SwimSwam’s Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 2

2021-07-26

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 2. #5 - W 100 Back: Regan Smith breaks the 100 back Olympic record (4th time it went down in less than 24 hours) with 58.76 to take the top seed heading into the final tomorrow night #4 - M 4x100 Free Relay: USA Men defend their gold in the 400 free relay, putting on a dominant performance of 3:08.97 and winning by over 1 second #3 - W 100 Fly: Maggie MacNeil, after winning 100 fly gold at world champs in 2019, backs ...

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 2.

#5 - W 100 Back: Regan Smith breaks the 100 back Olympic record (4th time it went down in less than 24 hours) with 58.76 to take the top seed heading into the final tomorrow night

#4 - M 4x100 Free Relay: USA Men defend their gold in the 400 free relay, putting on a dominant performance of 3:08.97 and winning by over 1 second

#3 - W 100 Fly: Maggie MacNeil, after winning 100 fly gold at world champs in 2019, backs it up with an Olympic title, swimming the #2 time ever in 55.59

#2 - M 100 Breast: Adam Peaty defends his Olympic title in the 100 breast, swimming the #5 time all-time at 57.37 and dominating the field as per usual for him

#1 - W 400 Free: Ariarne Titmus vs. Katie Ledecky round 1 did not disappoint as we saw the two titans battle it out for 400 free gold, where Titmus ultimately got her hand on the wall first, touching at 3:56.69, the #2 time ever, while Ledecky finished at 3:57.36, the #3 time ever

Belly Flop of the Day: Russia Men's 4x100 Free Relay

Coming into the meet, our editor-in-chief Braden Keith had picked them to take gold, and just about everyone else knew they were looming as a title contender. After a shaky prelims, we saw Russia put together an even shakier finals performance, back-ended by a 48.1 from relay-stalwart Vlad Morozov and a 48.4 anchor from Kliment Kolesnikov, coming off of a 52.2 swim in the 100 back semi less than an hour before.

This led the team to finish 7th overall, nearly 2 seconds outside of the medals.

Hot Topic of the Day: Titmus vs. Ledecky

Titmus took round 1 of this Clash of the Titans, but what does this say about both swimmers moving into the rest of the meet? We know Ledecky is firing, and it seemed like she played into Titmus' hand in the 400 free strategically. In the 200, Ledecky could make it interesting but it seems like Titmus has too much speed to catch.

Meaning it all comes down to the 800 free.

We say Ledecky swims her own race at the end of the meet, learning from her 400 and staying away from Titmus early on so she has no wave to ride, successfully defending her last 2 Olympic titles i in the event.

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