Tokyo 2020 Day 7 Prelims All-Star: Toussaint Under 59 During Backstroke Leadoff

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)
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The 7th and final recipient of SwimSwam’s Tokyo 2020 Prelims All-Star award is Dutch swimmer Kira Toussaint for her 58.99 backstroke leg for her country on the 4×100 medley relay.

Toussaint delivered the quickest backstroke leg in the field and was the only woman to crack 59 seconds, beating 2nd fastest splitter Rhyan White who was a 59.19 for the USA, and 3rd fastest Emily Seebohm who notched a 59.37 for the Australians.

While Toussaint established an early lead for the Netherlands, Tes Schouten and Maike de Waard were a little slower relative to the field on their respective breast and fly legs. Femke Heemskerk anchored with a 52.91 freestyle leg and while she nearly caught the 4th place finishing Russian Olympic Committee’s contingent, the Netherlands wound up 5th in the heat and 10th overall meaning they won’t advance to finals.

The swim for Toussaint actually marks her quickest performance in the 100 backstroke at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Toussaint swam in all 3 rounds of the event individually but didn’t get under 59 seconds, having hit a 59.21 during the prelims, a 59.09 during semi-finals, and 59.11 for 7th place overall during the final. Toussaint also raced the 100 backstroke during the prelims of the mixed 4×100 medley relay for the Netherlands and contributed a 1:00.12. The team finished 6th in the heats which means that Toussaint could have 1 last shot at a 100 backstroke swim if she is placed on the final lineup.

Toussaint’s 58.99 100 backstroke leg is only the 6th time that she has swum under 59 in the event and is only 0.34 seconds slower than the 58.65 Dutch record she recorded at the recent 2021 Eindhoven Qualification Meet.

Tokyo 2020 Prelims All-Stars

• Day 1: Ahmed Hafnaoui (TUN) – Men’s 400 freestyle
• Day 2 Tamsin Cook (AUS) – Women’s 400 freestyle
• Day 3: Tomoe Hvas (NOR) – Men’s 200 butterfly
• Day 4: Roman Mityukov (SUI) – Men’s 100 free / Men’s 4×200 free relay
• Day 5: Lee Juho (KOR) – Men’s 200 backstroke
• Day 6: Youssef Ramadan (EGY) – Men’s 100 butterfly
• Day 7: Kira Toussaint (NED) – Women’s 4×100 medley relay (backstroke leg)