Tatjana Schoenmaker sets world record to win gold in 200-meter breaststroke

ByABC News
July 29, 2021, 10:09 PM

TOKYO -- South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker set the first individual swimming world record at the Summer Olympics on Friday.

On another busy day at the pool, Russian Olympic Committee swimmer  Evgeny Rylov completed a backstroke double and  Emma McKeon gave the mighty Aussie women another gold.

Schoenmaker, 24, won the women's 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes, 18.95 seconds, breaking the mark of 2:19.11 set by Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen at the 2013 world championships in Barcelona.

It was the third world record at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, with the first two coming in women's relays.

Rylov thoroughly snuffed out America's dominance in the backstroke, adding the 200 title to his victory in the 100 back.

Rylov won with an Olympic-record time of 1:53.29, and American  Ryan Murphy wound up with the silver (1:54.15).

Murphy was a double-gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he extended an American winning streak that began at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

The U.S. won 12 straight men's backstroke events over six Olympics, but that streak ended with Rylov's victory in the 100. He made it 2-for-2 in the longer race, while Murphy settled for bronze and silver in the two events.

Britain's Luke Greenbank grabbed the 200 bronze in 1:54.72.

McKeon touched first in the 100 freestyle with an Olympic-record time of 51.96, becoming only the second woman to break 52 seconds in the sprint.

Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey earned the silver in 52.27, and another Aussie, Cate Campbell, took the bronze in 52.52. American Abbey Weitzeil was last in the eight-woman field.

The Australians now have won four individual women's events at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, in addition to setting a world record in a 4x100 free relay that included both McKeon and Campbell.

The Americans claimed the other two medals behind Schoenmaker.

Lilly King set a blistering pace early in the race and held on for a silver in 2:19.92, adding to her bronze in the 100 breast. Annie Lazor nabbed the bronze in 2:20.84.

China's Wang Shun captured gold in the men's 200-meter individual medley, edging Britain's Duncan Scott with a time of 1 minute, 55.00 seconds.Scott took the silver in 1:55.28, and the bronze went to Switzerland's Jeremy Desplanches in 1:56.17.

It was another disappointment for hometown star Daiya Seto, who didn't even qualify for the final of his first two events. He finally got through in the 200 IM but missed out on a medal with a fourth-place finish, a mere five-hundredths of a second behind the Swiss bronze medalist.

American Michael Andrew led after the third leg, powering to the top spot on the breaststroke. He faded badly on the freestyle to wind up in fifth, more than two seconds behind the winner.

Caeleb Dressel set another Olympic record in the semifinals of the 100 butterfly.

Minutes after Hungary's Kristof Milak took down the mark in the first semifinal heat, Dressel went even faster with a time of 49.71 seconds in the second heat.

It was the third-fastest time in history and left Milak as the second-fastest qualifier at 50.31.

In the preliminaries, Dressel tied the former Olympic record of 50.39 set by Singapore's Joseph Schooling to win gold at the 2016 Rio Games.

Dressel will be a big favorite in Saturday morning's final, though he could get pushed by Milak. The Hungarian already won the 200 fly with a dominating victory.

Dressel picked up the first individual gold medal of his career with a win in the 100 freestyle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.