Olympics Day 2 Notebook: Time for Emma McKeon\u2019s Individual Shining Moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emma McKeon<\/strong> has been an international force for Australia since 2013, a presence never missing from the Dolphins\u2019 lineup in any of the relay events at an international meet during that eight-year span. She has won 17 medals at World Championships in her career, 14 of those on relays, and four of her five Olympic medals came on relays, including both golds (in the 400 free relay in 2016 and then already in Tokyo). Over the years, McKeon turned herself into a bona fide medal contender in individual events, too, beginning with a bronze in the 200 free at the 2016 Olympics and then a pair of silvers in the 100 fly and 200 free at the World Championships one year later.<\/p>\n

But McKeon was still overshadowed \u2013 significantly \u2013 by her fellow Australians. Cate Campbell<\/strong> is a four-time Olympian and one of the country\u2019s all-time great sprinters, a world-record breaker and world-title winner, even though she has never won individual Olympic gold. Cate\u2019s younger sister, Bronte<\/strong>, has also won individual world titles. It was always about the Campbell sisters leading Australia, and McKeon was in a supporting role.<\/p>\n

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Emma McKeon — Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher — USA Today Sports<\/p><\/div>\n
Now, McKeon is in the spotlight, and she could win Australia\u2019s first individual Olympic gold of these Olympics. McKeon was the third-fastest qualifier for the women\u2019s 100 butterfly final<\/a>, but her prelims time of 55.82 was her lifetime best and tied with China\u2019s Zhang Yufei<\/strong> as the top time of the Games so far. McKeon now ranks fourth all-time in the event. Everyone in the historical top five will be competing in the Tokyo final, the first race up on the Monday morning finals slate, but McKeon has a very real shot of winning that.<\/p>\n
If she comes up short in the 100 fly, McKeon has to be considered the favorite for gold right now in the 100 free, an event she has often not competed in internationally due to the Campbell sisters\u2019 presence. McKeon holds the world\u2019s fastest time in that event at 52.29, and her 51.35 split on Australia\u2019s gold-medal winning 400 free relay<\/a> was the only sub-52 split of all 32 swimmers in the final.<\/p>\n
And if McKeon wins gold in the 100 fly, she would actually become the first Australian woman to claim individual gold in the pool in a whopping 13 years, since Leisel Jones<\/strong> (100 breast), Libby Trickett<\/strong> (100 fly) and Stephanie Rice<\/strong> (200 and 400 IM) won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. McKeon in the 100 free and Kaylee McKeown<\/strong> in the backstroke events will present other opportunities for Australia to break the individual golden drought this week.<\/p>\n
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Tatjana Schoenmaker Ready to Rival Lilly King in 100 Breaststroke?<\/strong><\/h3>\n $\"Olympics,$
Tatjana Schoenmaker after setting an Olympic record in the women’s 100 breast — Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro — USA Today Sports<\/p><\/div>\n
Prior to the Games, Tatjana Schoenmaker<\/strong> was a legitimate contender for Olympic gold in the 200 breaststroke (her 2:20.17 earlier this year was the quickest time recorded since 2017), but she was hardly a contender in the 100-meter event. But now, she holds the Olympic record, her prelims time of 1:04.82 beating Lilly King\u2019s<\/strong> mark of 1:04.93 set on her way to Olympic gold in 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n
That marks the first time in King\u2019s international career that she has ever had a record broken. King qualified third for the semifinals in 1:05.55, and while she has been faster than Schoenmaker\u2019s time this year, it was only by a tenth of a second.<\/p>\n
King, of course, has been known for responding in force to challenges to her dominance in the shorter breaststroke race, which she has not lost since U.S. Nationals in 2015, when she was 18. Few can forget her Rio rivalry with Russia\u2019s Yuliya<\/strong> Efimova<\/strong>, and more recently, she has motivated herself by thinking about a rivalry with \u201cone little Italian girl.\u201d<\/a> That refers to 16-year-old Benedetta<\/strong> Pilato<\/strong>, who challenged King on last year\u2019s ISL circuit and recent broke King\u2019s world record in the 50 breast. In Tokyo, Pilato was disqualified in the 100 breast and would not have qualified for the semifinals anyway.<\/p>\n
But now King has a new 100-meter challenger, Schoenmaker, and lo and behold, the duo will race in adjacent lanes in the second semifinal. Let\u2019s see how King responds.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, South Africa\u2019s men have had considerable Olympic success in the pool recently, winning medals at four of the last five Games and gold medals in 2004 and 2012, but Schoenmaker is aiming to become South Africa\u2019s first female Olympic gold medalist in swimming since Penny Heyns<\/strong> swept the 100 and 200 breast gold medals in 1996 and the first female medalist since Heyns won 100-meter bronze in 2000. The only other South African woman to ever win Olympic gold in the pool was Joan Harrison<\/strong> in the 100 back at the 1952 Games.<\/p>\n
