With the pool portion of the 2012 Olympics nearly complete, Team USA just keeps winning medals. The latest: Missy Franklin’s gold in the women’s 200m backstroke.
Missy Franklin Wins Women’s 200m Backstroke Final, Sets World Record
Missy Franklin won the women’s 200m backstroke on Friday, adding to the U.S.‘s tally of medals in swimming at the 2012 Olympics.
Franklin smoked the field for gold in the 200m backstroke, winning by more than a second and setting a new world record at 2:04.06. Russia’s Anastasia Zueva finished second, 1.86 back of Franklin, and American Elizabeth Beisel came in third.
Beisel qualified first for the final, and Franklin second, and it was assumed the two would duel for gold. Instead, Franklin burst from the wall in the lead and was ahead of world record pace throughout the race, while Beisel struggled to get going until the final 50 meters.
The medals run the tally in London’s pool to 25 for the U.S.; Team USA has more medals in swimming than any nation not named China or the United State has total at the 2012 Olympics. But Team USA will need a major push in the pool on Friday to wrestle the lead in the Olympic medal count from the Chinese.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation’s London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic swimming, follow the 2012 Olympic swimming section.
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