Olympics swimming live results, updates, highlights from Day 6 at 2021 Tokyo Games

The U.S. is well-positioned to have a promising day in the pool at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. 

The Americans have swimmers in each of Thursday’s four final races, and in three of those events a U.S. swimmer qualified in the top four.

Annie Lazor and Lilly King will compete as the third and fifth seeds, respectively, in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke against Olympic record-holder Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa and Russian Evgeniia Chikunova.

Two Americans will swim in the men’s 200 backstroke. Reigning Olympic champion Ryan Murphy is the third seed and Bryce Mefford is the sixth seed. They’ll try to prevent Russia’s Evgeny Rylov from sweeping the two backstroke gold medals. 

Abbey Weitzeil and Canadian Penny Oleksiak will race in a highly competitive women’s 100 freestyle that had all but one qualifier finish with a time below 53 seconds in the semifinals. Australian Emma McKeon, who swam the distance in 52.32 seconds in the semis, set the Olympic record with a 52.13 in her prelim race.

The last final of the night will be the men’s 200 individual medley, where American Michael Andrew will attempt to medal after qualifying fourth in the semifinals with a time of 1:57.08. The top qualifier, China’s Wang Shun, swam his semifinal in 1:56.22. 

Also Thursday, U.S. gold medalist Caeleb Dressel will race in the men’s 100 butterfly semifinal — an event in which he holds the world record — and Americans Rhyan White and Phoebe Bacon will race for the top spot in the women’s 200 backstroke final against Canadian swimmer Kylie Masse and Australian Kaylee McKeown. 

Sporting News will be providing live updates and highlights from each event during the sixth day of Olympic swimming finals. 

MORE: Watch the 2021 Olympics live with fuboTV (7-day free trial)

Olympics swimming results

Live swimming updates, highlights from 2021 Olympics

Women’s 200 backstroke (semifinal 1)

10:35 p.m.: It’s a packed North American field in the first semifinal of the women’s 200 backstroke. Rhyan White (USA) is swimming in lane four, Phoebe Bacon (USA) is in lane five and Taylor Ruck (Canada) is in lane three. 

Men’s 200 individual medley (final)

10:23 p.m.: Shun finishes at 1:55.00 with Scott just barely behind him at 1:55.28. Desplanches wins the bronze at 1:56.17. Andrew finishes with a time of 1:57.31. 

10:22 p.m.: Shun wins the gold and Scott wins the silver. Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches finishes third and Andrew falls down to fifth on the freestyle portion. 

10:21 p.m.: Andrew takes the lead in the breaststroke ahead of Wang and Japan’s Daiya Seto. 

10:21 p.m.: Wang Shun has now taken the lead and Andrew fell down to fourth after the backstroke. 

10:20 p.m.: Andrew leads the field after the butterfly heading into the backstroke portion of the race. 

10:17 p.m.: Michael Andrew is hoping to keep the 200 individual medley in American hands. He’ll race from the sixth lane, with China’s Wang Shun swimming out of the fast lane. 

Women’s 100 freestyle (final)

10:02 p.m.: McKeon sets an Olympic record at 51.96 in winning the gold medal. Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey takes the silver and Australia’s Cate Campbell takes the bronze at 52.52. Reigning co-champion Penny Oleksiak (Canada) finishes fourth at 52.59 and American Abbey Weitzeil places eighth at 53.23. 

10:02 p.m.: McKeon leads the field at 25.08 after the first 50. 

10:01 p.m.: Australian Emma McKeon off the block with an incredible advantage at 0.58. 

Men’s 200 backstroke (final)

9:56 p.m.: The ROC star has now won both the 100 and 200 backstroke gold medals at the 2021 Tokyo Games. 

9:55 p.m.: Rylov claims the gold medal and the Olympic record at 1:53.27. Murphy takes the silver at 1:54.15 and Greenback wins bronze at 1:54.72. 

9:54 p.m.: Rylov still leading at 1:23.93 with 50 meters to go. Murphy in second at 1:24.65. 

9:54 p.m.: Murphy moves up to second at 55.63 behind Rylov at 55.18. 

9:54 p.m.: Rylov leads after the first 50 over Great Britain’s Luke Greenback and Murphy in third. 

9:53 p.m.: ROC’s Evgeny Rylov, United States’ Ryan Murphy and Japan’s Irie Ryosuke each have the fastest reaction time at 0.54. 

Women’s 200 breaststroke (final)

9:48 p.m.: That record by Schoenmaker is the first individual world record set during the 2021 Olympics. Both the women’s 4×100 and 4×200 freestyle relays were world records. 

9:46 p.m.: It’s a world record for Schoenmaker, who defends her Olympic gold medal at 2:18.95. King wins the silver medal at 2:19.92 and Lazor takes the bronze at 2:20.84. 

9:45 p.m.: Schoenmaker has taken the lead with the final 50 meters left to go at 1:42.46 to King’s 1:42.57. 

9:45 p.m.: King maintaining her edge over Schoenmaker after the first 100 at 1:06.47 to 1:07.06. Annie Lazor is in fifth at 1:08.61. 

9:44 p.m.: King leads after the first 50 at 31.27 with Schoenmaker in second at 31.64. 

9:44 p.m.: Lilly King is the first off the blocks with a reaction time of 0.65, but South African favorite Tatjana Schoenmaker is off at 0.66. 

Men’s 100 butterfly (semifinal 2)

9:42 p.m.: That’s now two Olympic records in two days for Dressel. 

9:39 p.m.: That Olympic record didn’t last long. Dressel sets the new mark at 49.71, with Switzerland’s Noe Ponti second at 50.76 and Poland’s Jakub Majerski third at 51.24. American Tom Shields will miss the final after finishing eighth in the heat at 51.99. 

9:38 p.m.: Dressel comes out of the gate at 23.20 to lead out of the 50. 

Men’s 100 butterfly (semifinal 1)

9:33 p.m.: Milak powers ahead to finish with an Olympic record time of 50.31. Bulgaria’s Josif Miladinov finished second at 51.06 and Minakov was third at 51.11. 

9:33 p.m.: ROC’s Andrei Minakov and France’s Mehdy Metella are tied for first after the first 50 and Milak is in third. 

9:30 p.m.: Caeleb Dressel will swim in the second heat of the 100 butterfly. Men’s 200 butterfly winner Kristof Milak will swim in the first heat in the fast lane. 

Olympics swimming schedule 2021

With the exception of July 31, each day will begin with heats starting at 6 a.m. ET and will end with finals races starting up at 9:30 p.m. ET each day. The USA Network will carry the heats in the United States and NBC will have the finals, while CBC will provide coverage of both events in Canada. 

Those in the United States hoping to see replays of the qualifying heats can tune into NBC every afternoon to see how swimmers performed earlier in the morning. 

Thursday, July 29

Friday, July 30

Saturday, July 31

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