Swimming
Tokyo Olympics: Zhang Yufei, Caeleb Dressel and Zac Stubblety-Cook make sure that the records continue to tumble
Three Olympic Records and a World Record were smashed on the morning of Day 6 of the Tokyo Olympics
China smashed the World Record in Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay [Source: Getty Images]
Day 6 of Swimming at the Tokyo Olympics proved to be an enthralling adventure. Records were shattered left, right, and centre in the individual finals. In the Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay, the team from China upset the Australian and American powerhouses.
The likes of Emma McKeon, Siobhan Haughey, Ryan Murphy, and Tatjana Schoenmaker also booked safe passage to the finals of their respective events.
We discuss in further details below:
Zhang Yufei wins the first Swimming gold medal for China in Tokyo
In the Women's 200m Butterfly, it was China's Zhang Yufei who clinched the gold medal with an Olympic Record swim of 2:03.86. The 23-year-old has been in blistering form all year and therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that she managed to record the third-fastest time ever in the final.
This is China's first swimming gold medal in Tokyo and Zhang had earlier contributed with a silver in Women's 100m Fly. US swimmers Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger finished with silver and bronze respectively.
Unfazed Caeleb Dressel smashes Olympic Record
Caeleb Dressel clinched the first individual gold medal in his Olympic career with a record swim in the final of Men's 100m Freestyle. Adding to his back-to-back world titles, the US swimmer finished with an Olympic record time of 47.02 to stop the reign of defending Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers who finished second in the final with a time of 47.08. Kliment Kolesnikov picked up the bronze medal with a swim of 47.44.
Zac Stubblety-Cook holds off challenge from Arno Kamminga to win Breaststroke Gold
Zac Stubblety-Cook and Arno Kamminga were involved in a brilliant race in the final of Men's 200m Breaststroke. The formidable challenge from Dutch swimmer Kamminga forced Stubblety-Cook to dig into his last reserves with 50m of the race remaining, and in the end, he managed to set a new Olympic Record.
His time of 2:06.38 overpowered Kamminga's 2:07.01 and Finland's Matti Mattsson's 2:07.13 who took silver and bronze respectively. World-record holder and two-time Olympic Champion Anton Chupkov finished fourth whereas the defending Olympic champion Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan failed to qualify for the final.
Robert Finke becomes the first Olympic champion in Men's 800m Freestyle
In one of the inaugural events at the Tokyo Olympics – Men's 800m Freestyle swimming – America's Robert Finke had the distinction of becoming the first Olympic champion. Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri led the race from the start but fell short to Finke in the final 50m of the race in a nail-biting finish.
Finke finished his swim with a time of 7:41.87 while Paltrinieri managed 7:42.11 to win silver. Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk finished third with a time of 7:42.33 to win bronze.
Team China leave everyone stunned
China women stunned the world by smashing the world record in Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay. They caused major upset by beating powerhouses Australia and US who were expected to take the top prizes.
The race was enthralling from every aspect and all three podium finishers – China, US, and Australia – finished with swims below the former World Record time. The Chinese team of Yang Junxuan, Zhang Yufei, Li Bingjie, and Tang Muhan touched in 7:40.33 ahead of the US (7:40.73) and Australia (7:41.29).
The previous world record stood at 7:41.50 and was set by Australia at the 2019 World Championships.
