Day 3 was another big day in the pool for the USA, picking up two more gold medals as Australia continued to struggle into Day 3.
The United States picked up six medals from just four finals today, with Lily King and Ryan Murphy setting new Olympic records in the process of winning their gold.
Controversial Chinese swimming star Sun Yang bounced back from his loss in the 400m freestyle, picking up gold on in the 200m freestyle.
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu rounded out the gold medal winner’s list in an incredibly tight women’s 100m backstroke final.
Less than one second separated gold and 8th place, with Canada’s Kylie Masse and China’s Fu Yuanhui splitting the bronze medal with identical times.
Aussie medal contenders in the backstroke coming into the day, Emily Seebohm, Madison Wilson and Mitch Larkin all slipped up at the final hurdles in their respective finals.
Seebohm and Wilson made up the bottom two spots in the aforementioned 100m backstroke final, with Seebohm in particular touted as a possible gold medal favourite pre-Games.
Larkin didn’t quite finish last, but still came out of a favoured event minus a medal to show off, having touched the wall fourth.
The 23-year old was knocked out of the bronze medal by an agonising .03 of a second.
Grant Irvine also suffered being nudged out, missing out on the 200m butterfly final by .04 of a second.
In better news for the green and gold, Alicia Coutts qualified sixth fastest for the 200m IM final where she will be a likely silver or bronze medal contender.
Across the rest of the events, Katinka Hosszu qualified fastest in two other events on top of her gold medal, setting a new Olympic record in the 200m IM.
While human-dolphin hybrid Michael Phelps keeps his quest for a frankly ridiculous 20th gold medal alive, after he qualified for the 200m butterfly final.
Men’s 200m freestyle final
GOLD – Sun Yang (CHN)
SILVER – Chad le Clos (RSA)
BRONZE – Conor Dwyer (USA)
Women’s 100m backstroke final
GOLD – Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
SILVER – Kathleen Baker (USA)
BRONZE – Kylie Masse (CAN)
BRONZE – Fu Yuanhui (CHN)
Men’s 100m backstroke final
GOLD – Ryan Murphy OR (USA)
SILVER – Xu Jiayu (CHN)
BRONZE – David Plummer (USA)
Women’s 100m breaststroke final
GOLD – Lilly King OR (USA)
SILVER – Yulia Efimova (RUS)
BRONZE – Katie Meili (USA)
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