Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle
| Men's 200 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Venue | London Aquatics Centre | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | July 29, 2012 (heats & semifinals) July 30, 2012 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 33 from 29 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 1:43.14 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freestyle | ||||
| 50 m | men | women | ||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| 800 m | women | |||
| 1500 m | men | |||
| Backstroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Breaststroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Butterfly | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Individual medley | ||||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| Freestyle relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| 4×200 m | men | women | ||
| Medley relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| Marathon | ||||
| 10 km | men | women | ||
The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]
After overhauling the Americans in the 4x100 freestyle relay with a stunning anchor leg, France's Yannick Agnel pulled away from a star-studded field by over a full body length to earn his second Olympic gold in swimming at these Games. Billed as the "Race of the Century", he came up again with a spectacular swim on the final stretch to hit the wall first in 1:43.14, posting a textile best in the process and moving rapidly to third in the world's all time rankings.[2][3] Meanwhile, South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan and China's Sun Yang tied for the silver medal in a matching time of 1:44.93, following a dramatic rivalry in the 400 m freestyle final two days earlier.[4][5]
U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte, the reigning world champion, missed the podium by 11-hundredths of a second with a fourth-place time in 1:45.04.[6][7] Germany's world-record holder Paul Biedermann faded down the stretch to pick up a fifth spot in 1:45.53, edging out British home favorite Robbie Renwick by a full body length with a highly-creditable, sixth-place effort (1:46.53).[8][9] Australia's Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:46.93) and Russia's Danila Izotov (1:47.75) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the stellar championship field.[5]
Notable swimmers missed out the final roster featuring Lochte's teammate Ricky Berens, who replaced Michael Phelps to fill out the slot for the Americans but placed ninth (1:46.87); and Switzerland's Dominik Meichtry, a sixth-place finalist in Beijing four years earlier, who finished fifteenth in the semifinals (1:48.25).[10]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Paul Biedermann (GER) | 1:42.00 | Rome, Italy | 28 July 2009 | [11][12] |
| Olympic record |  Michael Phelps (USA) | 1:42.96 | Beijing, China | 12 August 2008 | [13] |
No new records were set during this competition.
Results
Heats
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Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Paul Biedermann | Germany | 1:46.10 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 1:46.31 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Robbie Renwick |  Great Britain | 1:46.65 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Danila Izotov |  Russia | 1:46.65 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Ricky Berens | United States | 1:46.87 | |
| 6 | 1 | Brett Fraser |  Cayman Islands | 1:47.01 | |
| 7 | 7 | Grégory Mallet |  France | 1:47.56 | |
| 8 | 8 | Dominik Meichtry |  Switzerland | 1:48.25 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Sun Yang |  China | 1:45.61 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Yannick Agnel | France | 1:45.84 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Park Tae-Hwan |  South Korea | 1:46.02 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Thomas Fraser-Holmes |  Australia | 1:46.80 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Dominik Kozma |  Hungary | 1:46.93 | |
| 6 | 7 | Sebastiaan Verschuren |  Netherlands | 1:46.95 | |
| 7 | 6 | Kenrick Monk | Australia | 1:47.38 | |
| 8 | 8 | Artem Lobuzov | Russia | 1:48.26 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 5 | Yannick Agnel | France | 1:43.14 | NR |
 | 4 | Sun Yang | China | 1:44.93 | NR |
| | 3 | Park Tae-Hwan | South Korea | 1:44.93 | |
| 4 | 2 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 1:45.04 | |
| 5 | 6 | Paul Biedermann | Germany | 1:45.53 | |
| 6 | 1 | Robbie Renwick | Great Britain | 1:46.53 | |
| 7 | 8 | Thomas Fraser-Holmes | Australia | 1:46.93 | |
| 8 | 7 | Danila Izotov | Russia | 1:47.75 |
References
- ↑ "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ↑ "France's Agnel wins 200-metre freestyle gold". France 24. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ "Yannick Agnel wins 200 freestyle". ESPN. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ "Park Tae-hwan Settles for Second Silver in 200-m Free". The Chosun Ilbo. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- 1 2 "2012 London Olympics: Yannick Agnel Earns Second Gold of Meet With 200 Free Triumph; Posts Textile Best; Lochte Out of the Medals". Swimming World Magazine. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ↑ "Ryan Lochte finishes fourth in 200-meter freestyle at London Olympics, France’s Yannick Agnel wins gold". New York Daily News. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ Clarey, Christopher (30 July 2012). "Agnel Outduels Lochte Again as French Savor Early Success". New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ "Agnel claims gold in 200m freestyle as Renwick trails home in sixth". Daily Mail. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ "Spofforth, Tancock, and Renwick miss out". Team GB. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ "2012 London Olympics: Sun Yang, Yannick Agnel Post 1:45s to Lead Men's 200 Free Semis; Lochte 5th". Swimming World Magazine. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ Dillman, Lisa (29 July 2009). "Suit case: German ends Phelps' reign". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ Jeffery, Nicole (29 July 2009). "Paul Biedermann beats Michael Phelps in 200m freestyle". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ "Phelps breaks 200 free world record by nearly a second". ESPN. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ "Men's 200m Freestyle – Heats". London 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.