2016 Rio Olympic Games: Day 6 Finals Live Recap

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

Everything you need to follow along live with day six finals of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Competition begins at 10 p.m. local time (9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST) Hit refresh for all the latest coverage.

View the full heat sheets here. Check out Swimming World‘s predictions for tonight’s action here.

Scheduled Events:

Men’s 50 Free Semi-Finals
Women’s 200 Breast FINAL
Men’s 200 Back FINAL
Women’s 200 Back Semi-Finals
Men’s 200 IM FINAL
Women’s 100 Free FINAL
Men’s 100 Fly Semi-Finals

Men’s 50 Free Semi-Finals:

Quick off the start in heat one of the men’s 50 free semi-finals was France’s Florent Manaudou. Manaudou, the reigning Olympic champion in this event, posted a 21.32 to not only claim the top seed going into tomorrow’s final, but also the top time in the world for 2016.

Tonight’s top seed Andrii Govorov of Ukraine and Anthony Ervin of the USA delivered matching times in heat two of the semi-finals, stopping the clock at 21.46 to tie for the second place seed.

Fellow American Nathan Adrian turned in a close 21.47 from heat one to return as the fourth place seed.

Great Britain’s Ben Proud picked up fifth with a 21.54, while hometown favorite Bruno Fratus of Brazil tied for sixth with Lithuania’s Simonas Bilis. The two posted final times of 21.71 to earn their way into the final.

South Africa’s Bradley Tandy rounds out the top eight qualifiers with a 21.80.

Women’s 200 Breast FINAL:

The women’s 200 breaststroke held close together for much of the race, being highlighted by a close field of athletes. Australia’s Taylor Mckeown jumped to an early lead, splitting a 1:07.99 at the 100 to lead the field, but was unable to hold off a fast approaching Rie Kaneto of Japan.

Kaneto turned up the heat to charge ahead and claim a decisive win of 2:20.30, more than a second and a half ahead of the competition.

Swimming a much quicker first half than her prelims and semi-finals swims was Yulia Efimova of Russia. Efimova never lost touch with the competition, making her move at the 150 mark to gain ground on Kaneto and finish second with a 2:21.97.

China’s Shin Jinglin picked up third overall with a final time of 2:22.28, good for bronze.

Great Britain’s Chloe Tutton was fourth with a time of 2:22.34, just ahead of McKeown’s final 2:22.43.

Molly Renshaw of the Great Britain grabbed sixth overall with a 2:@2.72, while Canada’s Kierra Smith posted a time of 2:23.19 for seventh.

Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen, the current World Record holder, slipped to eighth and a final time of 2:23.74.

Men’s 200 Back FINAL:

The newest King of American backstroke continued his dominance in finals of the men’s 200 backstroke with his second individual gold medal of the Olympic Games. Ryan Murphy shot off the start with only Japan’s Ryosuke Irie posting a faster reaction time.

It was clear from the start that it would be a show-down between Murphy and Australia’s Mitch Larkin. Larkin made it to the first turn with a 26.61 over Murphy’s 27.10, but it didn’t take long for Murphy to build speed and start to pull ahead of Larkin. Larkin pulled closer to Murphy during the final 50-meters of the race, but was unable to catch Murphy who stopped the clock at a 1:53.62 over his own 1:53.96.

Murphy’s gold medal continues a tradition of American dominance in the backstroke events, claiming the USA’s sixth straight gold in the event.

Russia’s Evgeny Rylov hung close to Larkin at the end to pick up the bronze medal with a time of 1:53.97, effectively separating the top three from the rest of the competition.

China’s Xu Jiayu grabbed fourth overall with a final time of 1:55.16, while teammate Li Guangyuan was sixth with a time of 1:55.89. Sandwiched between the two teammates was Jacob Pebley of the USA with a 1:55.52.

Germany’s Christian Diener, though second to the wall at the 50, slipped to seventh overall with a time of 1:56.27, just ahead of Japan’s Ryosuke Irie’s 1:56.36.

Women’s 200 Back Semi-Finals:

The “Iron Lady” of Hungary, Katinka Hosszu, continued on her route to a fourth Olympic medal with a dominating swim in semi-finals of the 200 back. Hosszu shot off to an immediate lead in heat two of the semi-finals to show that she meant business, turning in the only sub-30 second first 50 for both heats. Hosszu continued to extend her lead, finishing the race with a time of 2:06.03.

Canada’s Hilary Caldwell topped heat one of the semi-finals with a 2:07.17 to return as the second place seed for tomorrow night’s final.

