American Rebecca Soni started the Finals with a dissapointing upset for the Austrailian Leisel Jones in the 200m breaststroke. Soni stayed right next to Jones the whole race and then the last 50m, it was all about who wanted it more and Soni had the drive and came in to win her first gold medal (2:20.22) and a WR.
"I can't believe what just happened," Soni said. "It just kind of flowed. I just tried to stay relaxed."
The USA went 1 - 2 in the men's 200m backstroke. Ryan Lockte is an elite swimmer but many times gets over shadowed by Aaron Piersol and Michael Phelps but in this event Lockte was the person smiling with the gold medal. Piersol was not able to defend his title from 4 years ago. "I'm very proud of what I have done," Peirsol said. "Ryan swam well today, he earned it. A race is a race. You can get beat, no one owns anything."
There was less than 30 minutes from when Lockte won gold in the 200m backstroke and when he had to step up on the blocks to swim the 200m IM with team-mate Michael Phelps in the next lane. Phelps took gold (1:54.23) and broke his own WR while Lockte was not too far behind earning a bronze (1:56.53).
"I knew that was a hard double for Ryan," Phelps said, speaking from firsthand experience. "I knew, in the first half if I got a big enough lead I could hang on. That's all I wanted to do."
The final event was the women's 100m freestyle where American Natalie Couglin earned a bronze. Coughlin swam well but much of the focus was on the World Record holder Lisbeth Trickett from Australia in lane 8 who only made the finals because Jiaying Pang from China disqualified her self by moving on the block too early. Trickett earned the silver and Britta Steffen from Germany earned the gold but did not break Trickett's WR.
GO USA!!!
Medal Tally - 10 Gold, 6 Silver and 9 Bronze
Medal Tally - 10 Gold, 6 Silver and 9 Bronze
