China’s Wang Shun won the bronze, and Ryan Lochte fell behind in 5.
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The 24-year-old finished in one hour 19 minutes and 14 seconds, falling just 28 seconds short of the Olympic record set by his countryman Chen Ding at the London 2012 Games.
Phelps has the chance to win his 23rd gold medal to his tally when he takes art in the 4x100m medley relay.
“Right now I don’t know how to wrap my head around that”, Phelps said of his 13th individual Olympic gold. “It’s been a hell of a career”.
Lochte, who holds the world record in the event, faded during the final leg to place fifth.
“The goal was 8:05 or better”, she said.
He was lauded by the Rio crowd, with one banner proclaiming “Phelps Greatest Olympian Ever”. In the men’s 50-meter freestyle, the last final of the night, Anthony Ervin won in 21.40, edging France’s Florent Manaudou (21.41) and his American teammate Nathan Adrian (21.49) in the one-length sprint.
But Phelps was in a league of his own.
Unheralded Singaporean Joseph Schooling stunned the great Michael Phelps in his final individual Olympic race in an almighty upset at the Rio Games on Friday. Then, he won the 200M individual medley, for the fourth straight time at an Olympic competition.
There seems little doubt he’ll go six-for-six.
When it’s all said and done, Phelps told reporters he looks forward to spending more time with Boomer as he nears the end of his Olympic career.
Biles, 19, wowed the crowd earlier in the week, securing team gold for the USA with a near-flawless samba-themed performance on the floor that included a ideal execution of the gravity-defying “Biles flip”.
The win allowed Ledecky to sweep the women’s three longer events with titles in the 200, 400, and 800 freestyle races.
She broke down in tears, relishing her accomplishments and surely thinking about all the work she put in to make it there. I think it’ll be exciting to see somebody else break 50 seconds again.
“He’s been through it all, and just being beside him, walking beside him and celebrating, I’ll really cherish that for the rest of my life”.
With the win, Manuel became the first African-American woman to capture gold in swimming.
Campbell and her younger sister, Bronte, were hoping to battle for gold after teaming up to lead Australia to a victory in the 4×100 free relay. Bronte was second at the flip and slid to fourth at the finish.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from”, he said. It is the first event that Phlelps, the defending champion and Schooling’s childhood idol, has lost at this Games. Now, improbably, he’s back on the top of the podium again.
Murphy became the third American man in the last five Olympics to take both races. “I swore in London I wasn’t coming back, but this is final”, he said.
“I want to be with him more”.
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“The 100-meter backstroke is actually the one that comes more naturally for me so that’s the one I was really gunning for”.
