EXPERT'S EYE 6 - New wave on the rise: gold medal to Manuel and Oleksiak in the women 100 free

Old guard Michael Phelps never gives up, wins the 200 IM and qualify for the 100 butterfly final

Michael Phelps delivered to history one more sensational night. At 31, coming out of retirement, the greatest ever (among all sports), won his Olympic medal number 26, 22 gold, winning the 200m individual medley in 1:54.66. He swam divinely, especially the last 100 meters in freestyle; he was focused, determined, even touching. He won far in front of everyone his fourth gold medal in this Olympics. In order, in Rio, he has won the 4x200m freestyle relay, 200m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay and, tonight, the 200m medley. He has not finished business yet.

In fact, five minutes after the awarding of the 200 medley, Michael was ready to dive for the first semi-final of the 100 butterfly. Everybody question was: will he still have some energy left? Incredibly he had it, enough to touch in 51.58, 0.01 secs more than Laszlo Cseh (HUN), first in 51.57. The fastest time, 50.83, was set by Jeff Schooling, 21 year old of Singapore, winning the second semi-final in front of Chad Le Clos, who, with 51.43 set the second qualifying time. Third in the second semi-final, and third in the ranking, the Chinese Zhuhao Li, with 51.51. Then Phelps and Cseh. Expect one more thrilling final tonight.

The unlikely pair of North American Simone Manuel, 20, and Canadian Penny Oleksiak , 16, , subverted all predictions when they shared gold In the women’s 100m free in 52.70, a new Olympic record, just one hundredth faster than the previous mark established by Cate Campbell in the semifinals. Oleksiak’s time was also the new junior world record. An amazing outcome.

Cate Campbell, who recently set the new world record in Brisbane, on 2 July with 52.06 (improving by one hundredth that set in2009 by German Britta Steffen) and her younger sister Bronte were favorite, instead there goof form finished abruptly leaving both out of the podium: Bronte, the reigning world champion, in fourth place with 53.04, Cate sixth in 53.24.

The defending Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo, of the Netherlands, add her name to the already long list of those who have unsuccessfully tried to retain their title form 2012, managing only the fifth place, with 53.08 (her best in2016).

Bronze went to the consistent Swedish Sarah Sjostrom, in 52.99 (52.78 her pb from 2014, at the Europeans) .

In the women’s 200m breaststroke Japan’s Rie Kaneto swam to victory in 2:20.30, confirming her credentials – in 2016, in Tokyo, on 9 April, she had already clocked 2:19.65 – and the qualities of the Japanese team. Russia’s Yuliya Efimova stepped up to silver from her bronze of 2012 in 2:21.97. It was her second silver medal in Rio after that grabbed in the 100 meters. The bronze in Rio went to Shi Jinglin (CHN), also third at the 2015 Worlds and fourth in the previous edition of the Games. The Danish Rikke Moller Pedersen, world record holder with 2:19.11, was just eighth, in 2:23.74, over 2 seconds above her winning time at the European Championships in May, in London.

American Ryan Murphy confirmed his good stuff and followed up his 100m gold medal with a clear cut win in the 200m backstroke, with 1:53.62, down 0.33 from his previous pb set at the Trials in Omaha (1:53.95). World champion Mitch Larkin, of Australia, had to set with silver in 1:53.96 (1:53.90 his best time this year). The young Russian Evgeny Rylov challenged Larkin for silver but he missed it by a mere 0.01 secs and had to set himself with bronze in 1:53.97, a new European record.

WATER POLO

In the second day of the women’s water polo tournament Italy and the USA both clinched their second win to enhance their leadership, respectively in Group A and B. Italy upset Australia in a tight game where both teams proved to have a strong defense; Italy won 7-6 on a better scoring recod in superiority. The USA overwhelmed China, scoring the triple the number of goals of their opponents, 12-4. In Group B Spain bounced back to narrowly beat Hungary in a tense game, 11-10, while in Group A Russia won over Brazil scoring twice the goals of their opponents, 14-7.