2016 Rio Olympic Games: Day Five Prelims Live Recap

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Swimming: August 6-13
• Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
• Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
• SwimSwam previews 
• Day 1 Schedule & Results
• Live Stream (NBC)

Four days into the Olympic Games the pool has been an absolute display of American dominance thus far. Today gives way to a few international competitors, however the Americans are still strong medal hopes in four of the five following events on today’s radar.

The women’s 100m freestyle heats are first. The two Campbell sisters, Cate and Bronte, of Australia look to be almost unbeatable in this event. They’re ridiculously fast. Cate just broke the world record recently with a 52.06 performance, and the two were staples on the winning Aussie relay. With Sarah Sjostrom in the mix, who already has a gold and a silver at these games, things are going to heat up quickly.

After winning gold in the 100m backstroke, Ryan Murphy of the United Sates is heavily favorited to win the 200m back. Although Aussie Mitch Larkin is the top seed, he showed he wasn’t much of a threat in the 100 earlier on. With more at stake this time around considering it’s his last individual event, Larkin will be looking to throw himself into the mix.

There are so many competitors sitting around the 2:19-2:21 range currently in the 200m breaststroke that nobody is even a lock for a medal in this event. There are several in the 2:22 range as well, making this an extremely competitive event. World record holder Rikke Moller Pedersen will be looking to snag an individual gold later on in this event as will Kanako Watanabe and Rie Kaneto of Japan.

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte could possibly be setting up their last Olympic showdown of all time in this event. Phelps is the top seed, the three-time defending Olympic champ, Lochte the world record holder, and they’re not alone in the competition. Kosuke Hagino of Japan and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary will be looking to spoil a 1-2 Phelps-Lochte or Lochte-Phelps finish in this event tomorrow night assuming they all make the final.

The American women will look to repeat their 2012 gold on the 4x200m freestyle relay with a strong prelim performance this morning to give them a good lane for finals.

WOMEN’S 100m FREESTYLE

Start List: click here
Top Seed: 52.38 – Bronte Campbell – Australia
World Record: 52.06 (2016) – Cate Campbell – Australia
JR World Record: 53.31 – Penny Oleksiak – Canada
Olympic Record: 53.00 (2012) – Ranomi Kromowidjojo – Netherlands
2012 Olympic Champion: 53.00 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo – Netherlands

World record holder Cate Campbell swam one of the most reserved sub 53-second 100m freestyles ever in order to break Ranomi Kromowidjojo‘s Olympic record and lead the way out of the heats.

Campbell was a 52.78 to defeat defending Olympic champion Kromowidjojo in the second last heat, distancing herself and establishing herself as the clear favorite to win gold. Towards the end of the race, Campbell completely shut things down, switching to a catch-up stroke to cruise into the wall casually.

The causality of her swim indicates that she has something special in the tank, especially considering she broke the world record not long ago at a meet of little importance. With the ability to close stronger in both the semifinals and finals, the world record is threatened.

Kromowidjojo finished second to Campbell in heat five with a time of 53.43. That gives her the fourth overall seed heading into tonight’s semifinals. Also in the heat was Penny Oleksiak of Canada, who finished second in the 100m butterfly earlier this week, and Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark. The two swimmers tied at 53.53 for third in the heat and fifth overall.

In the last heat Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden took home the win in 53.37 giving her the third fastest time of the heats. She defeated both Abbey Weitzeil of the United States and defending world champion Bronte Campbell of Australia.

American Simone Manuel had one of the best swims of the heats dropping a 53.32 in order to qualify for the semifinal second overall behind the world record holder.

Rikako Ikee and Miki Uchida of Japan both qualified 16th and will swim-off for a spot in the semifinal.