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Men\u2019s 100 Backstroke Taking Shape<\/strong><\/h3>\nThis event did not see three different swimmers take down the Olympic record in succession, which is what happened in the women\u2019s version of the 100 back<\/a>. Instead, the four main contenders for gold took very different approaches to their first round. China\u2019s Xu Jiayu<\/strong> went for it early but then pulled back slightly. He ended up third for semifinals in 52.70. Then, Russia\u2019s Kliment Kolesnikov<\/strong> went out in a ridiculous 24.89, more than two tenths under world-record pace and did not fade badly. He ended up swimming a 52.15<\/a>, just 0.02 off his seed time, and that was good for first place going into semifinals.<\/p>\n
But in the last heat, world-record holder Ryan Murphy<\/strong> and 200 back world champion Evgeny Rylov<\/strong> took it easy on the front half, each of their splits more than a second behind Kolesnikov\u2019s, and then they did just enough to get into the final. They each touched in 53.22 to tie for seventh place.<\/p>\n
So what did we learn from the prelims? Honestly, nothing. But when gold is at stake in the final, expect Kolesnikov to be out really, really fast. He probably can\u2019t hold onto whatever pace he sets, but it will be a tall task for Xu, Murphy, Rylov or anyone else to run him down.<\/p>\n
Also of note, both Kolesnikov and Rylov are scheduled to swim in the second semifinal, scheduled for 11:37 a.m. Tokyo time. Then, at least Kolesnikov and likely Rylov, too, will then turn around to compete on Russia\u2019s 400 free relay, set for 12:05 p.m. That\u2019s a quick turnaround, so we\u2019ll see how much it affects them. At the European Championships in May, Kolesnikov had to swim the 100 back semifinal just 10 minutes after the 100 free final, and he struggled badly, ending up 16th overall in one of his best events.<\/p>\n
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Another Japanese Gold Medal Contender Misses Out<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Katsuhiro Matsumoto — Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher — USA Today Sports<\/p><\/div>\n
After Daiya Seto<\/strong> finished ninth in the men\u2019s 400 IM on day one, the same misfortune felled another standout for the home nation, Katsuhiro<\/strong> Matsumoto<\/strong>. The silver medalist in the 200 free at the 2019 World Championships and third-ranked swimmer in the world entering the day, Matsumoto swam a 1:46.69 in the 200 free, 0.02 behind 16th-place Stefano<\/strong> di Colla<\/strong> of Italy<\/a>. Making the situation even more disappointing, Matsumoto ended up tying for 17th, so he had to swim off for first alternate. In that swim-off, he put up a 1:46.06 to beat Germany\u2019s Lukas Martens, and that time would have comfortably qualified him for the semifinals in 11th place.<\/p>\n
Yui Ohashi<\/strong> earned Japan a gold medal in the women\u2019s 400 IM on day one, but Matsumoto had one of the best remaining chances to add to that haul of top honors.<\/p>\n
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More History for Allison Schmitt<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Allison Schmitt competing in the women’s 400 free relay prelims at the Olympics — Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro — USA Today Sports<\/p><\/div>\n
When Allison Schmitt<\/strong> swam her first race of the Tokyo Olympics Saturday evening, she did not have a great split on the U.S. women\u2019s 400 free relay in prelims (54.04), but she helped the team qualify for the final and eventually earned a bronze medal for her efforts. That helped bolster Schmitt\u2019s standings in the history books. According to Olympic historian Bill Mallon<\/strong>, Schmitt is now the 13th American woman in any sport to earn medals in four different Olympics and only the third U.S. swimmer to do so, joining Jenny<\/strong> Thompson<\/strong> and Dara<\/strong> Torres<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Schmitt now owns nine Olympic medals for her career (including seven relay medals), and that ranks her tied for 15th among women in all sports for most career medals and tied for fourth among Americans with track star Allyson<\/strong> Felix<\/strong>. The only U.S. swimmers with more medals are Thompson, Torres and Natalie<\/strong> Coughlin<\/strong>, who each own 12.<\/p>\n
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She is the 13th @TeamUSA<\/a> woman to win medals at 4 Olympic Games. She is also the 5th female swimmer to win medals at 4+ Olympics, and the 3rd USA woman to win swim medals at 4+ Olympics \u2013 after Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres (who did it in 5). 3\/n<\/p>\n
— Bill Mallon (@bambam1729) July 25, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tatjana Schoenmaker Ready to Rival Lilly King in 100 Breaststroke?<\/strong><\/h3>\nTatjana Schoenmaker after setting an Olympic record in the women’s 100 breast — Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro — USA Today Sports<\/p><\/div>\n

Another Japanese Gold Medal Contender Misses Out<\/strong><\/h3>\nKatsuhiro Matsumoto — Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher — USA Today Sports<\/p><\/div>\n