Swimming (Olympic)

Olympic records are being set left and right at the Tokyo Games. Emma McKeon was the latest to claim one on Thursday night. 

The Australian swimmer won the first individual gold medal of her career, posting a time of 51.96 in the women's 100-meter freestyle. She topped Hong Kong's Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (52.27) and fellow Aussie Cate Campbell (52.52) to claim gold.

And the records just keep on breaking!

Australia's Emma McKeon breaks the Olympic record to win gold in the women's 100m free final. #TokyoOlympics

📺 NBC
💻 https://t.co/vlVjysbstt
📱 NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/1Cs3eMRddV

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2021

"I think that coming into this morning's performance, I really wanted to put forward my best performance,” McKeon told Australia's Channel Seven after the win. "And that is pretty much a season's best, and to do that in an Olympic final, off a very, very challenging year that I've had, I'm really happy."

McKeon is putting together quite the medal collection, with two golds and four medals in total at the Tokyo Games. She's up to eight medals now in her decorated career:

https://twitter.com/7olympics/status/1420935185038680064

4 swims….4 medals with two of them GOLD. Emma McKeon, what an absolute superstar 🌟 #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/KWfV1mKUkv

— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) July 30, 2021

Just too good. Emma McKeon with a 51.96, just the second swimmer in history under 52 seconds, to take gold. And Cate Campbell with the most deserving bronze, what a story she is now. Thrilled for both of them #Tokyo2020

— Phil Lutton (@phillutton78) July 30, 2021

Her teammate, Campbell, was participating in her fourth Olympics and claimed her first individual medal since the 2008 Games. 

"There were understandably quite a few demons knocking at my door this morning when I woke up, but I held them all at bay and I performed when it counted,” she told reporters. "I get to stand on an Olympic podium. The Australian national anthem is going to be echoing through the stadium, and I couldn't be more proud of my teammate [McKeon]. She deserves absolutely everything that has come her way." 

As for the United States' lone representative in the race, Abbey Weitzeil finished eighth (53.23).

Russian Olympic Committee's Evgeny Rylov came into the men's 200-meter backstroke  event as the favorite. He lived up to the hype. 

Rylov set an Olympic record with a time of 1:53.27, holding off the United States' Ryan Murphy (1:54.15) and Great Britain's Luke Greenbank (1:54.72) to claim the gold medal. 

Another Olympic record is broken!

ROC's Evgeny Rylov wins gold and breaks the Olympic record in the men's 200m backstroke final and @TeamUSA's @ryan_f_murphy surges to silver. #TokyoOlympics

📺 NBC
💻 https://t.co/vlVjysbstt
📱 NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/H2sxywUp74

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2021

Russian athletes at the Tokyo Games are competing under the banner of the ROC after Russia's name, flag and anthem were banned from this year's Olympics over a state-sponsored doping program and subsequent cover-up.

Rylov is having a strong Olympics, having already won gold in the 100-meter backstroke. Both golds have been important for the ROC, whose men had a cold streak in the pool before Rylov snapped it:

*First gold since 1996 in the pool. Russia won an open water title in 2008.

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) July 27, 2021

Evgeny Rylov doubles in the backstroke, taking both the 100 and 200 crowns from Ryan Murphy. Murph chased him in the 200 and gets silver, earned bronze in the 100.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) July 30, 2021

"I was overwhelmed by joy ... now I just have to prove myself in other events," Rylov told reporters after winning the 100-meter backstroke. "I do understand the sky is the limit but I have achieved a very important result and of course I felt a huge relief."

Make that two very important results. 

Beating Murphy was no small task—he won the golds in both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke at the 2016 Rio Games. And Murphy had some strong thoughts about the race afterwards:

I asked 🇺🇸 Ryan Murphy, who just took silver in the 200 back behind Russia’s Evgeny Rylov, about any concerns he had about his opponents doping.