1. Cate Campbell – Australia – 52.78 OR
2. Simone Manuel – USA -53.32
3. Sarah Sjostrom – Sweden – 53.37
4. Ranomi Kromowidjojo – Netherlands – 53.43
5. Penny Oleksiak – Canada – 53.53 TIE
6. Jeanette Ottesen – Denmark – 53.53 TIE
7. Abbey Weitzeil – USA – 53.54
8. Bronte Campbell – Australia – 53.71
9. Chantal Van Landeghem – Canada – 53.89
10. Charlotte Bonnet – France – 53.93
11. Zhu Menghui – China – 54.15 TIE
    
12. Pernille Blume – Denmark – 54.15 TIE 
13. Aliaksandra Herasimenia – Belarus -54.25
14. Etiene Medeiros – Brazil – 54.38
15. Shen Duo – China – 54.41
16. Rikako Ikee – Japan – 54.50 TIE
17. Miki Uchida – Japan – 54.50 TIE

MEN’S 200m BACKSTROKE

Start List: click here
Top Seed: 1:53.17 – Mitch Larkin – Australia
World Record: 1:51.92 (2009) – Aaron Peirsol – USA
JR World Record: 1:56.79 – Li Guangyuan – China
Olympic Record: 1:53.41 (2012) – Tyler Clary – USA
2012 Olympic Champion: 1:53.41 – Tyler Clary – USA

Things stayed relatively calm in the heats of the men’s 200m backstroke with no standout times being produced. Evgeny Rylov of Russia was the fastest of the bunch, sporting a 1:55.02 at the wall in order to win his head and claim the fastest overall time.

Not too far behind him was Xu Jiayu of China who has had an amazing Olympic Games, progressing greatly in the backstroke events. Xu was just under half a second behind Rylov in 1:55.51.

Defending world champion Mitch Larkin of Australia followed the two leaders, winning heat number four with a swift yet comfortable 1:56.01. He topped the two Americans who qualified in fourth and fifth overall respectively.

Ryan Murphy, who won the 100m backstroke earlier in the meet, turned off the jets on the last 25-meters in order to clock in at 1:56.29. He was side-by-side with Pebley, his Cal teammate, who touched in at 1:56.44.

1. Evgeny Rylov – Russia – 1:55.02
2. Xu Jiayu – China – 1:55.51
3. Mitchell Larkin – Australia – 1:56.01
4. Ryan Murphy – USA – 1:56.29
5. Jacob Pebley – USA – 1:56.44
6. Jan-Philip Glania – Germany – 1:56.50 TIE
7. Andrei Shabasov – Russia – 1:56.50 TIE 
8. Ryosuke Irie – Japan – 1:56.61
9. Christian Diener – Germany – 1:56.62
10. Joshua Beaver – Australia – 1:56.65
11. Li Guangyuan – China – 1:56.85
12. Leonardo de Deus – Brazil – 1:57.00
13. Masaki Kaneko – Japan – 1:57.19
14. Hugo Gonzalez de Oliveira – Spain – 1:57.50
15. Corey Main – New Zealand – 1:57.51
16. Yakov Toumarkin – Israel – 1:57.58

WOMEN’S 200m BREASTSTROKE

Start List: click here
Top Seed: 2:19.64 – Viktoria Gunes – Turkey
World Record: 2:19.11 (2013) – Rikke Moller Pedersen – Denmark
JR World Record: 2:19.64 – Viktoria Gunes – Turkey
Olympic Record: 2:19.59 (2012) – Rebecca Soni – USA
2012 Olympic Champion: 2:19.59 – Rebecca Soni – USA

World record holder Rikke Moller Pedersen made sure to make her marks on the heats this morning, swimming what looked like a very smooth, controlled, and comfortable 2:22.72.

She was one of just two swimmers who managed to swim under the 2:23-mark, joined by Rie Kaneto of Japan. Kaneto is arguably one of the favorites to take home the gold in this event this morning night, and she demonstrated why this morning with a 2:22.86.

Kaneto came back on Australia’s Taylor McKeown on the final 50-meters, grabbing the heat three win by just 14 one-hundredths of a second to take the second overall qualifying spot. McKeown was third overall in 2:23.00 and second to Kaneto in their heat.

Chloe Tutton of GReat Britain was right behind them as well in heat three, touching in at 2:23.34 for fourth overall this morning. She was slightly faster than her Brititsh teammate Molly Renshaw. Renshaw clocked in at 2:23.37 in heat two.

Kierra Smith of Canada qualified sixth in 2:23.69 beating both top seed Viktoria Gunes of Turkey and Russia’s Yulia Efimova.

100m breaststroke champion Lilly King just squeaked into the semifinal 15th overall.

