SWIMMING: Gold medallist from the 400m freestyle Mack Horton was finally back in the water for his second individual event today, the men’s 1500m freestyle and faced his regular rival China’s Sun Yang in his heat.
The gruelling 30 laps saw Horton swim a controlled race to stay inside the top four, picking up the pace in the final stages to finish second in his heat and fourth overall.
Horton touched in a time of 14:48.47 and will get a full day of rest before taking on the final tomorrow night at the Rio Aquatic Centre.
“I just tried to start off as easy as possible and then control it through and then do what I had to do at the back end so be top two or three,” Horton said.
Yang was a different story, he couldn’t quite keep up with the pace and will miss the final after posting a 15:01.97.
“It doesn’t really matter whether he is there or not to be honest, I’m just doing my own thing,” Horton said of Yang missing the top eight.
The final will see Horton come up against one of his closest friends and the reigning world champion Gregorio Paltrineri from Italy who set the fastest time this morning with a 14:44.51.
While a holiday may be planned for the pair after the Games, tomorrow night Horton and Paltrineri will go from comrades to competitors.
Fellow Aussie Jack McLoughlin had a week long wait until his first swim at the Olympic Games, finally getting in the pool on day seven for the 1500free heats.
It is not often that the distance events come down to the touch but fellow Aussie Jack McLoughlin will miss the final of the 1500 by less than a second, finishing ninth overall in 14:56.02.
“I felt pretty comfortable, although it was my first senior team, especially the Olympics, I felt quite comfortable in the field,” McLoughlin said.
“Paltrineri the world champion was next to me and I didn’t feel too out of place, so I was pretty happy with that.”
An Olympic debutant and an Australian swim team rookie, McLoughlin is a star on the rise and although didn’t get the results he was hoping for today, has a bright future ahead of him.
“Ninth in Olympics is not too bad,” McLoughlin said.
“I know Mack and Jordy Harrison and I have been really pushing to bring the 1500 metres back for Australia and hopefully another four years and Mack, Jordy and I can really step it up and improve again, so all in all pretty happy."
Splash and dash sisters through to 50free semis
Australia’s Cate and Bronte Campbell were back in the water this morning taking on the red-hot heats of the women’s 50m freestyle at the Aquatic Centre in Rio
The speedy sisters returned to the pool re-focussed on the one lap dash and will move safely through to the semi-finals with Bronte fourth in 24.45 and Cate 10th in 24.52.
Reigning world champion in this event, Bronte said the pace was set early in the heats and she knew a fast time was needed to progress through to tonight.
“Yeah, I’m really happy with that swim, Bronte said.
“it’s really fast this morning so happy to be through to the semi-finals in a really good place.”
The top time from this morning went to Denmark’s Pernille Blume in 24.23 with less than 0.6 of a second separating the top 16.
Following their shock results in the 100m freestyle last night Bronte said she was glad she could put a good race together this morning.
“It was rough backing up after last night, which wasn’t my best night of the meet so far, but it’s been great to get out there and have a good race this morning,” Bronte said.
With the top time in the world this year going in to the event, Cate will be looking to get back to her best, put together a good semi tonight and be in the mix for a medal in the final on day 8.
Women’s 4x100m medley relay
The heat team for the women’s medley relay will move through to the finals tomorrow night ranked fifth overall with a time of 3:57.80.
The quartet of Madi Wilson, Taylor McKeown, Maddie Groves and Brittany Elmslie finished second in their heat behind the USA who were fastest qualifiers in 3:54.67.
The final freestyle leg from Elmslie was impressive, moving the team move from fourth to second at the touch and splitting a 53.07.
Men’s 4x100m medley relay
In the corresponding men’s event they had a similar result, finishing second in their heat and progressing to the final ranked fourth.
Mitch Larkin, David Morgan, Jake Packard and Cam McEvoy combined to clock a time of 3:32.57 with McEvoy flying home over the last 50 metres.
The top qualifier was Great Britain in 3:30.47, following an outstanding breaststroke leg from Adam Peaty with a split of 57.49.
Both the medley relay finals will be swum on Night Eight (August 13), giving the competitors a full day of rest in between.
Kathleen Rayment
olympics.com.au
