Dressel bags 100m freestyle gold; China stun US in 200m relay
The 24-year-old powered to the wall in the men’s 100m freestyle in a new Olympic record time of 47.02sec to dethrone charging Australian defending champion Kyle Chalmers
US swim star Caeleb Dressel won his second gold of the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday to stay on track for a potential six-medal haul as organisers announced a record daily tally of coronavirus cases.
Dressel arrived at the Olympics tipped to push for a Michael Phelps-style medal haul and already has two wins under his belt, with a potential four to come.
The 24-year-old powered to the wall in the men’s 100m freestyle in a new Olympic record time of 47.02sec to dethrone charging Australian defending champion Kyle Chalmers.
Dressel, who spearheaded the United States to the 4x100m relay title earlier this week, will also race the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly and could feature in two other relays.
The swimmer, who won two relay golds in Rio, said he was proud to claim his first individual title.
Dressel’s 13 world titles have prompted inevitable comparisons with Phelps -- winner of eight Olympic golds at the 2008 Beijing Games and 23 in total.
Only Phelps, Mark Spitz and Kristin Otto have won six or more golds at a single Olympics in swimming.
Robert Finke won another gold for the United States in the men’s 800m freestyle while Australia’s Zac Stubblety-cook claimed the men’s 200m breaststroke gold in a new Olympic record time of 2:06.38.
China’s women stunned the field to smash the world record and win the Olympic 4x200m relay title in a major upset on Thursday.
The team of Yang Junxuan, Zhang Yufei, Li Bingjie and Tang Muhan touched in 7mins 40.33 seconds ahead of the United States (7:40.73) and Australia (7:41.29).
It is the first time neither Australia nor the USA have won gold since the event was introduced in 1996.
All three teams were under the previous world record of 7:41.50 set by Australia at the 2019 world championships.
But China took the title after holding off a late charge by America’s Katie Ledecky, who threatened an incredible comeback during the final leg.
Australia had been the overwhelming favourites coming in, with their women’s team already winning gold in the 4x100m relay on Sunday, when they broke their own world record.
With Australian star Ariarne Titmus leading the team off on the back of wins in the 200m and 400m freestyle events this week, the expectation was they would cruise to another victory.
“It was a really fast race,” Titmus said. “We were under our previous world record, so it was still a good swim from us.
“I feel like I should’ve been better but it’s what you can do on the day and it’s been a big couple of days, so I’m happy to come away on the podium.”
Titmus trailed Yang at the end of the first leg and that set the tone, as Australia’s Emma Mckeon, a bronze medallist in the 100m butterfly, was behind after the second too.
China’s Zhang conceded some ground to America’s Katie Mclaughlin and Australian
Madison Wilson in the third, before Ledecky made her move.
The six-time Olympic gold medallist pushed past Australian anchor Leah Neale and looked like she could even snatch victory with one length left to go.
But Li dug in, holding off Ledecky to win by less than half-a-second and secure China their second swimming gold of the Games.
Earlier, Zhang proved untouchable in the women’s Olymic 200m butterfly final Thursday, blasting to the gold medal in the third fastest time ever.
The 23-year-old has been in red-hot form this year and hit the wall in a new Olympic record time of 2mins 03.86sec ahead of American Regan Smith (2:05.30) and team-mate Hali Flickinger (2:06.65).
Victory comes as a timely boost for China, who now have their first swimming gold medal in Tokyo to add to one silver, which Zhang won in the 100m fly, and a bronze.
Zhang, a sprint free and fly specialist, had been one of only two women to crack 2:06.00 this year, with Flickinger the other. Her Olympic record at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre was also the quickest time posted in 12 years.
The 23-year-old exploded from the blocks to pull more than a second clear at the first turn and she was motoring at world record pace when the race reached halfway.
Flickinger, who took silver at the 2019 World Championships, was Zhang’s closest challenger going into the last length but she was unable to close the gap and was pipped to silver by Smith at the end.
Zhang will hope to claim her third individual medal in the 50m freestyle, which starts on Friday.