TOKYO – South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker was the star of the day, setting the first individual swimming world record at the Tokyo Olympics, while Evgeny Rylov completed a backstroke double for Russia, and Emma McKeon gave the Aussie women another gold.
China earned a return trip to the top of the medal podium as for the first time in the meet, the mighty United States spent the entire session yesterday watching others win gold at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Schoenmaker, a 24-year-old South African, won the women’s 200-metre 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.
Rylov thoroughly snuffed out America’s dominance in the backstroke, adding the 200 title to his victory in the 100 back. The Russian won with an Olympic-record time of 1:53.29, while American Ryan Murphy got the silver (1:54.15). (Reuters/AFP/AP)
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