21:12
After all the US vs Australia chat, we are set for a US-UK duel in the pool shortly in the first final of the morning session here in Tokyo, the men’s 200m freestyle.
Kieran Smith, a 21-year-old, Connecticut-born, 6ft5in student at the University of Florida, took the bronze in the 400m freestyle on Sunday – the race memorably won by the underdog Tunisian teenager, Ahmed Hafnaoui. Smith is looking to add another medal in the 200m. Not bad considering this meet is not only his first Olympics but also his Team USA debut.
He swam the second-fastest time in qualifying, half-a-second behind Team GB’s Duncan Scott, the only man to go below 1:45. He goes in lane 5, sandwiched between Scott and another Briton, Tom Dean.
21:05
Time for a baton change. Thanks Tom for a pacesetting lead off leg, and hello everybody from breezy Melbourne, Australia, on what is hopefully the final day of our latest Covid-related lockdown.
Time to train our focus again on the Tokyo Aquatics Centre where another gold rush awaits. Here’s what’s in store:
- 10.30am local time – Women’s 200m freestyle semis (Ariarne Titmus is in the first heat, followed by Katie Ledecky in the second. If those names don’t mean anything to you, catch up on yesterday’s incredible 400m freestyle final here.)
- 10.43am – Men’s 200m freestyle final 🥇 (Team GB’s Duncan Scott and Thomas Dean are in lanes four and six, with the USA’s Kieran Smith between them. After Adam Peaty dominated yesterday, hopes are high for more British success in the water.)
- 10:51am – Women’s 100m backstroke final 🥇 (Australia’s recent world record breaker Kaylee McKeown is a strong chance for gold, while compatriot Emily Seebohm is not out of the running of securing a medal at a fourth consecutive Games. Previous world record holders Regan Smith (USA) and Kylie Masse (CAN) occupy the middle lanes, while Great Britain’s Kathleen Dawson is another to keep an eye on.)
- 10:59am – Men’s 100m backstroke final 🥇 (The USA’s defending champion, and world record holder, Ryan Murphy, is up against Australian challenger Mitch Larkin)
- 11.17pm – Women’s 100m breaststroke final 🥇 (Can South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker hold off Team USA’s Lydia Jacoby and Lilly King?)
- 11.35pm – Men’s 200m butterfly semis (Running out…)
- 11.58pm – Women’s 200m individual medley semis (… of steam)
I’ll do my best to keep up with the other action around the Games, notably powerhouses Australia and New Zealand colliding in the rugby sevens, the quarterfinals of the surfing, some hockey, and doubtless more besides. Feel free to drop me an email or a tweet (see details at the top of the page) if you think something particularly noteworthy requires a shout out.
20:54
Fiji, the defending men’s rugby sevens champions, did not look great in their opening game against Japan but pulped a (usually) strong Great Britain team just now. Ben Harris scored GB’s only try as Fiji won 33-7.
20:44
Great Britain and Fiji, the defending champions, are playing in the men’s rugby sevens. Both teams have already qualified from their group so this is really about testing each other before the knockout stages. And it’s Fiji passing that test at the moment – they’re 19-0 up at halftime.
Updated
20:39
Another big morning of medal action awaits at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. First-up in just under an hour is the women’s 200m freestyle semi-final – round two of the Ariarne Titmus (Aus) v Katie Ledecky (USA) duel in the pool. Duncan Scott will then be Great Britain’s big medal hope of the morning, swimming from lane 4 in the men’s 200m freestyle final.
The most open final of the morning is the women’s 100m backstroke. The Olympic record has already been broken four times in qualifying for the final, by three different swimmers. There’s every chance the world record will fall in the final – with Kaylee McKeown (Aus), Kylie Masse (Canada), Regan Smith (USA) all in top form.
The men’s 100m backstroke final will follow – Ryan Murphy (USA) is in lane four, but will be battling Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia) and Mitch Larkin (Aus).
The women’s 100m breaststroke final is also an open race: Tatjana Schoenmaker (South Africa) qualified fastest, but American Lilly King was not far off the pace. There’s a bunch more semi-final action, too – men’s 200m butterfly and women’s 200m individual medley. It’s hard to keep up!
20:21
And Australia’s Owen Wright has won his surfing quarter-final. He will now face Italo Ferreira in the semis for a place in the final and a chance at gold. Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi and Brazil’s two-time world champ Gabriel Medina will compete in the other semi.
20:09
Flora Duffy’s gold medal was an amazing achievement in the triathlon, but Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown won silver after suffering a puncture (of her bike’s tyre, she was not punctured herself). She spoke to the BBC about her medal:
“I had a really good swim and I got out and we had 35 seconds and I thought this is perfect. The bike – we worked really well, I got a puncture coming out of the park with about 2k to come and I panicked – I didn’t know what to do so I just rode on the flat.
“I lost maybe 15 seconds on the group. The first lap of the run was panic mode. I think I definitely paid for it the latter part of the run but it paid off.”