“I’m swimming in a race that’s probably not clean,” he said. Full quote below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Z264TV9vyq

— Laine Higgins (@lainehiggins17) July 30, 2021

Murphy probably isn't the only athlete who feels that way. But he certainly didn't pull any punches after his silver-medal swim. 

China pulled off a thrilling upset in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay, winning the gold medal over the heavy favorites from Australia.

WORLD RECORD!

China takes gold in the women's 4x200m relay, as @TeamUSA beats Australia for silver! #TokyoOlympics

📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh
📱: NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/m3hSgc9dWo

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021

The United States won silver thanks to a massive rally by team anchor Katie Ledecky as the Australians settled for bronze. Amazingly, all three countries shattered the previous world record of 7:41.50, held by the Australians. China finished the medal race in 7:40.33.

Here's a look at the full results:

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Women's 4x200M Freestyle Relay Final Results

1. China (Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan, Zhang Yufei, Li Bingjie): 7:40.33

2. USA (Allison Schmitt, Paige Madden, Kathryn McLaughlin, Katie Ledecky): 7:40.73

3. Australia (Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon, Madison Wilson, Leah Neale): 7:41.29

4. Canada (Summer McIntosh, Rebecca Smith, Kayla Sanchez, Penny Oleksiak): 7:43.77

5. Russian Olympic Committee (Anna Egorova, Valeriia Salamatina, Veronika Andrusenko, Anastasia Guzhenkova): 7:52.15

6. Germany (Isabel Gose, Leonie Marlen Kullmann, Marie Pietruschka, Annika Bruhn): 7:53.89

7. Hungary (Zsuzsanna Jakabos, Laura Veres, Ajna Kesely, Boglarka Kapas): 7:56.62

8. France (Charlotte Bonnet, Assia Touati, Lucile Tessariol, Margaux Fabre): 7:58.15

Full results available via Olympics.com

---

China led wire-to-wire, fighting off repeated attempts by Australia to get out in front. That wouldn't happen.

Instead, it was the United States making an incredible charge on the last leg when Ledecky entered the pool. After failing to medal in the individual 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky put together a tremendous split of 1:53.76—nearly two seconds off her time in the individual Wednesday—which, along with Katie McLaughlin's split of 1:55.38, helped the U.S. move from fourth place to second.

Ledecky's second-fastest career 200m free relay split, just .02 slower than her split in Rio, which was fastest of that field by nine tenths.

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) July 29, 2021

If those were all individual 200-meter runs, the podium would be:

🥇 Ledecky 1:53.76
🥈 Yang 1:54.37
🥉 Titmus 1:54.51

Clearly, we need a Ledecky-Titmus best-of-seven series.

— Zack Pierce (@ZPathletic) July 29, 2021

Just about every country that competed in the final set about overachieving Thursday as one of the overall fastest relays of the Olympic Games concluded in less than eight minutes.

That was by far the fastest relay of the Olympics so far. Look at these splits and all three of those podium teams break the World Record. pic.twitter.com/itfM5KWWqe

— Kyle Sockwell (@kylesockwell) July 29, 2021

Perhaps with another length, the United States is able to complete the comeback. As it stands, the silver medal will go down as one of the more impressive collected by USA Swimming during the Games.

A complete and total team effort has the Americans back on the podium once again.

Zhang Yufei set an Olympic record en route to gold at the women's 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:03.86 from Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

An Olympic record!

China's Zhang Yufei takes the gold as @TeamUSA's Regan Smith and @Hali_Flickinger complete the podium with silver and bronze! #TokyoOlympics

📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh
📱: NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/8r385oiSLd

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021

Zhang, who also won silver at the 100-meter butterfly in the Tokyo Olympics, dominated the field en route to her first-ever gold on the world stage.

A pair of Americans took silver and bronze in Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger, respectively.

Here's a look at the official results from the eight-swimmer field.

