Olympics: Day Three Prelims Heat Sheets Now Available; Ledecky Goes for Double in 200 Free & 1500 Free

Jul 25, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Katie Ledecky (USA) in the women's 400m freestyle heats during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Katie Ledecky -- Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro -- USA Today Sports

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Olympics: Day Three Prelims Heat Sheets Now Available; Ledecky Goes for Double in 200 Free & 1500 Free

Following a second fascinating morning of finals at the Olympics, day three’s prelims will begin Monday evening in Japan at 7 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET in the U.S.), and the heat sheet for that session is now available. Events on the program for day three include the women’s 200 freestyle, men’s 200 butterfly, women’s 200 individual medley and women’s 1500 freestyle.

Highlighting the day of action will be Katie Ledecky, who will follow up her 400 freestyle final with two more swims, qualifying races in the 200 free and 1500 free. Ledecky will be the third seed in the 200 free, behind Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who missed the world record by just a tenth of a second last month, and Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the 32-year-old world-record holder who has seen a career reniassance since the Rio Olympics as she has captured the last two world titles in the event. Titmus will be going for her second gold medal of the Olympics after taking down Ledecky in an absolutely epic showdown in the 400 free Monday morning.

In the men’s 200 fly, the battle for silver and bronze is wide open, but no one will be stopping Kristof Milak, who broke Michael Phelps’ world record in the 200 fly at the 2019 World Championships and has surpassed Phelps’ previous mark on two occasions this year. Milak will be aiming to crush that world record in Tokyo.

The women’s 200 IM saw slight gold-medal favorite Kaylee McKeown withdraw to focus on her backstroke events, so defending champion, four-time world champion, world-record-holder Katinka Hosszu is top seed, but Hosszu is coming off a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 200 IM. Other top contenders will include 400 IM gold medalist Yui Ohashi, Canada’s Sydney Pickrem and the USA’s Alex Walsh.

Finally, five heats of the 1500 free will wrap up the session, and the winner of heat one and any subsequent quicker times will own the inaugural Olympic record in the event. Even with the two events in one session, Ledecky looks virtually untouchable in the event, while Italy’s Simona Quadarella won the 2019 world title in the event in the absence of an ill Ledecky.

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