Australian Taylor McKeown isn’t exactly new to the international women’s breast stroking scene, having claimed gold in the 200m distance at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, but she is new to an Olympic final.
The 21-year-old USC Spartans swimmer topped the women’s 200m breaststroke semi-final field tonight at the 2016 Olympic Games, scoring the top spot in tomorrow’s final in a time of 2:21.69. That represents the 2nd fastest outing of McKeown’s career, with only her 2:21.45 from Australian Olympic Trials having been faster. Headed into the Games, McKeown was ranked 3rd fastest in the world and she’s impressively proving she’s a medal contender.
McKeown will have to put up a fight, however, as Asia’s 27-year-old Rie Kaneto has been blasting the best times of her career as of late, including a new All Comers Record of 2:20.04 in January of this year at the Aquatic Super Series.
Two women from Great Britain have also raced into the final, with Molly Renshaw nabbing the 3rd seed and clocking a new British National Record in the process. She’s joined by the previous owner of the national record, Chloe Tutton, who lurks as the 7th seed.
With Europe, Asia, and North America all being represented in the final tomorrow night, McKeown’s solid swim ensured that the Australian continent would have a chance to potentially stake the claim on a breaststroke medal in Rio for the green and gold.
Oceania Records as of Rio Day 5:
- AMERICAN SAMOA –
- Women’s 100m breaststroke: Evelina Afoa, 1:08.74, National Record
- GUAM –
- Women’s 400m freestyle: Valerie Gruest, 4:19.58, National Record
- AUSTRALIA –
- Women’s 100m freestyle: Cate Campbell, 52.71, Olympic Record
- Men’s 100m freestyle: Kyle Chalmers, 47.58, World Junior Record
Oceania Medal Table as of Rio Day 5:
| NATION | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| Australia | 3 | 2 | 2 |
She is a drug cheat. See fancy bear’s new release. What a shame!
In the women’s 200 breast, that field was so clustered I overlooked the fact that both Jessica Vall (Spain) and Gunes (Turkey) didn’t advance.