    

Results

1. Zhang Yufei (China): 2:03.86

2. Regan Smith (United States): 2:05.30

3. Hali Flickinger (United States): 2:05.65

4. Boglarka Kapas (Hungary): 2:06.53

5. Svetlana Chimrova (Russian Olympic Committee): 2:07.70

6. Liyan Yu (China): 2:07.85

7. Alys Margaret Thomas (Great Britain): 2:07.90

8. Brianna Throssell (Australia): 2:09.48

    

Zhang's blazing time was the fastest recorded in the race in 12 years, per ESPN:

THE FASTEST TIME IN 12 YEARS 😳

China's Zhang Yufei crushes the Olympic record with a time of 2:03.86 to win GOLD in the women's 200m Butterfly Final 🥇 pic.twitter.com/wljBr2Sccl

— ESPN (@espn) July 29, 2021

Chinese swimmer Liu Zige owns the fastest-ever time in the race when she registered a mark of 2:01.81 in 2009 at the Chinese National Games.

Zhang added to an already impressive resume that includes one silver and four bronze medals in World Championship events.

Her win also gave China its 13th first-place finish at this year's Games, which tied Japan for the gold medal lead at the time of her fantastic performance.

As for the runners-up on the podium, Smith made up some ground in the final 50 meters to surpass Flickinger. She previously won bronze at the 100-meter backstroke in this year's Olympic Games.

Flickinger also owns a bronze medal in Tokyo, earning third in the 400-meter medley.

Caeleb Dressel did it. And he did it in style.

The United States swimmer won the gold medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, setting an Olympic record (47.02) in the process. He just edged out the event's gold medalist at the Rio Games in 2016, Australian's Kyle Chalmers (47:08), who took silver.

CAELEB DRESSEL GETS GOLD!

It’s an Olympic record in the men’s 100m freestyle for @TeamUSA! #TokyoOlympics // NBC pic.twitter.com/wH3VjN3LqC

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 29, 2021

Dressel delivers. Phenomenal swim, held off Kyle Chalmers in the final yards by burying his head and finishing. Great turn as well.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) July 29, 2021

https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1420575214161772546

The Russian Olympic Committee's Kliment Kolesnikov (47.44), one of the favorites heading into the event, earned bronze.

It was Dressel's second gold of the Tokyo Games, as he also stood atop the podium after the United States won the 4x100-meter freestyle relay alongside Blake Pieroni, Bowe Becker and Zach Apple. It was his fourth gold overall, as he won two relay golds at the 2016 Olympics.

He was emotional after Thursday's win.

"I don't know if it's just set in yet. Right now I'm just kinda hurting," he said on the NBC broadcast after the race, between deep breaths. "But it's a really tough year. It's really hard. So to have the results show how—I mean, it really came together, so I'm happy."

The emotions of gold for @TeamUSA's Caeleb Dressel.

He reached the dream. #TokyoOlympics

📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh
📱: NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/DsFw6LPu1a

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021

Fresh off a gold medal victory, Caeleb Dressel got to see his loved ones, and the emotions came pouring out. pic.twitter.com/0un7hde0hw

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 29, 2021

Caeleb Dressel's got us all tearing up right now.

— Kyle Sockwell (@kylesockwell) July 29, 2021

Dressel swam his race, getting off to an incredibly fast start with an 0.60-second reaction time out of the blocks. His race strategy was clear: Catch me if you can.

Chalmers came close but couldn't quite catch the United States' dynamo, who joined impressive company with the win:

The legendary list of U.S. men to win Olympic gold in the 100m free:

🇺🇸 Caeleb Dressel
🇺🇸 Nathan Adrian
🇺🇸 Matt Biondi
🇺🇸 Rowdy Gaines
🇺🇸 Jim Montgomery
🇺🇸 Mark Spitz
🇺🇸 Don Schollander
🇺🇸 Clarke Scholes
🇺🇸 Wally Ris
🇺🇸 Johnny Weissmuller
🇺🇸 Duke Kahanamoku
🇺🇸 Charlie Daniels

— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) July 29, 2021

Dressel has a busy Olympics scheduled, with the 100-meter butterfly, mixed medley relay, 50-meter freestyle and men's medley relay yet to come. But he's already made his mark in Tokyo.