The field narrowed from there with the USA’s Maya DiRado and China’s Liu Yaxin turning in very similar times. DiRado posted a 2:07.53 from heat two for third, while Liu was a 2:07.56 in heat one.

Australia’s Belinda Hocking picked up the fifth place seed with a 2:07.83.

South Africa’s Kirsty Coventry, gold medalist in the 200 back in both 2004 and 2008, will get another shot at an Olympic medal with her sixth place seed of 2:08.83.

Israel’s Eyglo Gustafsdottir and Russia’s Daria Ustinova posted matching times of 2:08.84 to complete the qualifying heat.

Reigning Olympic champion and World Record holder, Missy Franklin, finished fourteenth overall with a 2:09.74.

Men’s 200 IM FINAL:

Michael Phelps of the USA continued to etch his name into history with his 22nd Olympic gold medal and becomes the first man or woman to win the same event four times, let alone four times in a row.

Thiago Pereira of Brazil got off to an early lead, touching first in the fly to back turn with a split of 24.74, but was unable to hold off the backstroke talent of the USA’s Ryan Lochte. Phelps hung close with them, but waited until the breaststroke leg to make his move, quickly inching ahead to turn first for the final leg.

Phelps continued to extend his lead in the final 25-meters to finish close to two seconds ahead of the competition, securing his 22nd gold medal and a four-peat of the 200 individual medley.

Surprisingly Pereira (1:58.02) and Lochte (1:57.47) both fell off the pace, finishing outside of the podium as seventh and fifth respectively.

It was Japan’s Kosuke Hagino who snuck in to claim the silver medal with a time of 1:56.61, earning his second individual medal of the Games.

China’s Wang Shun joined Phelps and Hagino on the podium with a final time of 1:57.05, just ahead of Japan’s Hiromasa Fujimori and his time of 1:57.21.

Germany’s Philip Heintz posted a sixth place finish of 1:57.48, while Great Britain’s Dan Wallace as eighth with a 1:58.54.

Women’s 100 Free FINAL:

In what can only be described as an absolute upset from the predicted results, the women’s 100 free final proved to be a record-breaking event in many ways.

Cate Campbell of Australia, the current World Record holder in this event, jumped to an immediate lead in the water, pulling ahead of her own World Record split at the turn, giving all who were watching the impression that the race was hers. But just when she had pulled ahead the rest of the field gained on her with Canada’s young sprint star Penny Oleksiak and the USA’s Simone Manuel joining Cate and Bronte Campbell at the top of the heat.

The announcers themselves were briefly confused as an “OR,” signifying a new Olympic Record, appeared next to Manuel’s name, while a “1” appeared next to Oleksiak’s. Only then did everyone realize that the two sprint stars, rookies to the Olympic stage, had tied for the Gold medal in Olympic Record fashion with a 52.70.

The duo’s time of 52.70 took down Oleksiak’s Canadian and World Junior records of 52.72, while also downing Amanda Weir’s 2009 American record 53.02. Manuel’s first place finish also marks her as the first African-African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom snuck her hand to the wall to claim bronze with a 52.99, just ahead of Bronte’s final time of 53.04.

Reigning Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands finished fifth overall with a 53.08, while Cate slipped to a shocking sixth with a 53.24.

The USA’s Abbey Weitzeil took seventh with a time of 53.30, while Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark finished eighth with a 53.36.

Men’s 100 Fly Semi-Finals:

Leading the charge into tomorrow night’s final will be Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who turned in the only sub-51 second time of the evening with a 50.83 finish in heat two to post the fastest time in the world for 2016.

Chad le Clos of South Africa posted a final time of 51.43 from the same heat to return tomorrow as the second place seed, just ahead of China’s young butterfly superstar Li Zhuhao. Zhuhao finished third overall in semi-finals with a 51.51.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary just barely got his hand to the wall ahead of Michael Phelps, stopping the clock at a 51.57 for fourth going into tomorrow’s final.

Not long after becoming the first person, male or female, to four-peat an individual event Michael Phelps of the USA was back in the water in heat one of the 100 fly semi-finals. Phelps turned eighth at the 50-meter mark, but turned on the heat to charge home and touch second in his heat with a final time of 51.58, good for fifth going into tomorrow night’s final.

American teammate Tom Shields joins Phelps in the final as the sixth place seed, posting a qualifying time of 51.61.

Russia’s Aleksandr Sadovnikov (51.71) and France’s Mehdy Metella (51.75) round out the top eight qualifiers.

Full results from tonight available here.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Name*

Email*

2 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Cathleen Pruden

7 years ago

wow

tinashe

7 years ago

Kirsty Coventry is not from South Africa.She is Zimbabwean