Just fourteen minutes after making the final in the 200-meter Freestyle, American Missy Franklin smashed the American record and beat favorite Emily Seebohm of Australia, winning gold in the 100-meter Backstroke Monday evening.
The 17-year-old Colorado native used just enough energy to get into the Freestyle—she took the eighth of eight spots in the final—and used the rest to win her first Olympic gold medal in an individual event.
Franklin swam a 58.33, a new American record and one-tenth slower than the Olympic record. Franklin was .35 seconds faster than Seebohm. Aya Terakawa of Japan took bronze.
Another American won gold in the 100m Backstroke: Matt Grevers set a new Olympic record of 52.16, finishing .76 seconds ahead of teammate Nick Thoman and .81 seconds ahead of Japan’s Ryosuke Irie.
Grever swam an unspectacular first leg, gaining all his time on the return leg.
American Rebecca Soni took silver in the 100-meter Breaststroke behind Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, with American Breeja Larson finishing sixth.
This race had to be started twice; the call to mark never came the first time, though the buzzer went. Breeja Larson dove into the pool to start racing while the rest of the field waited on the blocks. There was a few minutes delay while the electronics experts fixed the problem, and the race came off perfectly the second time through.
