Minutes after Michael Phelps’ stunning win in the 200 IM, the Olympic swimming venue showed there were more surprises in store when the 100 freestyle final finished in an out-of-nowhere tie by Simone Manuel of the USA and 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak of Canada.
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Incoming Cardinal freshman Katie Ledecky set an Olympic record in the prelims of the women’s 800 free Thursday, turning in a time of 8:12.86. The 16-year-old has a chance at her fourth Olympic medal when she competes in the 100-metre freestyle final. The Campbell sisters – Cate and Bronte – of Australia were the heavy favorite to take home gold and silver along with longtime Olympic stalwart Sarah Sjostrom.
The last time an American woman won gold in the event was 1984, when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer also tied.
Instead, Oleksiak and Manuel made history, becoming just the second pair to share 100m freestyle gold at the Olympics.
Calgary’s Allison Beveridge, Georgia Simmerling of West Vancouver, B.C., and the Vancouver duo of Jasmin Glaesser and Laura Brown completed the 4,000-metre event where teams race in tandem with a time of four minutes 19.599 seconds. Japan’s Rie Kaneto won the race in 2:20.30 with Russia’s Yulia Efimova (2:21.97) in second and China’s Jinglin Shi (2:22.28) earning bronze.
The 16-year-old Toronto native is vying to become the first Canadian to win four medals in a single Summer Games.
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Santo Condorelli advanced to the semifinals in men’s 50-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly. She later anchored to 4×200 freestyle relay team to a bronze on Wednesday night.
