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Tokyo Olympics: Day One Prelims Heat Sheets Posted; Six Events on Slate
The heat sheets for the first day of prelims action at the Tokyo Olympics have been posted as swimming is set to begin Saturday evening in Japan at 7 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET in the U.S.). Events on the program for day one include the men’s 400 IM, women’s 100 butterfly, men’s 400 freestyle, women’s 400 IM, men’s 100 breaststroke and women’s 400 freestyle relay.
The meet will begin, as has become tradition at the Olympics, with four heats of. the men’s 400 IM. The United States was riding a streak of excellence in the event with five straight gold medals (Tom Dolan twice, Michael Phelps twice and Ryan Lochte once) before Japan’s Kosuke Hagino held off the USA’s Chase Kalisz for gold in 2016. Hagino will not defend his country, but his countryman Daiya Seto is the reigning world champion and top seed, with Kalisz seeded second.
Four swimmers are seeded under 56 in the women’s 100 fly, including China’s Zhang Yufei, the USA’s Torri Huske, Canada’s Maggie MacNeil and Australia’s Emma McKeon, while world-record holder Sarah Sjostrom is the fifth seed despite a lack of clarity on her participation here after her recovery from a fractured elbow.
The men’s 400 free sees Australians Elijah Winnington and Jack McLoughlin seeded first and third, respectively, while Italy’s Gabriele Detti is the second seed. Katinka Hosszu and Yui Ohashi will each have to deal with an American challenger in their 400 IM heats (Emma Weyant and Hali Flickinger, respectively), and then it will be Adam Peaty time in the men’s 100 breast, which has the most heats of any event in the session (seven).
Finally, the United States will swim in heat one of the women’s 400 free relay, while the Netherlands and Canada will join favored Australia in heat two.
