O’Connor qualifies second fastest for 200m IM semis

Siobhan-Marie O’Connor looked in great form today in the heats of the 200m Individual Medley on day three of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The University of Bath swimmer was just outside of her personal best time, touching in 2:08.44 to finish just a second behind Kaninka Hosszú of Hungary. Hosszú’s time was a new Olympic record, and the Hungarian had already set a new world record and claimed an Olympic bronze in the Women’s 400m IM on day two.

Smooth progress for @SiobhanMOConnor & @HannahMiley89 in the 200 IM #swimming heats #Rio2016https://t.co/CkzPULyhftpic.twitter.com/EpI0EKKFXn

— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 8, 2016

O’Connor looks good for a medal if she can continue current form, and the semi-finals tonight should make for some exciting races. She is the current British record holder for the Women’s 200m Individual Medley.

Hannah Miley, who celebrates her 27th birthday today, also made it through to the semi-finals. She finished in 12th place with a time of 2:11.84. The Scottish swimmer narrowly missed out on a bronze medal on day two, falling just 15 hundredths of a second short.

Coates and Faulkner fall short in the freestyle

Both Georgia Coates and Eleanor Faulkner swam in the Women’s 200m Freestyle heats. For City of Leeds swimmer, Coates, this was her her first experience of the Olympic Games. The young athlete showed some great technique to finish 27th overall with a time of 1:59.33. She was less than two seconds away from a qualifying place. Faulkner swam 2:00.51 to finish 32nd, which is two seconds outside of her personal best time.

Tune in for Guy in day three finals

Tonight’s finals sessions will see James Guy competing in the Men’s 200m Freestyle. The freestyle event kicks off at 02:21am in the UK. Guy is the World Champion for this event which he secured in Kazan in 2015. The Millfield swimmer qualified fifth fastest in yesterday’s semi-finals.

You can see full results from the day three heats on the Rio 2016 website.