Katie Grimes (@_katie.grimes_) won a silver medal in the 400 individual medley on Day 1 of a very tough, unprecedentd 10-day Olympic campaign.
Her joy was palpable.
But Day 2 was rough.
After her first day’s two fast 400 individual medley efforts (in the preliminaries and finals), the awards ceremony, the drug testing procedure, and a press conference over a long night, there was little time to prepare for the 1500m freestyle heats the next morning.
Her 16:12.11 time in the 1500 meters was not fast enough to make the Olympic final.
But her dual 1500 + 10 km rivals – Moesha Johnson (@swimmer_moe, shown above) of Australia in 16:04.02 and Leonie Maertens (@leo.m_0803) of Germany in 16:08.69 both qualified for the final heat, positioning themselves to a race for the podium.
All three women will race in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in the Seine on August 8th, but there remains 3 Olympic medals to be won in the 1500m freestyle in the pool. The final will be held on Wednesday evening on July 31st.
Grimes can still become the first woman to achieve the Mellouli Double.
Olympic 10K Marathon Swim finalists
- Chelsea Gubecka, Australia
- Moesha Johnson, Australia
- Ana Marcela Cunha, Brazil
- Viviane Jungblut, Brazil
- Emma Finlin, Canada
- Xin Xin, China
- Maria De Valdes Alvarez, Spain
- Angela Martinez Guillen, Spain
- Oceane Cassignol, France
- Caroline Laure Jouisse, France
- Leah Phoebe Crisp, Great Britain
- Leonie Beck, Germany
- Leonie Maertens, Germany
- Bettina Fabian, Hungary
- Giulia Gabbrielleschi, Italy
- Ginevra Taddeucci, Italy
- Airi Ebina, Japan
- Martha Sandoval Ayala, Mexico
- Lisa Pou, Monaco
- Sharon van Rouwendaal, Netherlands
- Maria Alejandra Bramont-Arias, Peru
- Angelica Andre, Portugal
- Mariah Denigan, USA
- Katie Grimes, USA
Postscript
Moesha Johnson finished sixth in the final heat in 16:02.70. Leonie Maertens finished eighth in 16:12.57 in the final won by defending Olympic gold medalist in 15:30.02.
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