After winning the gold and setting a World Record in the women’s 400m IM in Day 1, Katinka Hosszu (HUN) is ready to make also history in the 200m IM. In the heats of the morning, the Magyar great was clearly the fastest of the field, qualifying first for the semis in a new Olympic record of 2:07.45. The best mark at Games’ time had been established by Ye Shiwen (CHN), four years ago in London, in a time of 2:07.57. The Olympic champion there was seventh of the heats, in 2:10.56. Hosszu is the owner of the WR (2:06.12) since Kazan 2015

Also prepared for a comfortable win is Katie Ledecky (USA) in the women’s 200m free. Winner with WR in the 400m free, the 19-year-old North American was the fastest of the prelims at the Aquatics Stadium. Ledecky swam in 1:55.01, and was followed by Australia’s Emma McKeon.

"It was pretty hard coming off of last night. Just got a couple hours of sleep but I think that was probably going to be my hardest swim of the week so I'm glad it's over with. It feels good. I feel like every year at the big championship meet my stroke just feels better than it ever has and once I get going, it's hard to stop", said Ledecky after her effort.

Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), the new WR holder and Olympic champion in the 100m butterfly was third, while WR in the 200m free, Italy’s Federica Pellegrini was fifth at this stage. Missy Franklin (USA), fourth in London 2012, concluded the heats in 12th.

In the third event of the morning, Hungary managed to have its two swimmers at the top of the ranking. Tamas Kenderesi surprised with his “turbo” time of 1:54.73, while experienced Laszlo Cseh (the 2015 world champion) was the runner-up in 1:55.14. Chad Le Clos (RSA), the 2012 Olympic champion, is third, while Michael Phelps (USA, winner in 2008) did the fifth best time (1:55.73) of the heats.