Olympics / Team USA Dana Vollmer part of huge night for U.S. Swimming by Daniel Popoloski August 7, 2016 The United States swim team pulled some heavy weight yet again in the Olympics, hauling in quite a few medals, including another one for Syracuse’s Dana Vollmer, and more Olympic history for Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps. Vollmer was one of the earlier races in the night, when she took on the 100m butterfly final, the event that she is the reigning Olympic champion in. Despite a rough start and a less than encouraging placing after the first 50m, Vollmer turned on the jets in the last bit to earn a bronze medal. She ended up only .17 seconds away from a silver, but clearly outmatched by Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who won the gold while setting a new world record. Vollmer should be encouraged by the placing, returning to the Olympics after taking a year off to have a child. She could be in the medley relay, but if she isn’t, this will have been her last event. The great performances didn’t stop there for American swimming. Katie Ledecky began her dominance but setting a new world record in the 400m freestyle, while teammate Leah Smith took bronze. Ledecky was more than four seconds ahead of the next closest competitor. That adds to the silver she earned with Vollmer in the 4×100 freestyle relay. She will likely add gold medals in the 200m and 800m freestyle later in the games, as well as in the 4X200m relay. And later on in the evening, Michael Phelps continued his picture perfect Olympic career, when he won gold in the men’s 4X100 freestyle relay, where the Americans led the entire time, toppling rivals France and Australia. In a relay race that has been filled with drama in recent years, notably Jason Lezak’s unbelievable comeback in 2008 to give Phelps another gold, the United States had a fairly easy time. Caleb Dressel led off with the lead, but it wasn’t until Phelps went second, that the United States really grabbed a big lead. Ryan Held continued to hold the lead for anchor Nathan Adrian, who swam the fastest leg in the competition, bringing back gold to the Americans. In the other final in the day, the United States’ Cody Miller edged teammate Kevin Cordes for bronze medal position in the 100m breaststroke. Cordes was a relative surprise, coming that close to medal competition, but Miller was ranked third in the world in the event coming in to Rio. Post Views: 1,132 The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest Posts Daniel Popoloski Dan is a Staff Writer here at DoubleGSports.com with a focus on Team USA and the Rio Olympics Latest posts by Daniel Popoloski (see all) Team USA Proves it Can Win without Phelps, Lochte - July 30, 2017 Sydney McLaughlin becomes first Repeat Gatorade Athlete of Year - July 18, 2017 Local Swimmers Looking to Thrive at World Championships - July 18, 2017 Sydney McLaughlin Dominates New Jersey Meet of Champions - June 14, 2017 Related TopicsDana VollmerKatie LedeckyMichael PhelpsRio 2016Rio OlympicsSwimmingTeam USA Click to comment You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. Newsletter Subscription Can't Miss Posts! Women in Sports: NHL Network Host, Jackie Redmond by Nicholas Durst | posted on March 4, 2019 Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics by Anthony Paradiso | posted on April 18, 2021 You Know I’m Right, Episode 109: The Athletic’s Marc Carig (Audio/Video) by Nicholas Durst | posted on April 19, 2021 Michael Jordan Could Change the Future of Nascar for the Better by Inesh Chari | posted on March 30, 2021 WNBA Rolling Out Red Carpet For Upcoming 25th Anniversary Season by Jason Cordner | posted on March 16, 2021 More in Olympics / Team USA Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics The 2021 Summer Olympic games are scheduled to take place from July 23 –... You Know I’m Right, Episode 94: Olympic Gold Medalist Lilly King (Audio/Video) On the 94th episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst was joined by olympic... The Tokyo 2021 Olympics Will Feature New Amazing Sports Surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, baseball and softball will compete at the Summer Olympics. You Know I’m Right, Episode 82: NBC’s Mary Carillo (Audio/Video) On the 82nd episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... Solo the Hero as USWNT Beat France 1-0 USA women’s basketball start gold medal journey with win