”, she said.
Hosszu was the 11th seed coming into the event, so her shot at a medal was certainly alive but it is definitely the weakest of the five individual events she entered here.
Katinka Hosszu won the 200-meter individual medley Tuesday to complete a sweep of the IMs.
“Feeling a little rusty this morning, trying to get back into the meet after a late night”, said Adrian, who had a late night on Sunday after winning the 4x100m freestyle relay in a lineup that included 19=times gold medal victor Michael Phelps.
The Russian surged forward in the second half of the race and appeared to be catching her rival, but King finished powerfully in an Olympic record time of one minute 4.93 seconds, with Efimova 0.57 seconds behind.
“I don’t think I had my best race, but this is what we’ve been working for the last four years”, she said. “Having three so far is really just a bonus”.
Sun Yang became the first Chinese swimmer to win the Olympic men’s 200 freestyle gold medal on Monday.
Her time of 2:06.88 was a British record.
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Hosszu still has the 200 back and 200 butterfly on her schedule. DiRado, who is making her Olympic debut in Rio, previously announced she would retire at the conclusion of the Games to kick start her career as a business analyst in Atlanta.
