Tuesday morning’s swimming heats at the Tokyo Aquatics Center featured several Team USA athletes coming off winning performances.
Caeleb Dressel began his quest for his first individual Olympic gold medal with a heat in the men’s 100m freestyle. He won the event at the last two world championships and is the fastest freestyler of all time outside of the “suit era.”
It was Dressel’s second race of the Tokyo Olympics after he helped Team USA earn gold in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay on Sunday.
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In the women’s 200m butterfly, Regan Smith made a quick turnaround after taking bronze in the women’s 100m backstroke final on Monday.
Andrew Wilson and Nic Fink, who were training partners at the University of Georgia, also competed in the men’s 200m breaststroke heats.
The lone relay of the morning session was the men’s 4x200m freestyle, an event where Team USA has won four consecutive Olympic titles.
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Bobby Finke and Michael Brinegar will also be racing in the men’s 800m freestyle heats with hopes of reaching the final.
Here are the results from Tuesday's heats:
Caeleb Dressel posts second-fastest time in men's 100m freestyle heats
Dressel finished second in the final heat of the men's 100m freestyle with a time of 47.73, trailing Italian Thomas Ceccon's 47.71. Australia's Kyle Chalmers had the third-best time of the heats at 47.77.
American Zach Apple finished 11th overall and advanced to the semifinals with a time of 48.16.
Semifinals for the men's 100m freestyle take place Tuesday night at 9:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Regan Smith, Hali Flickinger test the waters in women's 200m butterfly
Smith had a time of 2:08.46 in the first heat, trailing China's Yu Liyan by one-tenth of a second. Hali Flickinger won the second heat with a time of 2:08.31. The top time of the heats went to China's Zhang Yufei, who posted a 2:07.50 time.
With only 16 competitors in the heats, all swimmers advanced to Tuesday's semifinals.
Nic Fink advances to men's 200m breaststroke semifinals
Nic Fink won the final heat of the men's 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:08.48. It came in as the fourth-fastest time of the day, securing him a spot in the semifinals.
Fellow American Andrew Wilson, who raced in 2:09.97, missed out on a semifinal spot by two-hundredths of a second.
Izaac Stubblety-Cook of Australia and Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands tied for the top time at 2:07.37. Matti Mattsson of Finland came in third overall with a 2:08.44 time.
US finishes fifth in men's 4x200m freestyle relay heats
Team USA, which owns both the world and Olympic records in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay, placed fifth overall in Tuesday's heats. Dressel did not race in the heats but will double-dip Tuesday night with the 100m freestyle semifinals and the final for the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Great Britain set the mark for the best time at 7:03.25.
Robert Finke comes in third during men's 800m freestyle heats
Finke placed third overall and in his heat during the first ever Olympic men's 800m freestyle heats with a time of 7:42.72. Fellow American Michael Brinegar, who posted a 7:53.00 time, did not qualify for the event final.
With the top time of the inaugural heats, Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk set an Olympic record of 7:41.28. Florian Wellbrock had the second-best time at 7:41.77.
