Wednesday, July 28, 2021
U.S. Sends Four to Podium Between Women’s 200 IM, 1500 Free on Tokyo Day Four
In a night that featured four individual events on the fourth day of swimming at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, it was only fitting that the U.S. captured four medals.
The finals session started off with two-consecutive races that did not feature an American on the podium, as Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Nation’s Capital/Alto Swim Club) finished fifth in the 200-meter freestyle, going 1:55.21, while Gunnar Bentz (Atlanta, Ga./Dynamo Swim Club/TXLA) finished seventh in the in the 200m butterfly, going 1:55.46 in what would be the last race of his career.
The upcoming finals session featured an onslaught of American success, as all four U.S. swimmers between the women’s 200m individual medley and women’s 1500m freestyle won medals.
The women’s 200m individual medley featured a pair of University of Virginia swimmers representing the red, white and blue. Alex Walsh (Nashville, Tenn./Nashville Aquatic Club/University of Virginia) and Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y./University of Virginia) took to the starting blocks in a field where seven of the eight swimmers in the final had seed times separated by less than one second.
Halfway through the race, Walsh found herself in third while Douglass was sitting in sixth. The two Virginia swimmers willed their way back into the top-3 for the last 50 meters, eventually having Walsh touch the wall in 2:08.65 to win silver while Douglass’ 2:09.04 came shortly thereafter to claim bronze.
“It has been great being able to watch all my other USA teammates medal and do amazing things,” Douglass said. “So now it was Alex (Walsh) and I’s chance to do that together and it was awesome we were able to do that next to each other.”
Both Walsh and Douglass set new personal bests, moving Walsh up to fourth and Douglass to ninth on the all-time list of fastest 200m I.M. swimmers in American history. This is the first time that two Americans have stood the podium in the women’s 200m I.M. since Tracy Caulkins and Nancy Hogshead did so in 1984.
The next final came via the women’s 1500m freestyle – one of three races making its Olympic debut at this Olympic Games.
Ledecky entered as heavy favorite and would be hitting the water roughly an hour after swimming in the final of the 200m freestyle. She would share a lane line with U.S. teammate Erica Sullivan (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada), who entered the race with the third-fastest time from yesterday’s prelims.
Ledecky won the race in Ledecky-esque fashion, leading from the first turn to the last extended reach towards the wall. Her splits routinely hovered between 31.3 and 31.6, but closed out with a 29.95 to bring home the gold in 15:37.34. Her medal is the second of her time in Tokyo and gives her the sixth gold medal of her career, making her tied for the sixth winningest (most gold medals) female Olympian of all time.
“After the 200, I knew I had to turn the page very quickly,” Ledecky said. “In the warm down pool, I was just thinking of my family. Kind of each stroke, I was thinking of my grandparents, and they are the toughest four people I know. That is what helped me get through that.”
For Sullivan, she swum a comeback effort for the ages.
Early on, Sullivan found herself as far back as seventh place at the 250-meter turn. At the halfway point of the race, Sullivan had climbed back into the race, but was still two positions and nearly three-and-a-half seconds out of a medal position.
Throughout the second half of the race, Sullivan kept cutting down on times and positions, ultimately taking control of third place at the 1,250-meter mark. Two laps later, she found herself in second, where she would hang on until the end to win silver in 15:41.41.
“I did plan to swim it that way, and thank God it paid off because there was a point there where I was worried I was too far back and I’m really glad I was able to bring it home,” said Sullivan, whose finals time was 10 seconds faster than her swim at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, and more than 15 seconds faster than her previous best time before this past June.
“Honestly, I didn’t realize I got second until I saw (Ledecky) slam the water and then I looked up and was like, ‘wow, she must have done something really good,’ and then I looked up and was like, ‘oh shoot, I did something really good!’”
The four medals from Walsh, Douglass, Ledecky and Sullivan increase the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team’s medal total at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 to 16 – comprised of four golds, five silvers and seven bronzes.
The last final of the morning in Tokyo was the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, where Kieran Smith (Ridgefield, Conn./University of Florida), Drew Kibler (Carmel, Ind./Longhorn Aquatics/Texas), Zach Apple (Trenton, Ohio Mission Viejo Nadadores) and Townley Haas (Richmond, Va./NOVA of Virginia Aquatics/Texas) finished fourth in 7:02.43. Great Britain claimed gold in incredible time, knocking on the door of the world record by finishing just three one-hundredths shy of the time set by the U.S. men at the 2009 World Championships.
Semifinal action featured stellar U.S. performances from Nic Fink (Morristown, N.J./Athens Bulldog Swim Club) in the 200m breaststroke and the duo of Hali Flickinger (Spring Grove, Pa./Sun Devil Swimming) and Regan Smith (Lakeville, Minn./Riptide) in the 200m butterfly.
Fink turned in a 2:08.00 to put himself as the fourth seed ahead of tomorrow’s final. Fink’s time is the second-fastest performance he has ever posted, only behind his time at June’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming. Heading into the final, the top-3 seeds have posted times ranging from 2:07.35 to 2:07.99.
For Flickinger and Smith, they finished 1-2, respectively, in their semifinal heat – holding the 1-2 positioning from start to finish. In the end, Flickinger stopped the clock in 2:06.23 followed by Smith in 2:06.64.
“I knew Hali and I were super close, and I get fired up when I’m close to her,” Smith said. “I think I pushed hard but I think I have another gear for tomorrow so I’m feeling good about it.”
The two will head to tomorrow’s final as the second and fourth seeds.
