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
- Day 6 Schedule & Results
- Live Stream (NBC)
Lithuanian Simonas Bilis set a new national record in the semifinals of the men’s 50 free Thursday night in Rio. Swimming in the second heat, he touched the wall in 21.71. That time tied him for 6th with Brazil’s Bruno Fratus, and guaranteed Bilis a spot in tomorrow night’s final.
The record previously belonged to, well, Simonas Bilis. He set that record this morning in the heats with a time of 22.01. That mark took down a national record that was over twenty years old. The record previously belonged to Raimundas Mazuolis, who swam 22.08 way back in 1994 at a Grand Prix meet in Bordeaux, France.
Bilis also has the national record in the 100 free, a 48.64 he swam at the Canadian Trials back April of this year. He couldn’t quite match that time in Rio, swimming a 49.16 that did not qualify him for the semifinals in that event.
The new Lithuanian record holder just finished his senior year with the NC State Wolfpack. While at NC State, Bilis was a key part of that program as it developed one of the top sprint groups in NCAA swimming. Bilis’s NC State teammate Ryan Held was part of the USA’s gold medal 4×100 free relay Sunday night, and they swam together in NC State’s winning 4×100 free relay at the NCAA championships this March.
Bilis is also slated to swim as part of Lithuania’s 4×100 medley relay team tomorrow.
I thought this headline said “Simone Biles” and it was about gymnastics gold.