Australia have had a mixed day in the pool on Day 6 of the Olympics as their women’s 4x200m relay team – considered the unbackable favourites going in – were forced to settle for a bronze medal.
In a sign of how tight the race was, all three podium sides broke the world record – set by Australia in 2019 – but it was the incredibly consistent Chinese who’d take gold after leading the whole race.
Australia looked locked in a battle for top spot for the first three legs, but Katie Ledecky swum one of the all-time final legs to propel the USA from the clouds into silver.
Kyle Chalmers fell agonisingly short in his quest to repeat as men’s 100m freestyle champion, being pipped by the USA’s Caeleb Dressel by sixth hundredths of a second in a thrilling final.
Chalmers swam an outrageously fast second lap time of 24.37, with the difference between him and Dressel ultimately being the American’s slightly quicker reaction off the blocks.
Dressel’s time was a new Olympic record, eclipsing Eamon Sullivan’s 47.05 from Beijing 2008 by three hundredths of a second.
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Earlier, Zac Stubblety-Cook swum a blistering last 50 metres in the men’s 200m breaststroke final to claim gold and get Australia’s day in the pool off to a ripping start.
Stubblety-Cook, a notoriously slow starter, was almost a bodylength behind Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands after the first 100m, but timed his run perfectly.
He swum the last 50 metres in an unfathomable 32.2 seconds to claim Australia’s first gold in the event since Ian O’Brien did it at Tokyo 1994.
Australia’s women looked good in the 100m freestyle semi-finals too. Cate Campbell finished narrowly second behind Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey in the first semi-final, before Emma McKeon topped the second semi by a half second over Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem.
Tristan Hollard could only manage sixth in the men’s 200m backstroke semi-final, however, while Brianna Throssell unfortunately finished last in the women’s 200m butterfly final.
Jack McLoughlin was gallant finishing fifth in the first ever men’s 800m final. The USA’s Robert Finke took out the historic gold, just ahead of Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri – who raced out to an incredible start before faltering.
Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine claimed bronze.
Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final
1. China – 7:40.33 (WR)
2. USA – 7:40.73
3. Australia – 7:41.29
Men’s 100m freestyle final
1. Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 47.02 (OR)
2. Kyle Chalmers (AUS) – 47.08
3. Kliment Kolesnikov (ROC) – 47.44
Men’s 200m breaststroke final
1. Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) – 2:06.38 (OR)
2. Arno Kamminga (NED) – 2:07.01
3. Matti Mattsson (FIN) – 2:07.13
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