Olympic Swimming recap: Day 2

With Day 1 complete, Day 2 of swimming at the Olympics brought some of the most exciting races we will see all week. This includes some of the biggest stars of the meet and multiple world record holders in action.

Finals

Men’s 400m IM

1. Leon Marchand- France 4:02.95

2. Tomoyuki Matsushita- Japan 4:08.62

3. Carson Foster- United States 4:08.66

Marchand, last year’s world champion and current world record holder, dominated the race from start to finish. He held a commanding lead after the first 100, and his lead only grew to start his Olympic campaign.

The roars from the French crowd were heard with every stroke for the hometown star. A close battle for the silver was won by Matsushita, and Foster just out-touched Great Britain’s Max Litchfield to get on the podium.

Women’s 100m Butterfly

1. Torri Huske- United States 55.59

2. Gretchen Walsh- United States 55.63

3. Zhang Yufei- China 56.21

World and Olympic record holder Gretchen Walsh got off to a fast start and had the lead after the first 50. American teammate Huske surged in the last 25 meters to just out-touch and upset Walsh as the Americans went 1-2.

Zhang won a close battle for the bronze just edging Angelina Koehler from Germany and reigning Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil from Canada.

Men’s 100m Breaststroke

1. Nicolo Martinenghi- Italy 59.03

2. Adam Peaty- Great Britain 59.05

2. Nic Fink- United States 59.05

The men’s 100m breaststroke was the closest race of the meet so far and will go down as one of the most exciting of the meet. Martinenghi had a strong finish to pass Peaty and just hold off Fink to take the gold with Peaty and Fink tying for silver.

Just .08 seconds separated the top four finishers and less than .3 seconds separated the top six.

Semi-finals

Men’s 200m Freestyle

Finalists

1. David Popovici- Romania

2. Duncan Scott- Great Britain

3. Luke Hobson- United States

4. Lukas Maertens- Germany

5. Maximillian Giuliani- Australia

6. Danas Raspys- Lithuania

7. Matthew Richards- Great Britain

8. Katsuhiro Matsumoto- South Korea

Women’s 100m Breaststroke

Finalists

1. Tatjana Smith- South Africa

2. Mona McSharry- Ireland

3. Lilly King- United States

4. Tang Qianting- China

5. Alina Zmushka- Individual Neutral Athletes

6. Angharad Evans- Great Britain

7. Benedetta Pilato- Italy

8. Eneli Jefimova- Estonia

Men’s 100m Backstroke

1. Xu Jiayu- China

2. Thomas Ceccon- Italy

3. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard- France

4. Pieter Coetze- South Africa

5. Ryan Murphy- United States

6. Apostolos Christou- Greece

7. Oliver Morgan- Great Britain

8. Hugo González- Spain

Women’s 200m Freestyle

1. Ariarne Titmus- Australia

2. Mollie O’Callaghan- Australia

3. Claire Weinstein- United States

4. Siobhán Haughey- Hong Kong

5. Yang Junxuan- China

6. Barbora Seemanová- Czechia

7. Erika Fairweather- New Zealand

8. Mary-Sophie Harvey- Canada

Jacob Rudy is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email jar7371@psu.edu.