Action from Tokyo resumes with prelims beginning at 7 p.m. JST / 6 a.m. ET, followed by finals at 10:30 a.m. JST / 9:30 p.m. ET.
The finals session started off with two-consecutive races that did not feature an American on the podium, as Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Nation’s Capital/Alto Swim Club) finished fifth in the 200-meter freestyle, going 1:55.21, while Gunnar Bentz (Atlanta, Ga./Dynamo Swim Club/TXLA) finished seventh in the in the 200m butterfly, going 1:55.46 in what would be the last race of his career.
The upcoming finals session featured an onslaught of American success, as all four U.S. swimmers between the women’s 200m individual medley and women’s 1500m freestyle won medals.
The women’s 200m individual medley featured a pair of University of Virginia swimmers representing the red, white and blue. Alex Walsh (Nashville, Tenn./Nashville Aquatic Club/University of Virginia) and Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y./University of Virginia) took to the starting blocks in a field where seven of the eight swimmers in the final had seed times separated by less than one second.
Halfway through the race, Walsh found herself in third while Douglass was sitting in sixth. The two Virginia swimmers willed their way back into the top-3 for the last 50 meters, eventually having Walsh touch the wall in 2:08.65 to win silver while Douglass’ 2:09.04 came shortly thereafter to claim bronze.
“It has been great being able to watch all my other USA teammates medal and do amazing things,” Douglass said. “So now it was Alex (Walsh) and I’s chance to do that together and it was awesome we were able to do that next to each other.”
Both Walsh and Douglass set new personal bests, moving Walsh up to fourth and Douglass to ninth on the all-time list of fastest 200m I.M. swimmers in American history. This is the first time that two Americans have stood the podium in the women’s 200m I.M. since Tracy Caulkins and Nancy Hogshead did so in 1984.
The next final came via the women’s 1500m freestyle – one of three races making its Olympic debut at this Olympic Games.
Ledecky entered as heavy favorite and would be hitting the water roughly an hour after swimming in the final of the 200m freestyle. She would share a lane line with U.S. teammate Erica Sullivan (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada), who entered the race with the third-fastest time from yesterday’s prelims.
Ledecky won the race in Ledecky-esque fashion, leading from the first turn to the last extended reach towards the wall. Her splits routinely hovered between 31.3 and 31.6, but closed out with a 29.95 to bring home the gold in 15:37.34. Her medal is the second of her time in Tokyo and gives her the sixth gold medal of her career, making her tied for the sixth winningest (most gold medals) female Olympian of all time.
“After the 200, I knew I had to turn the page very quickly,” Ledecky said. “In the warm down pool, I was just thinking of my family. Kind of each stroke, I was thinking of my grandparents, and they are the toughest four people I know. That is what helped me get through that.”
For Sullivan, she swum a comeback effort for the ages.
Early on, Sullivan found herself as far back as seventh place at the 250-meter turn. At the halfway point of the race, Sullivan had climbed back into the race, but was still two positions and nearly three-and-a-half seconds out of a medal position.
Throughout the second half of the race, Sullivan kept cutting down on times and positions, ultimately taking control of third place at the 1,250-meter mark. Two laps later, she found herself in second, where she would hang on until the end to win silver in 15:41.41.
“I did plan to swim it that way, and thank God it paid off because there was a point there where I was worried I was too far back and I’m really glad I was able to bring it home,” said Sullivan, whose finals time was 10 seconds faster than her swim at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, and more than 15 seconds faster than her previous best time before this past June.
“Honestly, I didn’t realize I got second until I saw (Ledecky) slam the water and then I looked up and was like, ‘wow, she must have done something really good,’ and then I looked up and was like, ‘oh shoot, I did something really good!’”
The four medals from Walsh, Douglass, Ledecky and Sullivan increase the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team’s medal total at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 to 16 – comprised of four golds, five silvers and seven bronzes.
The last final of the morning in Tokyo was the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, where Kieran Smith (Ridgefield, Conn./University of Florida), Drew Kibler (Carmel, Ind./Longhorn Aquatics/Texas), Zach Apple (Trenton, Ohio Mission Viejo Nadadores) and Townley Haas (Richmond, Va./NOVA of Virginia Aquatics/Texas) finished fourth in 7:02.43. Great Britain claimed gold in incredible time, knocking on the door of the world record by finishing just three one-hundredths shy of the time set by the U.S. men at the 2009 World Championships.
Semifinal action featured stellar U.S. performances from Nic Fink (Morristown, N.J./Athens Bulldog Swim Club) in the 200m breaststroke and the duo of Hali Flickinger (Spring Grove, Pa./Sun Devil Swimming) and Regan Smith (Lakeville, Minn./Riptide) in the 200m butterfly.
Fink turned in a 2:08.00 to put himself as the fourth seed ahead of tomorrow’s final. Fink’s time is the second-fastest performance he has ever posted, only behind his time at June’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming. Heading into the final, the top-3 seeds have posted times ranging from 2:07.35 to 2:07.99.
For Flickinger and Smith, they finished 1-2, respectively, in their semifinal heat – holding the 1-2 positioning from start to finish. In the end, Flickinger stopped the clock in 2:06.23 followed by Smith in 2:06.64.
“I knew Hali and I were super close, and I get fired up when I’m close to her,” Smith said. “I think I pushed hard but I think I have another gear for tomorrow so I’m feeling good about it.”
The two will head to tomorrow’s final as the second and fourth seeds.
Action from Tokyo resumes with prelims beginning at 7 p.m. JST / 6 a.m. ET, followed by finals at 10:30 a.m. JST / 9:30 p.m. ET.