After American Anthony Ervin came from behind to win the 50-meter freestyle last night, Simone Manuel of the United States was hoping to replicate the result of her countryman. As we know, Manuel already has a gold in the 100-meter freestyle, tying with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak and was looking to pull off the 50-100 double.
Pernille Blume of Denmark went on to win the gold medal with a time of 24.07 while Manuel finished with the silver, just two-hundredths of a second behind Blume.
Loaded Field
There were familiar names for Manuel to see in the pool in this race. Australian sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell were in the race with older sister Cate coming in as the second-fastest qualifier behind Pernille Blume of Denmark. Olympic Record holder Ranomi Kromowidjojo was the third-fastest qualifier and hopes to get on the podium after a disappointing 100 free.
Manuel was one of the slower qualifiers as she’ll be in Lane 7, missing out on Lane 2 as Bronte Campbell outswam her by .01 seconds in the semifinals. Britain's Francesca Halsall just missed out on the top three in qualifying by a couple hundredths so she was definitely a medal threat. The final two qualifiers were Etiene Medeiros of Brazil, a home favorite, and Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus.
Top Qualifiers Out Slow Before
Straight from the blocks, Cate Campbell was behind as her reaction time was slow unlike Blume who was quickest off the blocks. However, the Australian was the first one out of the water in the race for gold.
With 25 to go, Blume was ahead with Manuel and four other swimmers looking very good for a shot at the title. It was a tight finish, just as one would expect in the 50 free, and it was Dane who would go on to make history in the event, giving Denmark their first Olympic gold in swimming since 1948.
