{"id":592804,"date":"2024-07-28T12:48:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T19:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=592804"},"modified":"2024-07-28T15:01:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T22:01:59","slug":"paris-olympics-day-2-semifinals-tatjana-smith-targeting-gold-in-100-breaststroke-mona-mcsharry-and-lilly-king-lurking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/paris-olympics-day-2-semifinals-tatjana-smith-targeting-gold-in-100-breaststroke-mona-mcsharry-and-lilly-king-lurking\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics, Day 2 Semifinals: Tatjana Smith Targeting Gold in 100 Breaststroke; Mona McSharry and Lilly King Lurking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris Olympics, Day 2 Semifinals: Tatjana Smith Targeting Gold in 100 Breaststroke<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tatjana Smith<\/strong> knows the feeling of winning an Olympic gold medal, having accomplished the feat at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. During the COVID-19 Games, when known by her maiden name of Tatjana Schoenmaker, the South African snared the title in the 200-meter breaststroke.<\/p>\n

Will Paris feature a title in the 100 breaststroke.<\/p>\n

Replicating her time from the preliminaries, Smith was the quickest performer in the semifinals of the 100 breast at La Defense Arena on Sunday night. The silver medalist in the event in Tokyo, Smith touched the wall in 1:05.00. That swim vaulted Smith into the final as the top seed by a half-second over Ireland’s Mona McSharry<\/strong>, who went 1:05.51.<\/p>\n

It won’t be surprising if Smith dips into the 1:04-range during the final, as her finish during the semifinals was poor and certainly cost the 27-year-old some time. Following Smith and McSharry into the No. 3 position for the medals chase was veteran Lilly King<\/strong>. The American went 1:05.64 and will be seeking her third straight Olympic medal in the event, following a gold at the 2016 Games and a bronze in Tokyo.<\/p>\n