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With the continued dominance of Katie Ledecky and the arrival of Caeleb Dressel as a star, the United States has come to hang their Olympic hat on their success in both men and women's swimming again at the Summer Olympics. On Thursday night, Team USA continued their mastery of the water in more swimming finals.
Lilly King and Annie Lazor got things started in the 200-meter breaststroke final, where they took silver and bronze, respectively. King had a lead for most of the race, but was passed halfway through the final lap by Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa. Schoenmaker set a new world record, finishing in 2:18.95.
On the men's final side, Ryan Murphy took silver in the 200-meter backstroke. He could not pass Evgeny Rylov of the ROC, who finished in an Olympic record time of 1:53.27.
Before those two finals, American Caeleb Dressel advanced to the 100-meter butterfly final after finishing first in the semifinal.
Below are recaps of the races that took place.
Men's 100m butterfly semifinal
Dressel leapt out to a slight advantage out of the gate and was able to cruise to the easy victory in the 100-meter butterfly semifinals. Dressel just missed out on a world record, but turned in an Olympic record time of 49.71. The American swimmer will get a chance at his third gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the final on Friday. Dressel has already won gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter relay this week.
Women's 200-meter breaststroke final
In the 200-meter breaststroke, King got off to a great start and found herself on a world record pace in the first 100 meters. King was neck-in-neck with Schoenmaker in the final 50 meters, but Schoenmacher was able to edge out King with a world record time of 2:18.95. Schoemacher won the gold medal while King took silver (2:19.92) and fellow American Annie Lazor (2:20.84) earned the bronze.
Men's 200-meter backstroke final
Murphy was right in the thick of the race throughout the first 100 meters of the men's 200-meter backstroke final. Russian Olympic Committee's Rylov led the bulk of the way and was able to do just enough to edge out Murphy with a time of 1:53.27. Murphy finished the race with a time of 1:54.15 to earn the silver medal.
Women's 100m freestyle final
Australia's Emma McKeon sets a new Olympic record with a time of 51.96 in the women's 100-meter freestyle and wins the gold medal. Fellow Australian swimmer Cate Campbell also found her way onto the podium as she earned the bronze medal with a time of 52.52. American Abbey Weitzel finished in eighth place with a time of 53.23.
Men's 200-meter individual medley final
China's Wang Shun had a slight lead following the first 100 meters of the men's 200-meter individual medley. However, American Michael Andrew overtook Wang heading into the final 50 meters of the race, but then faded coming down the stretch. Shun won the gold medal with a time of 1:55.00 while Andrew missed the podium completely as he finished fifth with a time of 1:57.31.
Women's 200-meter backstroke semifinal
Canada's Kylie Masse won the 200-meter backstroke semifinal with a time of 2:07.82. Massie was able to edge out Australia's Kaylee McKeown and earned the fourth-best time in the two semifinal races.
