The 3rd finals session from the Beijing Olympic Games featured some more stellar Swim Star performances.
It all got started with the women’s 200 Free semifinal heats. Katie Hoff’s first of two event semifinal races was a success as she 2nd overall the final in 1:57.01. The top performance belonged to Sara Isokovic, who hit in 1:56.50. The night before, in prelims, Federica Pellegrini broke the WR with a 1:55.45 showing.
The next event was the men’s 200 Free final where Michael Phelps won his 3rd gold medal of the Games. In doing so, he also lowered his own World Record to 1:42.96. Park Tae Hwan (1:44.85) claimed the silver just ahead of Peter Vanderkaay, who recorded a lifetime best finish of 1:45.14 in winning the bronze medal.
Natalie Coughlin defended her 2004 Olympic title in the 100 Back, holding on to win in 58.96. The new World Record holder Kirsty Coventry took the silver in 59.19, followed by Team USA’s Margaret Hoelzer (59.34).
Next the men took their turn and the USA went 1-2 as Aaron Peirsol lowered his own World Record to 52.54, while Matt Grevers picked up his second medal of the Games with a 53.11 finish. There was a tie for the bronze medals as Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia and Hayden Stoeckel of Australia posted identical times of 53.18.
Australia’s 100 Breast World Record Holder Leisel Jones won her elusive individual gold medal with a new Olympic Record time of 1:05.17. American Rebecca Soni made it to the wall second in 1:06.73, garnering her first ever Olympic medal. Autsria’s Mirna Jukic rounded out the medals with a 1:07.34 swim.
Michael Phelps leads all qualifiers into the 200 Fly final with a 1:53.70 finish that equaled his own Olympic Record. Japans Takeshi Matsuda grabbed the #2 seed with a 1:54.02 swim, just ahead of Nikolay Skvortsov’s 1:54.31.
The final event of the Day 3 finals was the women’s 200 IM semis. After already having swum races earlier in the session, Katie Hoff and Natalie Coughlin were set for a second challenge. Kirsty Coventry, who finished 2nd to Natalie in the 100 Back, established a new Olympic Record when she stopped the clock at 2:09.53 in the 1st heat. World Record Holder Stephanie Rice qualified 2nd in 2:10.58, followed by American Record Holder Katie Hoff. In the 2nd semifinal, Natalie Coughlin turned in the top time of 2:11.84, qualifying 4th overall.