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
In the very first event of this day two prelims session we saw not 1, not 2, but 3 Olympic record-setting swims take place in the women’s 100m backstroke.
Canada’s Kylie Masse first dropped the old record of 58.23 set by Australian Emily Seebohm in 2012 down to a super quick heats time of 58.17 to set the pace.
Next up, American Regan Smith chipped away to dip under the 58-second threshold, hitting 57.96.
Finally, reigning World Record holder Kaylee McKeown of Australia.
Such is the state of this women’s 100m back event, with the field stacked with talent across the board, giving us a glimpse into the next two rounds of action here in Tokyo. If we just saw the OR fall 3 times over 5 minutes, it’s a scary prospect as to what may happen in the semi-finals.
Splits for the top trio of Masse, Smith and McKeown are below, showing how it was Masse who kicked off the quickest in a speedy 28.19 opening half while it was Smith with the faster back half of the bunch in 29.60.
Masse owns a lifetime best of 57.70, Smith a career-quickest of 57.57 while McKeown’s World Record stands at 57.45 from just last month.
We’ll see how the women changeup their approaches and strategies as this event unfolds.
Think they’re all likely under 58 again tomorrow.
Not sure about the final, I think all three are all in for gold, so one might go out at insane speed then die coming home.
I predict the same scenario tomorrow morning (3 OR again)
Tomorrow morning can be only two (2 semis)
So we had four women who have held the OR racing in the heats.. And now the semis… And probably the final!
I predict another OR in semis (could be any or all of them) but hopefully they save their best for the (I hate you NBC) morning final.
They’ll Need Breakfast Coffee to do that.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they all go under 57.88 in the finals, since they’ve all been faster already and all three of them tend to deliver when it counts. Wow has this event gotten fast since Masse’s world record in 2017.
Seems more than likely :). We might see 3 more ORs in the finals. To bad that finals are in the morning, so WR is less likely (?)