SwimSwam’s Top 5 Swims of the #Tokyo2020 Olympic Games: Day 6

2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
  • Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
• Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
• Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
• Full aquatics schedule
• SwimSwam Event Previews
• Entry Lists
• Live Results
• Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet

SEE DAY 1 TOP-5 HERE

SEE DAY 2 TOP-5 HERE

SEE DAY 3 TOP-5 HERE

SEE DAY 4 TOP-5 HERE

SEE DAY 5 TOP-5 HERE

SWIMSWAM’S TOP 5 SWIMS OF THE 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 6

#5 – M 200 IM: Wang Shun swam a new Asian record of 1:55.00 in the men’s 200 IM en route to Olympic gold. Shun of China improved upon Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino‘s former Asian record of 1:55.07 which he swam at the 2016 Japanese Swimming Championships.

#4 – M 200 Back: Russia Olympic Committee’s Evgeny Rylov, the 100 backstroke gold medalist in these Games, led wire-to-wire in the 200 back final. He took down Tyler Clary’s Olympic Record in 1:53.27 and became the first non-American to win this event in six Olympics.

#3 – M 100 Fly: In heat 2 of the 100 fly semi-finals, USA’s Caeleb Dressel broke Milak’s newly-minted Olympic Record from heat 1, taking it down to 49.71. Out in 23.20, he came home in 26.51 to notch the third-fastest performance in history.

#2 – W 100 Free: Top-seeded Emma McKeon became only the second woman in history to dip under the 52-second barrier with her 51.96 victory in the 100 free final. McKeon was out in 25.08 and home in 26.88 to set both the Olympic Record and the Oceanian Record.

#1 – W 200 Breast:Tatjana Schoenmaker delivered a new world record in the women’s 200 breaststroke, hitting a 2:18.95 to take gold. Schoenmaker’s 3 swims at the Tokyo Olympic Games of 2:19.11 in the prelims, 2:19.33 in the semi-finals and 2:18.95 give her the 1st, 3rd, and 4th fastest swims in the history of the 200 breaststroke.

BELLY FLOP OF THE DAY: Michael Andrew, 200 IM

Michael Andrew certainly didn’t swim up to his capabilities in the men’s 200 IM final, placing 5th overall. However, let’s take a second to appreciate that we’re disappointed that Michael Andrew is placing 5th in the 200 IM. 2 years ago if anyone made the claim he’d be placing 5th in the 200 IM at the Olympic Games, they would have been slaughtered in the comments. We think MA has a bright future in this event if he sticks with it for the next few years, which we think he may…

HOT TOPIC OF THE DAY: Mixed 400 Medley Relay – Who ya got for Team USA?

Lots of tough calls for Team USA here. It pretty much all revolves around Caeleb Dressel, who would be a game-changing fly or free leg. But Dressel will swim the 100 fly final and the 50 free semifinals in that session. Here’s what his timeline would look like, based on expected start times for each event:

• 10:30 AM: 100 fly final
• 11:11 AM: 50 free semifinals
• 11:43 AM: mixed medley relay final

It’s hard to say exactly which lineup would be fastest in a vacuum. If Dressel can handle the triple, the best options are probably Smith/Jacoby/Dressel/Apple or Murphy/Jacoby/Dressel/Weitzeil. If they choose to sit Dressel out, the relay probably goes Murphy/Andrew/Huske/Weitzeil and banks on getting clean water early and holding off the field.

With the complexity of these lineup options, here’s a good visual look at the 5 main lineup options being tossed around by most observers. It’s worth noting that every time listed below is a flat-start time – there are no relay exchanges factored in, to keep the comparisons as consistent as possible. The big margins for error are that (1) Caeleb Dressel hasn’t swum his 100 fly semifinals or final yet, (2) Abbey Weitzeil hasn’t swum her 100 free final yet, (3) Zach Apple was much faster from a flying start [46.6] than his flat-start time would suggest, and (4) Andrew, Dressel, and Weitzeil will all likely have the 50 free semifinals before this relay: