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2020 Tokyo Olympics: Best Night of Swimming Yet

2020 Tokyo Olympics: Best Night of Swimming Yet

If you thought the first five days of swimming at the Tokyo Olympics were fun, well day six just outdid all of those in our opinion.

Jul 31, 2021 by Kyle Sockwell
2020 Tokyo Olympics: Best Night of Swimming Yet

If you thought the first five days of swimming at the Tokyo Olympics were fun, well day six just outdid all of those in my swim nerd opinion. Every event seemed to just continually “one-up” the prior event and it just snowballed all the way down until the end leaving swim fans across the country dazed, confused, and yearning for more. Enough rambling. Let’s get into it.

Bobby Finke STORMS Home to Win First-Ever 800 Freestyle Men’s Olympic Gold

Similar to the Women’s 1500 freestyle, the men’s 800 freestyle had yet to be contested at the Olympic Games. Knowing this, whoever got their hand on the wall first in this men’s final was going to be the inaugural Olympic Champion in the race. For the majority of the event, Bobby Finke hung with the pack and it looked like he would have a shot at a medal. As the final 100 meters come about, Bobby Finke proved he had other plans as he STORMED home in one of the most incredible closing 50s in distance history. Finke’s last for of 26.39 catapulted him to gold with a final time of 7:41.87.

Zhang of China Puts Up a CRAZY fast 200 Butterfly to Win Gold

It’s well understood within the swimming community that the Women’s 200 butterfly World Record is almost unattainable for the foreseeable future. Zhang of China proved that to be true today as she put up a MASSIVE 2:03.86 and the fastest time we’ve seen in over 12-years to take the gold in the event. The world record is still just about two seconds faster. Insane. Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger of Team USA finished second and third behind Zhang to take silver and Bronze, respectively.

Caeleb Dressel Gets It Done in the Men’s 100 Freestyle (new OR!)

Caeleb Dressel stole the show tonight when he hung on by a thread to steal the gold in the Men’s 100 freestyle from a charging Kyle Chalmers of Australia. His time of 47.02 was good for a new Olympic Record and his post-race interview has tissue sales sky-rocketing nationwide.

In what has been an incredibly confusing and tough time for these Olympians, it seemed this gold medal provided some serious relief to Dressel.

Tatjana Schoenmaker Scares Women’s 200 Breaststroke WR in Semi-Finals

Tatjana Schoenmaker is undoubtedly the one to beat in the Women’s 200 breaststroke and she further proved that to be the case in the semi-finals. Out in front of world record pace the whole way she faded off of it just a bit at the end putting up a 2:19.33 just a couple tenths shy of the record. Both Americans, Lilly King and Annie Lazer, qualified for the final and will see if they can chase down Schoenmaker… or snag second or third behind the heavy favorite. 

Three Relays Break The Women’s 800 Freestyle World Record 

If I had to vote for the race of the night and I only got one vote… I’d buy a second vote from someone else and give this race two votes. Going into the event the Australian relay was a heavy heavy heavy favorite to shatter the World Record and win gold handily. That didn’t end up being the case. After the water settled the results showed three relays (China, USA, and Australia) all going under the previous WR mark. Katie Ledecky laid down the fastest split of the event in a 1:53.7 and barely ran out of room as she was running down China who ended up taking the gold.

All in all, we’re incredibly lucky to have gotten to watch what was one of the best nights of Olympic swimming in the history of the games and we’re even luckier that they’re not done yet. Stay tuned for more coverage on the Tokyo Olympic from FloSwimming.

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