MOTOR POOL
Australia good as gold with record 400-meter freestyle relay time; Americans win six medals
Sugar Land’s Manuel adds to swim legacy with relay bronze.
TOKYO — Simone Manuel was back in the pool and back on the podium Sunday morning (Saturday night CDT), winning a bronze medal as the anchor of USA Swimming’s 400-meter freestyle relay team.
Manuel, 24, the former Sugar Land resident who trains at Stanford University, did not make the U.S. team in the 100 free, the event in which she won a landmark gold medal in 2016, but was added to the relay with Erika Brown, Abby Weitzel and Natalie Hinds after Saturday’s heats.
Australia, the heavy favorite, won the gold medal in world record time of 3:29.69. Canada was second in 3:32.81 and the U.S. finished in 3:33.70.
Manuel was outtouched for the silver by Canadian anchor Penny Oleksiak, with whom she tied for the 100 free gold medal in Rio de Janeiro. Oleksiak swam the anchor for Canada in 52.26 seconds to 52.96 for Manuel.
Cate Campbell, the Australian anchor, swam 52.24 seconds as the Australians lived up to their billing as favorites.
Manuel was expected to compete in at least one relay as she recovers from a bout of overtraining syndrome that kept her out of the water for several weeks in the spring. That setback dampened the prospects that she could be a multiple gold medal contender in Tokyo.
She said she has regained confidence in her swimming in the post-trials training camp and didn’t need the psychological boost of anchoring the early relay. Still, she said she’s on good pace for her individual race later in the Olympic meet.
“I’ve seen improvements since going to trials, and it doesn’t do me any justice to step up on the blocks and not be confident in the training that I’ve done,” she said.
“Even though the last couple of months haven’t been the greatest for me, I’ve trained really hard the past four and a half, five years. So eventually that hard work will show up. I just have to keep trusting in myself.”
Manuel said she had been focused in training on the 50 free, the only individual event for which she qualified for the Olympics at the USA Swimming trials in Omaha, but she was grateful to make the relay lineup.
She swam leadoff for the 2016 U.S. team that finished second to Australia before tying for the 100 free individual title, becoming the first U.S. black woman to win an individual swimming gold medal.
Chase Kalisz led a medal haul by the powerhouse American team at the Olympic pool, taking gold Sunday in the men’s 400-meter individual medley. The Americans won six medals on the day. Host Japan claimed its first swimming gold, and Tunisia also made the medal podium.
Kalisz was the first U.S. medal winner of the Tokyo Games, and Jay Litherland made it a 1-2 finish for the Americans by rallying on the freestyle leg to claim the silver. Brendon Smith of Australia earned the bronze.
Kieran Smith grabbed another medal for the American men with bronze in the 400 freestyle.
Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui was the surprising winner from lane eight, while Australia’s Jack McLoughlin settled for silver after leading much of the race.
Japan’s Yui Ohashi won gold in the women’s 400 IM with a dynamic breaststroke leg, but two Americans were right in her wake.
Emma Weyant earned the silver, while the bronze went to Hali Flickinger.
In all, five of the first nine swimming medals went to the U.S. Kalisz, a protege and former training partner of Olympic great Michael Phelps, touched first in 4 minutes, 9.42 seconds. Litherland was next in 4:10.28, just ahead of Smith (4:10.38).
Kalisz flexed his muscles and then climbed atop the lane rope, splashing the water while a contingent of his teammates cheered him from the stands of the nearly empty Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
“U-S-A! U-S-A!” they chanted.
Kalisz was the silver medalist in the grueling event at the Rio Games five years ago. Now 27, he’s the best in the world at using all four strokes.