When? The Olympic swimming runs until Sunday.
Where? Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Last show
The Italian Federica Pellegrini has been a regular medal collector in the 200 meter freestyle.
She won Olympic gold in the distance in 2008 and World Cup gold in 2009 and 2011.
After the Olympics in London in 2012, she said that the bet on 200 meters freestyle was over, but already the following year she regretted and swam home a World Cup silver in Barcelona.
In the Olympics in Rio – where Sarah Sjöström took silver in the 200 meter freestyle – the Italian missed a medal and the disappointment made her think again about stopping swimming the distance.
This time too, however, she changed her mind and in 2017 Pellegrini showed the class when she won a thrilling World Cup final in Budapest.
Also in the WC 2019, it was gold for the Italian star.
But all fun has an end. Pellegrini, 32, has said that the Tokyo Olympics will be her last championship.
When the Olympics were postponed for a year, it was a tough message for the Italian. Not least considering that at times she had difficulty finding pools to train in at home in Italy.
Maybe that’s why Pellegrini has not really been recognized in Tokyo. In the trials she only had the 15th best time, and even in tonight’s semifinal she had to fight but managed to come seventh and get to the final.
The question is whether she manages to show old medal class there.
Party in the stands
Of course, it was also celebrated in the British part of the stands in the Olympic arena – where swimmers and coaches during the races can support their teammates – after the double victory in the 200 meter freestyle where Tom Dean took the gold and Duncan Scott the silver.
But the best party after the final of the 200 meter freestyle was in the Brazilian part of the stands. 23-year-old Fernando Scheffer had the margins on his side and surprisingly swam home the bronze two hundredths ahead of the 16-year-old Romanian great talent David Popovici.
Tough for the teenager of course, but also a great moment for the Brazilian Olympic team in swimming who really celebrated in the stands. No one could doubt how proud and happy they were about this bronze medal.
Iron Lady to the final
Hungarian medley queen 32-year-old Katinka Hosszu, known as the Iron Lady, failed to defend her Olympic gold in the 400-meter medley.
At half the distance, it can still go the way. Hosszu is on to the final with the seventh best time in the semifinals.
The fastest in the semifinals was 20-year-old Kate Douglass from the USA.
Read more: Sophie Hansson crooked: “Bombed by emotions”
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