Two Americans medaled in the women’s 200-meter individual medley final at the 2021 Olympics, but Japan’s Yui Ohashi took home the gold.
On Tuesday’s race, Ohashi came in second, followed by Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass. Ohashi has already won two events at these Olympic Games. On Sunday, he won the 400-meter individual medley.
The Outcome of the Women’s 200m Individual Medley
- Yui Ohashi of Japan, who took home the gold (2:08.52)
- Medalist: American Alex Walsh (2:08.65)
- For the bronze: American Kate Douglass (2:09.04)
- Abbie Wood of the United Kingdom (2:09.15)
- Chinese actor Yu Yiting places fifth (2:09.57)
- Toronto, Canada’s Sydney Pickrem comes in at number six (2:10.05)
- 7th place: Hungarian’s Katinka Hosszu (2:12.38)
- Great Britain’s Alicia Wilson places eighth (2:12.86)
Ohashi won a nail-biting race on Tuesday, beating out Walsh and Douglass in the final yards. The last 50 metres saw all three competitors running in close proximity to one another.
Near the 25-meter mark, Walsh had what looked like a little advantage, but Ohashi began to pull away and eventually won her second gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics.
Since the women’s 200-meter individual medley was added to the Olympics in 1972, Ohashi’s margin of victory of 0.13 seconds is the narrowest in Olympic history.
Since Amanda Beard also placed second in 2004, Walsh’s performance is the best by an American woman in this competition.
Men’s 200m Individual Medley
There were three finals, and the top three finishers each took home a medal. Duncan Scott added a silver medal in the men’s 200 metre individual medley to the silver medal he won in the 200 metre freestyle and the gold medal he won in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay he won earlier in the week. He is currently the most decorated British Olympic swimmer since the Edwardian era after adding the two silvers he won in relays in 2016.
With another victory, he will make history by becoming the first British athlete in any sport to win four medals at the same Olympics. There is a good probability he will complete both given that he still has the men’s medley relay and the mixed medley relay to compete in.
That’s not something Scott is concerned about right now. He is so hectically busy that he has little time to contemplate the many world records he could potentially break. When you finally get a chance to talk to him, you can tell he is having a blast. That he didn’t do better as an individual and earn a gold medal was his one and only disappointment.
After losing to teammate Tom Dean in the 200-meter freestyle and to China’s Wang Shun in the 400-meter medley, he swiftly got over his setbacks. The 24-year-old remarked, “Initially I was pretty gutted,” before cracking a smile. “But I’ve had enough time to let it sink in and think about it some more.” Thanks for reading our article 200m Individual Medley Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
