200 metres Butterfly, Women

Zhang Yufei had set the year’s best time with 2:05.44 at the Chinese Olympic Trials, followed by American Hali Flickinger, who swam 2:05.85 at the US Trials. Other challengers were Hungary’s Boglárka Kapás and the United States’ Regan Smith. Hungarian Katinka Hosszú had probably been the world’s best all-around swimmer in the last few years but struggled in Tokyo and never swam to her potential. She withdrew from this event, which led to a strange situation as there were only 17 entrants, and with Hosszú’s withdrawal, the preliminary round was meaningless as all 16 swimmers advanced to the semi-finals.

Zhang was the class of the event, posting the fastest times in both the preliminary round and her semi-final. In the final she went out quickly and poured it on, finishing in an Olympic record 2:03.86, 1.44 seconds ahead of Regan Smith, who took silver. Behind her Flickinger took bronze, comfortably ahead of Kapás.

This was Zhang’s second butterfly medal in Tokyo, adding to the silver she won in the 100 fly. She would add a gold in the 4 x 200 free relay and a silver in the mixed medley relay to go home with four medals, two of them gold. Smith also won a silver in the 100 backstroke and would win bronze in the 4 x 100 medley relay, while Flickinger added a second bronze medal in the 400 individual medley.