Team USA swimmer Bobby Finke won the Olympic Games' first-ever men's 800-meter freestyle final with a time of 7:41.87.

I FINKE. I CAN. @Robert_Finke takes GOLD in the first ever Olympic men's 800M freestyle in a THRILLER!

#TokyoOlympics x @TeamUSA

📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh
📱: NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/OulFLF9tfY

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021

Finke's fantastic turn and charge in the final 50 meters propelled him to gold over Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri, who led for much of the race. CBS Sports showcased just how much ground Finke made up.

Bobby Finke went from HERE at the turn to win GOLD in the men's 800m freestyle pic.twitter.com/qJ37Glc3q7

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 29, 2021

Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk earned the bronze at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. The official results from the eight-swimmer field can be found below.

    

Results

1. Robert Finke (United States): 7:41.87

2. Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy): 7.42:11

3. Mykhailo Romanchuk (Ukraine): 7:42.33

4. Florian Wellbrock (Germany): 7:42.68

5. Jack McLoughlin (Australia): 7:45.00

6. Serhii Frolov (Ukraine): 7:45.11

7. Felix Auboeck (Germany): 7:49.14

8. Guilherme Costa (Brazil): 7:53.31

Results via Olympics website.

       

The 1904 Summer Olympics featured a race of a similar length in the 880-yard freestyle (804.672 meters), but this was the first time a men's 800-meter freestyle final took place.

Finke will forever be the first winner in this Olympic event, and he impressed numerous onlookers with his phenomenal finish after entering the final 50 meters in fourth.

Bobby Finke!!! What an incredible surge to win a very unexpected gold medal.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) July 29, 2021

Bobby Finke's last 50 was a 26.39 🥶 https://t.co/HqUR1WQQg8

— Kyle Sockwell (@kylesockwell) July 29, 2021

The New York Times broke down Finke and the rest of the swimmers' paces and paths:

Watch how Bobby Finke 🇺🇸 won gold at #Tokyo2020 by exploding off the last turn and turning the engines on. https://t.co/Mfb2xP2VOu pic.twitter.com/pKYqM9nN4M

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 29, 2021

The 21-year-old Finke, who swims for the University of Florida, won his first-ever medal on the world stage.

He'll look for his second gold medal when he competes in the Tokyo Olympics' 1,500-meter freestyle. The heats for that event are set for Friday, with the final occurring Sunday.

Australia's Izaac Stubblety-Cook made a late push in the men's 200-meter breaststroke Thursday at the Tokyo Olympics, claiming the gold medal in the event.

Stubblety-Cook (2:06.38) caught and passed the Netherlands' Arno Kamminga (2:07.01) and Finland's Matti Mattsson (2:07.13) in the final lap. His time set a new Olympic record, with the Russian Olympic Committee's Anton Chupkov setting the world record (2:06.12) in 2019.

OLYMPIC RECORD for Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook! #TokyoOlympics

📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh
📱: NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/LK0fVb8t2y

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021

The United States' Nic Fink (2:07.93) finished fifth.

Chupkov (2:07.24)—who won a bronze medal in the event in 2016 and was one of the favorites this year—finished fourth, well off his world-record pace.

Stubblety-Cook's gold was Australia's seventh of the Tokyo Games and 17th medal overall. The United States currently holds the most medals overall with 32 (12 golds), while Japan has claimed the most golds with 13 (22 overall).

It was a fantastic race from Stubblety-Cook, who kept himself in contention before a blistering 25 meters to close the race.

