On Friday, the United States returned to the pool and made it back to the podium. To set the standard for the Americans, Regan Smith won the silver medal in the women’s 200-meter backstroke final.
Smith’s time of 2:04.26 in the event helped him finish in second place. Kaylee McKeown of Australia narrowly defeated Smith to win the gold medal with an Olympic record time of 2:03.73. This year, McKeown won gold in the 100-meter backstroke as well.
Smith’s run of 2:08.14 in her semifinal heat on Thursday had her in third place. Phoebe Bacon, a fellow American swimmer, came in just short of the podium with a timing of 2:04.61, finishing in fourth place.
Caeleb Dressel finished the men’s 50-meter freestyle final without winning a medal. With a final time of 21.61, Dressel came in sixth. In the first few meters of the race, he was in medal position, but in the end, he lost ground behind Australia’s Cameron McEvoy, who won in 21.25. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Dressel took home a gold medal in the men’s 50-meter freestyle competition.
For Dressel, things could only get worse from there. The Florida native finished fifth in his semifinal heat with a timing of 51.57, meaning he was not able to advance to the men’s 100-meter butterfly final. After the conclusion of the second semifinal race, Dressel became obviously upset and made it obvious that he would not be competing in the Saturday final.
In the men’s 200-meter individual medley, American swimmer Carson Foster performed admirably, but he was almost denied a medal. With a pace of 1:56.10, Foster placed fourth in the race, only tenth of a second behind China’s Wang Shun.
Read Also: Gold Medal for USA’s Kate Douglass in Women’s 200m Breaststroke at Olympics
With an Olympic record final time of 1:54.06, France’s Leon Marchand secured his fourth gold medal of the Olympics, extending his reign of terror in his own nation.
The 200-meter individual medley semifinals on Friday were Alex Walsh’s lone Olympic competition, but she made the most of it. With a time of 2:07.45, Walsh became victorious in the event’s second semifinal heat. Within twenty-four hours of winning the gold medal in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke, Kate Douglass was back in the water.
With a time of 2:08.59, Douglass hit the wall in third position during the second semifinal heat of the 200-meter individual medley. In the final on Saturday, both will aim for gold.
