Jumping
into a deep field in the women’s 100 free, China’s Tang Yi emerged as the
surprise top qualifier in 53.28. Australia’s Melanie Schlanger got into second
in 53.50, a best time but not quite as impressive as her 52.65 anchor leg on
Australia’s 400 free relay on Saturday night. Co-World Champs Jeanette Ottesen
and Aliaksandra Herasimenia came in next, followed by favorite Ranomi
Kromowidjojo. Brit Fran Halsall and Americans Jessica Hardy and Missy Franklin
all cruised on in for a shot to swim for the top-eight tonight.
Arianna
Vanderpool-Wallace of the Bahamas impressed the field in prelims this morning
with a 53.73, her first swim under 54. While Vanderpool-Wallace might not have
enough to contend for a medal in the 100 free, that could be a sign of big
things to come in the 50. Defending champion Britta Steffen finished 14th
in prelims, but she has not shown yet that she has enough to contend for a
medal. Meanwhile, Dutchwoman Femke Heemskerk tied for 15th in 54.43;
she has fallen a long way from her form a year ago, where she entered Worlds as
a gold medal favorite.
The
men’s 200 back featured no big surprises as the top four finishers from Worlds
took the top four spots in prelims. Americans Tyler Clary and Ryan Lochte led
the way, followed by China’s Zhang Fenglin and Japan’s Ryosuke Irie, while
Hungary’s Galor Baglog joined the foursome under 1:56. These Olympics have seen
some major upsets, and still no one has defended an individual gold medal, but
I don’t expect that trend to hold true in the 200 back. Lochte enters as the
heavy favorites, and Irie and Clary should still join him on the podium. Not a
whole lot here in the way of darkhorse candidates.
Rebecca
Soni unexpectedly found herself on the silver medal podium for the 100 breast,
but she too looks like she has an inside track on a title defense in the 200
breast. Soni opened up with a blazing 2:21.40. Rikke Pederson, though, didn’t
let Soni swim away from her in their heat, coming in at 2:22.69. Still, Soni
has a clear gap with the rest of the field, and I think she still has a good
deal more in the tank. 100 breast bronze medalist Satomi Suzuki and Olympic
Trials runner-up Micah Lawrence qualified third and fourth, while Russian
favorite Yuliya Efimova finished well back.
Efimova
continued a disappointing Olympics after failing to medal in the 100 breast.
Efimova tied for 14th in prelims today in 2:26.83; that means that she
will have to unleash an outstanding swim from an outside lane in the semi-final
tonight if she wants to have a chance at repeating or bettering her silver
medal from last year’s World Championships. Meanwhile, 2009 World Champion
Nadja Higl missed out on the semi-final with 2:28.38, as did Jamaican Alia
Atkinson, who took fourth earlier in the 100 breast.
In
the second-to-last heat of the men’s 400 IM, Michael Phelps outtouched Laszlo
Cseh by just 0.07. Well, as I’m sure everyone remembers, that turned out to be
the difference between getting into the final and not. After also missing out
on the final in the 200 fly, Cseh took no chances in the 200 IM. Cseh blasted a
1:57.20, just off of his 1:56.66 winning time from the European Championships.
The top four from the 400 IM finished in the next few spots: Lochte, Kosuke
Hagino, Michael Phelps, and Thiago Pereira. That means that Phelps and Lochte
will swim head-to-head in semi-final one tonight. Both men have had their
struggles these Olympics, but they remain the class of this field.
Finally,
the women’s 800 free relay heats wrapped up the morning, and the Aussies took
the top seed with the only time under 7:50. Brittany Elmslie led off in
1:57.50, and Blair Evans anchored in 1:56.99 as both should remain on the
finals relay with Kylie Palmer and individual bronze medalist Bronte Barratt.
Still, I don’t think that team can hang with the favored Americans, who have
Olympic champ Allison Schmitt and superstar Missy Franklin coming onto the
team. Shannon Vreeland (1:57.04) and Alyssa Anderson (1:57.33) had the fastest
splits this morning, but Dana Vollmer could still be on tonight’s finals team.
Vollmer
only split 1:58.31 in the prelims, but she has indicated that she will swim in
finals. On Twitter, she commented: “Felt great on the 4x200relay this morning!
Nice and smooth! I can't wait for the Finals!!” Vollmer certainly has the
credentials to swim on that relay, including a bronze in the 200 free at the
2009 Worlds. Canada qualified third for the final, while France (Camille
Muffat) and Italy (Federica Pellegrini) both have aces that could contribute to
a medal run. Don’t count out China, though, out in lane seven; the Chinese
still hold the world record from the 2009 World Champs.
Alright,
enough of that; time for predictions for day five finals!
Men’s
200 Breast
1.
Daniel Gyurta
2.
Michael Jamieson
3.
Scott Weltz
Women’s
200 Fly
1.
Jiao Liuyang
2.
Kathleen Hersey
3.
Natsumi Hoshi
Men’s
100 Free
1.
James Magnussen
2.
Nathan Adrian
3.
Yannick Agnel
Women’s
800 Free Relay
1.
United States
2.
Australia
3.
China
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