Most impressive thing about the Aussie swimmers at the #Olympics is how strong they’ve finished … all of them seem to have another gear in the final 25! Super fit! Zac Stubblety-Cook takes 🥇 in the 200 breaststroke!! 🏊🏽‍♂️

— Jake Duke (@JakeDuke1) July 29, 2021

Zac Stubblety-Cook is the Olympic 200m breaststroke champion and executes the perfect race on the grandest stage. They went crazy at the start and he just powers over the top in 2:06.38, a new Olympic record. He was so composed all week and that was just clinical #Tokyo2020

— Phil Lutton (@phillutton78) July 29, 2021

Gee there have been some excellent tactical swims from @DolphinsAUS during this week. Stubblety-Cook another beautifully judged and executed swim. All power to the athletes and their coaches. #Swimming #Olympics

— 🎙️QUENTIN HULL (@QuentinHull) July 29, 2021

Cook swam a 2:07:00 at the Sydney Open in June before posting a blistering 2:06.28 at the Australian Olympic Trials.

"Sydney was quite a bit of a confidence boost, going 2:07 and going the same back-end as Chupkov—I started thinking, 'If I've got more rest I can go out a bit quicker and have that speed a bit easier,'" he told reporters at those trials. "It's exciting but I've just got to take it on my stride and keep on the process."

He did just that Thursday. And now he's an Olympic record-holder and gold medalist.

Great Britain easily captured the gold medal during the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday as the United States failed to reach the podium.

Tom Dean, James Guy, Matthew Richards and Scott Duncan combined for a 6:58.58 finish, setting a European record and coming from behind to win by nearly three-and-a-half seconds.

https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/1420229581227843584

A day after Dean won the 200-meter freestyle final, he got back in the pool for another 200 meters and helped the favorites easily mop up the rest of the world.

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Men's 4x200M Freestyle Relay Final

1. Great Britain (Tom Dean, James Guy, Matthew Richards, Duncan Scott): 6:58.58

2. Russian Olympic Committee (Martin Malyutin, Ivan Girev, Evgeny Rylov, Mikhail Dovgalyuk): 7:01.81

3. Australia (Alexander Graham, Kyle Chalmers, Zac Incerti, Thomas Neill): 7:01.84

4. United States (Kieran Smith, Drew Kibler, Zach Apple, Townley Haas): 7:02.43

5. Italy (Stefano Ballo, Matteo Ciampi, Filippo Megli, Stefano di Cola): 7:03.24

6. Switzerland (Antonio Djakovic, Nils Liess, Noe Ponti, Roman Mityukov): 7:06.12

7. Germany (Lukas Martens, Poul Zellmann, Bennet Henning Muhlleitner, Jacob Heidtmann): 7:06.51

8. Brazil (Fernando Scheffer, Murilo Setin Sartori, Breno Correia, Luiz Altamir Melo): 7:08.22

Results via official Olympics website

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The Michael Phelps Era of American swimming takes on even more significance tonight. Four straight 4 x 200 free relay Olympic gold medals between 2004-2016 for Team USA and Phelps. Tonight, Great Britain wins its first since 1908 and U.S. doesn’t medal.

— Mike Wise (@MikeWiseguy) July 28, 2021

The United States missed out on a bronze medal by less than a second after previously dominating the event over the last four Olympic games.

On the NBC prime-time broadcast, U.S. Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps said the Americans were at a disadvantage without Caeleb Dressel in the relay. Dressel easily won his 100-meter freestyle semifinal just over an hour before the 4x200.

Each member of the GBR team swam his leg of the relay in 1:45.72 or faster with Scott, serving as the anchor, putting together a team-best 1:43.45 to capture first place.

The Americans still hold the Olympic record in the 4x200 thanks to a time of 6:58.56 at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but it's clear the United States relay club isn't near the level of past teams.

Katie Ledecky is once again the undisputed best long-distance swimmer in the world. 

In the first-ever women's 1500-meter freestyle at the Olympic Games, Ledecky entered as the presumptive favorite and easily blew away the field, finishing 4.07 seconds ahead of U.S. teammate Erica Sullivan—who made a dramatic comeback to claim the silver medal.