1. Rikke Moller Pedersen – Denmark – 2:22.72
2. Rie Kaneto – Japan – 2:22.86
3. Taylor McKeown – Australia – 2:23.00
4. Chloe Tutton – Great Britain – 2:23.34
5. Molly Renshaw – Great Britain – 2:23.37
6. Kierra Smith – Canada- 2:23.69
7. Viktoria Zeynep Gunes – Turkey – 2:23.83
8. Yulia Efimova – Russia – 2:23.90
9. Shi Jinglin – China – 2:24.43
10. Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir – Iceland – 2:24.43
11. Jessica Vall Montero – Spain – 2:24.55
12. Molly Hannis – USA – 2:24.74
13. Kanako Watanabe – Japan – 2:24.77
14. Jenna Laukkanen – Finland – 2:25.52
15. Lilly King – USA – 2:25.89
16. Sofia Andreeva – Russia – 2:26.58

MEN’S 200m IM

Start List: click here
Top Seed: 1:54.75 – Michael Phelps – USA
World Record: 1:54.00 (2011) – Ryan Lochte – USA
Olympic Record: 1:54.23 (2008) – Michael Phelps – USA
2012 Olympic Champion: 1:54.27 – Michael Phelps – USA

American Ryan Lochte demonstrated why he’s the world record holder in the men’s 200m IM this morning, leading the heats with a very strong 1:57.38 performance. Lochte had one of the fastest backstroke splits of the field, sporting a 29.59 on that leg of the race.

At the touch Lochte was a 1:57.38 to win the second heat over Phillip Heintz of Germany. Heintz began to close the gap on Lochte during the last 50, coming home in a 28.36 to put up a final time of 1:57.59. Third in that heat was Henrique Rodrigues of Brazil who qualified fourth overall in 1:58.56.

Qualifying third overall was none other than America’s Michael Phelps who will be looking to become the first swimmer to win four consecutive Olympic titles in the same event with a win tomorrow night in the 200m IM.

Phelps was up against Thiago Perieria of Brazil for the majority of the race. He appeared to take things relatively easy on the fly before splitting a 29.45 on the backstroke to get back into the race. He swam a 34.03 on the breaststroke leg to gain some more ground on Pereira.

On the final 50 Phelps challenged the Brazilian, just going what was necessary to pass him. In the final 5-meters he shut it all down with a very lazy finish, lifting his head, and clocking in at 1:58.41 for third overall. Pereira’s time ranks him fifth overall.

Kosuke Hagino of Japan who won the 400m IM on the first night of competition was sixth overall.

1. Ryan Lochte – USA – 1:57.38
2. Philip Heintz – Germany – 1:57.59
3. Michael Phelps – USA – 1:58.41
4. Henrique Rodrigues – Brazil 1:58.56
5. Thiago Pereria – Brazil – 1:58.63
6. Kosuke Hagino – Japan – 1:58.79
7. Hiromasa Fujimori – Japan – 1:58.88
8. Wang Shun – China – 1:58.98
9. Andreas Vazaios – Greece – 1:59.33
10. Simon Sjodin – Sweden – 1:59.41
11. Dan Wallace – Great Britain – 1:59.44
12. Eduardo Solaeche Gomez – Spain – 1:59.67 TIE
    
13. Alexis Santos – Portugal – 1:59.67 TIE
    
14. Jeremy Desplanches – Switzerland – 1:59.67 TIE
15. Ieuan Lloyd – Great Britain – 1:59.74
16. Bradlee Ashby – New Zealand – 1:59.77

WOMEN’S 4x200m FREESTYLE RELAY

Start List: click here
Top Seed: 7:45.37 – USA
World Record: 7:42.08 (2009) – China
JR World Record: 7:56.68 – Australia
Olympic Record: 7:42.92 (2012) – USA
2012 Olympic Champion: 742.92 – USA

The Americans paved the way for another potential gold tonight in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. They won the second heat.

The Australian woman won the first heat with a slightly slower time of 7:49.24, they’ll be in the hunt of a medal tonight as well as the Chinese.

Most teams will substitute several of their prelim-only swimmers for others, making the final even faster and more competitive.

1. USA – 7:47.77
2. Australia – 7:49.24
3. China – 7:49.58
4. Russian – 7:50.52
5. Hungary – 7:51.17
6. Canada – 7:51.99
7. Japan – 7:52.50
8. Sweden – 7:53.43