Japan’s Ippei Watanabe, 19, signalled his intent on Tuesday when he set an Olympic record time of 2:07.22 in the semi-finals. Gold medalist Balandin was the last swimmer to qualify for the final. Bronte is the reigning world champion, but Cate is the world-record holder. Koseki was first at the wall at the 50 meters under World Record pace along with Cordes while Koch in third.
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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.
In a close finish, Prenot took second.
Eighteen-year-old Kyle Chalmers dethroned defending champion Nathan Adrian in the final of the 100-meter freestyle Wednesday night, taking that title Down Under for the first time in 48 years. But Balandin was right with him in the outside lane, and Koseki couldn’t keep up the pace.
Before the race he made a pact with one of his good friends Anton Chupkov of Russian Federation, who was racing in lane seven, “So Anton and I agreed that if I can’t see anybody ahead of me, I would look at him, and he would look for me”.
In the relay, Schmitt captured gold in what was likely the final race of her career. The swimmers began to bunch as it looked to be a six-swimmer battle for three spots on the podium.
Koseki was still holding on, but Balandin made his move as well as Prenot.
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It worked out for both swimmers as Chupkov earned the bronze. US teammate Kevin Cordes was eighth.
