Josh Prenot won his first-ever Olympic medal when he took home silver in the men’s 200m breaststroke on Wednesday night. It was the United States’ first medal in the event since 2004.
Josh Prenot wins United States’ first medal in 200m breaststroke since 2004
In a close finish, Prenot took second.
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
The 23-year-old, competing in his first Olympics, finished just seven hundredths of a second behind Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin, who won his country’s first-ever swimming gold medal, upsetting the rest of the field.
Attention was in the middle lanes where Russia’s Kupchov and Prenot were expected medalists, but Balandin quietly paced himself in lane eight to take the honor. Kupchov finished 17 hundredths of a second behind Prenot to win bronze.
In the semifinal it was Japan’s Ippei Watanabe who placed the top time, followed by Great Britain’s Andrew Willis and then Prenot. Prenot swam 25 hundredths of a second faster in his silver medal finish than he did in the qualifier. Gold medalist Balandin was the last swimmer to qualify for the final.
Prenot’s teammate, Kevin Cordes, placed eighth in the final after finishing fifth in the semifinal.
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