Olympic Swimming recap: Day 7

Day 7 at the pool saw the return of old stars to the top of the world as well as current stars continuing their runs of dominance at these Olympics.

Men’s 50m Freestyle

1. Cameron McEvoy- Australia 21.25

2. Ben Proud- Great Britain 21.30

3. Florent Manaudou- France 21.56

Anything can happen in a race that’s only one lap, but this one went as expected. It was a fight between McEvoy and Proud with McEvoy edging him at the finish.

It's a great comeback for the Australian who was a star in the mid-2010s but had a disappointing Olympics in 2016 where he was the heavy favorite in the 100m freestyle. However, he’s had a strong comeback, and this win gave him his first Olympic gold medal.

Women’s 200m Backstroke

1. Kaylee McKeown- Australia 2:03.73 OR

2. Regan Smith- United States 2:04.26

3. Kylie Masse- Canada 2:05.57

The second showdown between McKeown and Smith ended the same as the first with McKeown coming out on top. The two were neck and neck throughout the race, but McKeown, as she’s known, had a strong last 25 meters to pull away and win the gold.

McKeown also broke the Olympic record in both the 100m and 200m.

Men’s 200 IM

1. Léon Marchand- France 1:54.06 OR

2. Duncan Scott- Great Britain 1:55.31

3. Wang Shun- China 1:56.00

The hometown hero continued his dominance leading the whole race to win his fourth gold medal of the meet. The roars of the crowd could be heard for Marchand again as he pulled further away from his competition.

His fourth gold medal marks the most individual gold medals by a swimmer since Michael Phelps in 2008.

Semi-finals

Men’s 100m Butterfly

Finalists

1. Kristóf Milák- Hungary

2. Maxime Grousset- France

3. Josh Liendo- Canada

4. Nyls Korstanje- Netherlands

5. Noe Ponti- Switzerland

6. Ilya Kharun- Canada

7. Matthew Temple- Australia

8. Naoki Mizunuma- Japan

Women’s 200m IM

Finalists

1. Alex Walsh- United States

2. Summer McIntosh- Canada

3. Kate Douglass- United States

4. Abbie Wood- Great Britain

5. Sydney Pickrem- Canada

6. Yu Yiting- China

7. Kaylee McKeown- Australia

8. Ella Ramsay- Australia

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