{"id":593334,"date":"2024-07-31T03:20:17","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T10:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=593334"},"modified":"2024-07-31T11:13:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T18:13:01","slug":"paris-olympics-day-5-prelims-zhang-yufei-looking-for-back-to-back-golds-in-200-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/paris-olympics-day-5-prelims-zhang-yufei-looking-for-back-to-back-golds-in-200-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics, Day 5 Prelims: Zhang Yufei Looking for Back-to-Back Golds in 200 Butterfly; Regan Smith and Summer McIntosh Hovering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris Olympics, Day 5 Prelims: Zhang Yufei Looking for Back-to-Back Golds in 200 Butterfly<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 200-meter butterfly has been an up-in-the-air proposition for Zhang Yufei<\/strong> over the past few years. The reigning Olympic champion followed up her Tokyo triumph by picking up the bronze medal in the event at the 2022 World Championships. But at the 2023 World Champs, Zhang opted to skip the fly, and there was no guarantee it would return to her program for the Olympic Games in Paris.<\/p>\n

However, on Wednesday morning at La D\u00e9fense Arena, there was the Chinese star, ready to defend her title.<\/p>\n

Racing in the third of three prelims, Zhang was one of two swimmers to break the 2:07 barrier during the morning session, as she posted a time of 2:06.55. That effort enabled Zhang to earn the top seed for the semifinals, ahead of the United States’ Regan Smith<\/strong> (2:06.99). Smith went to work about 14 hours after winning the silver medal in the 100 backstroke.<\/p>\n