2016 Rio Olympic Games
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Swimming: August 6-13
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
- Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
- SwimSwam previews
- Day 1 Schedule & Results
- Live Stream (NBC)’
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom has reset the Olympic record in the women’s 100 meter butterfly. Sjostrom, the world record holder and world champion, was denied the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In Rio, after four years of hard work and an amazing 2015-2016 season, Sjostrom looks to assert her dominance in the ultimate way in the sport of swimming: by capturing an Olympic gold medal.
Tonight, Sjostrom swam a brisk 55.84, taking away rival Dana Vollmer‘s Olympic record set in 2012 in a swim that came as an upset to Sjostrom, who held the world record before that race. Vollmer, the “momma on a mission,” has said that part of her motivation to make a come back was Sjostrom taking away her world record.
Though Vollmer took out the race tonight 1/10th under world record pace, she did not have the endurance to finish the race in a world record. Ranked 4th going into the finals tomorrow at a 57.06, Vollmer will challenge for a spot on the podium, though the gold medal, and possibly the world record, are Sjostrom’s to lose.
Vollmer’s gold-medal winning time, Sjostrom’s world record, and Sjostrom’s new Olympic record are as follows:
- Dana Vollmer (USA), London 2012: 55.98
- Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), Kazan 2015: 55.64
- Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), Rio de Janeiro 2015: 55.84
Women’s 100 Butterfly Semifinals Results
The 8 swimmers that will advance to the medal final tomorrow are as follows:
- Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden): 55.84
- Emma McKeon (Australia): 56.81
- Rikako Ikee (Japan): 57.05
- Dana Vollmer (USA): 57.06
- Penny Oleksiak (Canada): 57.10
- Ying Lu (China): 57.15
- Jeanette Ottesen (Denmark): 57.47
- Xenyi Chen (China): 57.51
Team USA’s Kelsi Worrell was 9th in semifinals with a 57.54, adding about half-a-second from her preliminary time.
Interesting, It looks like to be that all but the top 3 in the semis swam slower that the heats. Several of them doing duty subsequently in the 4x 1, in particular Vollmer and Penny O. If they can get back to those times could be a interesting battle for the silver and bronze. Imho it’s the swede’s gold to lose. (Swimswam not to be critical because you are doing tremdous work ???? but if the heat times could be included with the Semi results , that could add To the discussions. And it doesn’t look like the RIO web site would help you pulling these together very easily. ????)
Emma McKeon and Rikako Ikee also did the same double. In addition, Ikee did double-double (swam 4×100 prelims as well).
Interestingly, Ikee split slower in 4×100 final than in prelims, and McKeon lead off 4×100 in a slower time than expected.