Day 5 Finals Preview: Americans, Aussies Collide In Men’s 100 Free

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Swimming: August 6-13
• Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
• Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
• SwimSwam previews 
• Rio Schedule & Results
• Live Stream (NBC)

The most anticipated final slated for tonight will be the men’s 100 freestyle, which features two Americans and two Australians holding four of the top five seeds.

Defending Olympic champion Nathan Adrian rebounded after a shaky prelim swim to take the top time out of the semis in 47.83, and will look to repeat in the event like freestyle legends Pieter van den Hoogenband (2000-2004) and Alexander Popov (1992-1996) have in the past.

Pre-race favorite Cameron McEvoy will swim in lane 3, and his Australian teammate Kyle Chalmers will be on the other side of Adrian in lane 5. McEvoy earned his favorite status after posting an all-time textile best of 47.04 in April. He has looked solid so far here in Rio, though Adrian out-split him by 0.03 on the 400 free relay.

Chalmers has broken the junior world record in both of his individual swims, and was on fire in the relay, notably posting a 47.04 leg in the heats. His semi-final swim of 47.88 puts him in the hunt for a medal, and potentially the win. If he were to pull off the win it would be considered a major upset over Adrian and McEvoy.

The other American Caeleb Dressel has swum the three fastest 100 frees of his career in Rio, including going under 48 seconds twice. He’s got a devastating start and some big time front end speed and will be in the race for the first 75 metres. It comes down to how well the 19 year-old can close.

Also breaking 48 seconds in the semi-finals was Canada’s Santo Condorelli, improving his previous best of 47.98 from last years Pan Am Games down to 47.93. He’s got a lot of front end speed too, and will need to find the right balance tonight after dying on the way home in both his relay swims.

The final will be bookended by Duncan Scott of Great Britain and Marcelo Chierighini of Brazil in lanes 1 and 8, along with Pieter Timmers of Belgium in lane 7.

The men’s 200 breast final is actually first up tonight, and could easily be the fastest final in history. Five different men broke 2:08 in the semis, and the slowest qualifier for the final went 2:08.20. To put that in perspective, the bronze medal was won four years ago in London in 2:08.29.

Japan’s Ippei Watanabe will have lane 4 after scaring the world record last night clocking 2:07.22, and his teammate Yasuhiro Koseki will be two lanes over in lane 6.

American hopefuls Josh Prenot and Kevin Cordes will swim in lanes 2 and 3, and both have great chances to medal. Prenot holds the top time in the world this year at 2:07.17, and Cordes won the silver medal at last year’s World Championships.

Last year’s world gold medallist Marco Koch finds himself out in lane 1, and Andrew Willis will go for a British sweep in the men’s breaststroke events swimming out of lane 5.

The other individual final we’ll see tonight is the women’s 200 fly, which is anyones race. Australia’s Madeline Groves led the way out of the semis in 2:05.66, but four others were right behind her going 2:06 last night.

Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain will swim in lane 5, last year’s World Champion Natsumi Hoshi will swim in lane 6, and over in lanes 2 and 3 will be the Chinese duo of Zhou Yilin and Zhang Yufei. The Chinese women have been dominant in this event recently, winning the last two Olympic golds.

Americans Hali Flickinger and Cammile Adams, who both posted 2:06.67s in the heats, swim out of lanes 7 and 8 and will have outside shots at a medal. Adams was the silver medalist last year in Kazan.

The fourth final of the night will be the women’s 4×200 free relay, featuring the heavily favored Americans in lane 4. Others expected to push for a medal are China (lane 3), Australia (lane 5) and Canada (lane 7). Relay lineups will be available about 50 minutes before the session.

Along with those four finals we’ll see four rounds of semi-finals tonight. Let’s take a quick look:

• American Simone Manuel swims out of lane 4 in the first semi of the women’s 100 free after an impressive morning swim. Joining her will be 2012 gold medalist Ranomi Kromowidjojo and 2015 World Champion Bronte Campbell. World record holder Cate Campbell clashes with Sarah Sjostrom, Penny Oleksiak and Abbey Weitzeil in the second semi.
• Ryan Murphy cruised this morning’s prelims and will swim out of lane 5 in the first semi-final of the men’s 200 back along with China’s Xu Jiayu in lane 4. Murphy’s Cal Bear teammate Jacob Pebley will contest the second semi with Russian Evgeny Rylov and Aussie Mitch Larkin.
• World #1 Rie Kaneto swims in lane 4 in the first semi of the women’s 200 breast along with convicted doper Yuliya Efimova, and world record holder Rikke Moller Pedersen headlines the second semi from lane 4. 100 breast winner Lilly King swims in lane 8.
• Kosuke Hagino swims out of lane 3 in the first semi of men’s 200 IM along with German Philip Heintz who qualified 2nd overall this morning. Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Brazil’s own Thiago Pereira will swim in the middle of the pool in the second semi.