NANTERRE, France (AP) — Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh claimed her second gold medal of the Paris Olympics with another dominating performance, romping to victory in the 200-meter butterfly Thursday night while dealing American Regan Smith a familiar runner-up finish.
China’s Zhang Yufei, the reigning Olympic champion and of nearly two dozen swimmers from her country who tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Games but were allowed to compete, pushed the pace over the first half of the race. She couldn’t hold on.
McIntosh powered to the lead on the third 50 and left no doubt on the closing lap. She touched in an Olympic-record of 2 minutes, 3.03 seconds.
Smith passed Zhang as well, but had no chance of chasing down the 17-year-old who has established herself as one of the biggest stars at La Defense Arena.
McIntosh opened the games with a silver medal in the 400 freestyle, finishing ahead of Katie Ledecky, and blew away the field in the 400 individual medley.
This was another rout. Smith touched in 2:03.84 for the fourth silver medal of her career, which has yet to produce a gold. Zhang held on for the bronze in 2:05.09.
Another Bowman swimmer wins gold
Hungary’s Hubert Kós claimed gold in the 200 backstroke, another triumph for a swimmer coached by Bob Bowman.
Kós rallied on the final lap to pass Greece’s Apostolos Christou. The winner finished in 1:54.26, while Christou held on for the silver in 1:54.82. The bronze went to Roman Mityukov of Switzerland in 1:54.85.
Bowman coached Kós at Arizona State University, where he competed alongside the biggest swimming star of these games, France’s Léon Marchand.
Bowman now heads the program at the University of Texas.
Caeleb Dressel advances to the final of the 50 free
After a close call in the morning preliminaries, American Caeleb Dressel will get a chance to defend his Olympic title in the 50 freestyle Friday night.
Paris Olympics
- Simone Biles, fresh off leading the U.S. women’s gymnastics team back to the gold medal in team competition, returns to the mat.
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Dressel posted the fifth-fastest time in the evening semifinals (21.58) Thursday on the heels of tying for 13th in the heats. Benjamin Proud of Britain and Cameron McEvoy of Australia shared the top spot in swimming’s most chaotic race — an all-out dash from one end of the pool to the other — at 21.38.
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