Friday, July 30, 2021
Tokyo Olympics: Day Seven Prelims Notes
On the final prelims session of the Olympic Games Tokyo, four swimmers advanced to semifinals, Bobby Finke nearly finished as top seed for tomorrow’s 1500-meter freestyle and the U.S. punched its tickets to both the men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle relays.
More from Tokyo:
Men’s 50m Freestyle:
• Both U.S. swimmers advance to the semifinal. Caeleb Dressel’s 21.32 puts him as the first seed, Michael Andrew finishes 11th in 21.89.
• Dressel missed an Olympic record by two one-hundredths.
• Other than Dressel, no American has ever gone 21.32. The time is .28 off his personal best.
• Andrew had a reaction time of .68, Dressel had a reaction time of .62.
• Dressel searching for fourth medal in Tokyo, Andrew searching for first.
Women’s 50m Freestyle
• Both U.S. swimmers advance to final. Abbey Weitzeil will enter as the seventh seed with a 24.37 while Simone Manuel will enter as the 11th seed in 24.65.
• Manuel finished second in her heat, only behind an Olympic-record breaking swim (24.02) from Australia’s Emma McKeon.
• Weitzeil had a .65 reaction time, Manuel had a .69.
• Manuel’s lone individual event comes 14 days after arriving in Tokyo. She anchored the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay to bronze earlier in the competition.
Men’s 1500m Freestyle
• Bobby Finke advances to the final in the No. 2 seed with a 14:47.20. Michael Brinegar finishes 17th in 15:04.67 and will not advance to the final.
• Finke finished second in his heat, only 1.21 seconds behind Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk, who finished first.
• Finke held first-place position from the 300-meter mark until the 1,050-meter mark.
• Brinegar was third or fourth for all but seven 50’s before finishing fifth in his heat.
• Brinegar posts the third-fastest time of his career.
Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay
• U.S. advances to final as the second seed with a 3:55.18.
• U.S. sent out Rhyan White for backstroke (59.19 split), Lilly King for breaststroke (1:05.51 split), Claire Curzan for butterfly (57.65 split) and Erika Brown for freestyle (52.83 split).
• Should the U.S. medal in the final, it would be the first career medals for White and Curzan, second for Brown and fifth for King.
• U.S. finished second in its heat by a hundredth behind Canada.
Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay
• U.S. advances to the final as the seventh seed in 3:32.29.
• U.S. sent out Hunter Armstrong for backstroke (53.51 split), Andrew Wilson for breaststroke (59.20 split), Tom Shields for butterfly (51.33) and Blake Pieroni for freestyle (48.25).
• Should the U.S. medal, it would be the first medals for Armstrong and Wilson and the second for Shields and Pieroni.
Action from Tokyo returns at 10:30 a.m. JST / 7:30 p.m. ET with the final of the men’s 100m butterfly, women’s 200m backstroke, women’s 800m freestyle and the Olympic debut of the mixed 4x100m medley relay. Semifinals of the men’s and women’s 50m freestyle will also take place.
More from Tokyo:
Men’s 50m Freestyle:
• Both U.S. swimmers advance to the semifinal. Caeleb Dressel’s 21.32 puts him as the first seed, Michael Andrew finishes 11th in 21.89.
• Dressel missed an Olympic record by two one-hundredths.
• Other than Dressel, no American has ever gone 21.32. The time is .28 off his personal best.
• Andrew had a reaction time of .68, Dressel had a reaction time of .62.
• Dressel searching for fourth medal in Tokyo, Andrew searching for first.
Women’s 50m Freestyle
• Both U.S. swimmers advance to final. Abbey Weitzeil will enter as the seventh seed with a 24.37 while Simone Manuel will enter as the 11th seed in 24.65.
• Manuel finished second in her heat, only behind an Olympic-record breaking swim (24.02) from Australia’s Emma McKeon.
• Weitzeil had a .65 reaction time, Manuel had a .69.
• Manuel’s lone individual event comes 14 days after arriving in Tokyo. She anchored the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay to bronze earlier in the competition.
Men’s 1500m Freestyle
• Bobby Finke advances to the final in the No. 2 seed with a 14:47.20. Michael Brinegar finishes 17th in 15:04.67 and will not advance to the final.
• Finke finished second in his heat, only 1.21 seconds behind Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk, who finished first.
• Finke held first-place position from the 300-meter mark until the 1,050-meter mark.
• Brinegar was third or fourth for all but seven 50’s before finishing fifth in his heat.
• Brinegar posts the third-fastest time of his career.
Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay
• U.S. advances to final as the second seed with a 3:55.18.
• U.S. sent out Rhyan White for backstroke (59.19 split), Lilly King for breaststroke (1:05.51 split), Claire Curzan for butterfly (57.65 split) and Erika Brown for freestyle (52.83 split).
• Should the U.S. medal in the final, it would be the first career medals for White and Curzan, second for Brown and fifth for King.
• U.S. finished second in its heat by a hundredth behind Canada.
Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay
• U.S. advances to the final as the seventh seed in 3:32.29.
• U.S. sent out Hunter Armstrong for backstroke (53.51 split), Andrew Wilson for breaststroke (59.20 split), Tom Shields for butterfly (51.33) and Blake Pieroni for freestyle (48.25).
• Should the U.S. medal, it would be the first medals for Armstrong and Wilson and the second for Shields and Pieroni.
Action from Tokyo returns at 10:30 a.m. JST / 7:30 p.m. ET with the final of the men’s 100m butterfly, women’s 200m backstroke, women’s 800m freestyle and the Olympic debut of the mixed 4x100m medley relay. Semifinals of the men’s and women’s 50m freestyle will also take place.