Tonight is the final night in the pool and it'll be closed out by two individual finals and two relays.
The men's 1500m free is the longest of the meet and takes almost 15 minutes. Trust me, they'll take a commercial break during the race. Italy's Gregogio Paltrinieri qualified in the top spot followed by Americans Connor Jaeger in second and Jordan Wilmovsky in third. The favorite was China's Sun Yang but he failed to make it out of the prelims. Good chances for the USA to medal in this race.
In contrast, we also have the shortest women's race of the meet in the 50m free. Simone Manuel is back after her surprise win in the 100m. She's not favored to win in this race either but is probably swimming with a lot of confidence. Denmark's Pernill Blue qualified in first followed by Australia's Cate Campbell and Netherlands Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Australia's Bronte Campbell qualified in fifth just ahead of Manuel. Again, in this race (aka the "Splash and Dash") you never know what will happen.
The meet will end with both the women's and men's 4x100 individual medley relays. Just a refresher, the medley relay is four swimmers each swimming 100m in a different stroke. Both U.S. teams are likely to win gold.
The women swam the "B team" of Olivia Smoliga, Katie Meili, Kelsi Worrell and Abby Weitzeil in the prelims and still qualified first. I suspect the final will consist of Kathleen Baker (backstroke), Lilly King (breaststroke), Dana Vollmer (fly) and Simone Manuel (free). All four of those swimmers won medals in their respective 100m races. Needless to say, the Americans are in a good spot to win.
Like the women, the men also swam its second team in the prelims with David Plummer, Kevin Cordes, Tom Shields and Caleb Dressel. The U.S. qualified in second behind Great Britain but GBR swam all its best swimmers in the prelims. I suspect the final lineup will be as follows - Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Cody Miller (breaststroke), Michael Phelps (fly) and Nathan Adrian (free). This will be Phelps last ever race (so he says) and a chance to win the 23rd gold of his career. He probably doesn't like having finished second in the 100m fly last night and will do everything to ensure the U.S. wins this race. I think Phelps ends his career on the top of the podium one last time.
At the track, we'll have one of the men's longest races and the women's shortest race. While medals will also be handed out in the women's heptathlon and the men's long jump.
In the long jump, China's Wang Jianan currently leads with American Jeff Henderson in second. The final includes 12 jumpers with each getting three chances to jump. I think that's the way it works. Honestly, I'm not too up on my long jumping rules.
In London, the men's 10,000m was one of the most exciting races. That was mostly because it was won by GBR's Mo Farah and the entire stadium was going crazy for him. Farah is back and so is American Galen Rupp who finished right behind him in 2012. The two train together and clearly make each other better. Could be another exciting finish this time around.
The "fastest woman in the world" will be crowned tonight. The semifinals will be happen today and I probably won't be around to watch, so I'll just go with all those that made the semis. Jamaica's Shelley-Ann Fraser-Price looks to win her third straight gold in the event. She'll be tested by teammate Elaine Thompson, who has the fastest time in the world this year. All three Americans - Tori Bowie, English Gardner and Tianna Bartoletta - all advanced to the semis. Gardner is the favorite among the Americans. Also of note is Dafine Schippers of the Netherlands.
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