TOKYO – Japan Today
Japanese swimmer Yui Ohashi has swept the women’s individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics.
Ohashi rallied to win the 200-meter medley, beating Americans Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass on Wednesday. Ohashi had previously won the 400-meter individual medley.
The winning time was 2 minutes, 8.52 seconds. Walsh took the silver in 2:08.65, while the bronze went to Douglass in 2:09.04.
Defending Olympic champion and world record-holder Katinka Hosszu of Hungary finished seventh. She was the oldest swimmer in the final at age 32.
Earlier Ariarne Titmus has beaten Katie Ledecky again at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
In fact, Ledecky didn’t even win a medal — the first time that’s ever happened to her at the Olympics.
Titmus, nicknamed “The Terminator,” gave the Australian women their third individual swimming gold of these games with a victory in the 200-meter freestyle.
Titmus set an Olympic record of 1 minute, 53.50 seconds to make it 2-for-2 against the American star, following up a thrilling victory in the 400 free.
In the longer race, Titmus conserved her energy over the first half of the race, then rallied to pass Ledecky with the second-fastest performance in history.
Ledecky wasn’t even close in the 200, making the first flip in seventh place and never getting higher than her fifth-place showing at the end. The defending Olympic champion finished in 1:55.21 — nearly 2 seconds behind the winner.
Ledecky faced a grueling morning that also included the final of the 1,500 free in which she finally collected her first gold medal of the Tokyo Games.
The 1,500-meter freestyle made its Olympic debut for women this year. That helped the American star make up for what has so far been the worst showing of her Olympic career.
About an hour after finishing the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky held off teammate Erica Sullivan to win the metric mile in 15 minutes, 37.34 seconds.
Sullivan claimed the silver in 15:41.41, while Germany’s Sarah Kohler grabbed the bronze in 15:42.91.
Siobahn Haughey of Hong Kong led much of the race before hanging on to take the silver in 1:53.92. The bronze went to Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in 1:54.70.
Italy’s Federica Pellegrini of Italy finished seventh in her fifth and final Olympics. She won the gold in 2008 and is still the world-record holder.
There were no surprises in the men’s 200 butterfly, with Kristof Milak of Hungary romping to a dominating victory.
Milak won the the gold by about two body lengths, backing up his status as one of the biggest favorites at the Olympic pool.
He touched in an Olympic record of 1:51.25 — some 2 1/2 seconds ahead of the silver medalist, Japan’s Tomoru Honda, who finished in 1:53.73.
The bronze went to Italy’s Federico Burdisso in 1:54.45.
South African star Chad le Clos finished fifth. He won the 200 fly at the 2012 London Olympics, upsetting Michael Phelps, but was no match for the Hungarian star.