The last day of swimming at the 2012 London Olympics will feature 4 races that on their surface seem to have not much mystery for the gold medal: the men's 1500, the women's 50, and the two medley relays. However, with a dominant favorite in each race, the inevitable upset (as we've seen happen throughout this meet) will be that much more exciting.
Full, live results (will replace with a PDF after the session).
Live video from NBCOlympics.com (US Only).
Women's 50 Free – Finals
This women's 50 free had a pretty even start across the field. That was about all that was even, as the Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo anointed herself as the next great Dutch sprinter by winning the women's 50 free in 24.05. That's a new textile best, a new Olympic Record, and a sweep of the women's sprints.
Belarus' Aleksandra Herasimenia grabbed a silver, just like she did in the 100, with a great effort of 24.28, breaking her own Belarusian record. The bronze went to Kromowidjojo's teammate Marleen Veldhuis in 24.39.
Germany's Britta Steffen marks yet another World Record holder and defending champion at this meet who failed to even medal; she was 4th in 24.46. Britain's home-town swimmer Fran Halsall gave a good effort to end a tough meet with a 24.47 – her fastest swim of the three rounds. She got out to a great start, the only swimmer with a real advantage coming off of the blocks, but couldn't hold on to it once the water started churning.
Sweden's Therese Alshammar did well to continue battling through injury to touch 6th in 24.61, followed by Jessica Hardy (24.62) and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (24.69).
Men's 1500 Free – Finals
For the second time this meet, an unusual start nearly led to disaster. When China's Sun Yang hit the water, suddenly the London Aquatics Centre was silent. The World Record holder, the monster favorite, the sure-thing to break the record again, might not even get a chance to swim. When the officials said “stand up,” Sun hit the water.
But a reprieve: the arena was NOT silent moments before, and shouts by the crowd that caused the false start gave Sun a pass; the command to stand came from crowd noise. Without this relief, which we might have missed the greatest 1500 swim in history.
Yang, for a time, looked like he was going to be under 14:30. That fell away shortly after the halfway mark, but this World Record was never in question. Yang closed his 1500 in 53.49 (just when you thought his 55 from Shanghai was good) en route to a 14:31.02. What was once the only World Record in an Olympic event to survive the rubber-suit era of 2008 and 2009 has now been lowered three-and-a-half seconds in 12 months. Sun's training with Dennis Cotterell in Australia, the coach of the former World Record holder Grant Hackett, seems to have taken Sun to even another level. That's a bit ironic: this is an event that Australia has historically dominated, but this year was only the second time since 1936 that Australia has failed to produce at least a finalist.
The old World mark, set by Sun at last year's World Championships, was 14:34.14. This swim was largely expected, so many will overlook it, but none-the-less it's as impressive as any that we've seen at these Olympics.
Behind Sun, blowing away the field, this race featured a phenomenal battle for silver between Canada's Ryan Cochrane and the defending Olympic champion Ous Mellouli of Tunisia. Despite the latter's typically-great closing split, Cochrane was able to edge just ahead for the last 500 meters of this race, and held on for silver in 14:39.63. That's the 4th-best time in history, and the fastest ever by a swimmer hailing from the Western Hemisphere. Mellouli took bronze in 14:40.31.
South Korea's Tae-Hwan Park swam well, but just doesn't have the endurance to get that low. He was 4th in 14:50.61: 10 seconds back of Mellouli. Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri was 5th in 14:51.92, followed by American Connor Jaeger in 14:52.99, Mateusz Sawrymowicz in 14:54.32, and Britain's Daniel Fogg in 15:00.76. Fogg, like Mellouli, now has to wind up for the open water swim next week.