OLYMPIC HISTORY IS MADE‼️@katieledecky wins the first-EVER Olympic gold medal in the women's 1500m free and teammate Erica Sullivan wins the silver.@TeamUSA x #TokyoOlympics #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/fTLlcWFgEg

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021

KATIEEEE YOU DID THATTTTTT @katieledecky

— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) July 28, 2021

Women's 1,500m Freestyle Final

1. Katie Ledecky (USA): 15:37.34

2. Erica Sullivan (USA): 15:41.41

3. Sarah Kohler (Germany): 15:42.91

4. Jianjiahe Wang (China): 15:46.37

5. Simona Quadarella (Italy): 15:53.97

6. Kiah Melverton (Australia): 16:00.36

7. Anastasiia Kirpichnikova (Russian Olympic Committee): 16:00.38

8. Maddy Gough (Australia): 16:05.81

Results via official Olympics website

SILVER for SULLIVAN!

Erica Sullivan earns a medal in the very first women's 1500m freestyle in Olympic history. #TokyoOlympics #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/AOhn1Hnpcd

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021

PURE. DOMINANCE.

Katie Ledecky is the first Olympic champion in the women's 1500m freestyle! #TokyoOlympics #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/3LzAdPOsT8

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021

Ledecky won the sixth gold medal of her Olympics career barely an hour after failing to medal in the 200m freestyle final. She is now two gold medals from tying Jenny Thompson (8) for the most all-time by an American woman. 

Sullivan, meanwhile, saved her absolute best for the final laps of the grueling 1500. After posting splits between 31.56 and 32.01 through the first 500 meters, the 20-year-old began to make her move, soaring from fifth place to second place in just 250 meters with splits hovering around 31.03 across her final laps. 

After calmly finishing first a few seconds earlier, Ledecky went wild as she looked up and saw Sullivan taking second right behind her. 

The United States won two medals, but Japan's Yui Ohashi captured the top prize in the women's 200-meter individual medley final at the 2021 Olympics. 

Ohashi, Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass finished in the top three spots during Tuesday's race. The win is Ohashi's second of these Games after the 400-meter individual medley on Sunday. 

2⃣medals, 1⃣ race!

Alex Walsh🥈 and Kate Douglass🥉 take home silver AND bronze for @TeamUSA in the women's 200m IM! #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/YoL4nQmeJM

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021

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Women's 200m Individual Medley Results

Gold: Yui Ohashi, Japan (2:08.52)

Silver: Alex Walsh, United States (2:08.65)

Bronze: Kate Douglass, United States (2:09.04)

4th: Abbie Wood, Great Britain (2:09.15)

5th: Yu Yiting, China (2:09.57)

6th: Sydney Pickrem, Canada (2:10.05)

7th: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary (2:12.38)

8th: Alicia Wilson, Great Britain (2:12.86)

Tuesday's race was a thriller, with Ohashi just sneaking by Walsh and Douglass in the final stretch. All three were running neck and neck for most of the final 50 meters. 

Walsh appeared to have a slight edge around the 25-meter mark, but Ohashi started to pick up steam to win her second gold medal in Tokyo. 

Walsh was on her knees outside the mixed zone yesterday after the semifinals, looked rough. She emptied the tank in the semis and then came back and fought Ohashi to the wall today.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) July 28, 2021

Ohashi has been building toward this moment for years, dating back to her gold medal win at the 2016 Asian Championships.

She followed that up by setting a Japanese record in the 200-meter individual medley at the 2017 World Championships with a time of 2:07.91, but that wasn't quite good enough to get past Hungary's Katinka Hosszu. 

Walsh and Douglass, both 19, had stellar Olympic debuts in this event. It's fitting that they would end up on the medal podium together. The University of Virginia teammates both won NCAA championships this year to help the program win its first-ever team title. 

Ohashi's margin of victory of 0.13 seconds is the smallest in Olympic history since the women's 200-meter individual medley was added in 1972. 

Walsh's silver medal is the best finish by an American woman in this event since Amanda Beard finished second in 2004.