Tokyo Olympics | Australia’s McKeown to withdraw from 200 medley
The Hindu
The withdrawal could be a blow to Australia’s hopes of taking on the United States in the pool.
Australia’s world number one Kaylee McKeown will pull out of the women’s 200 metres medley at the Olympic Games over a scheduling conflict to focus on backstroke events, the national coach said on Thursday. McKeown, 20, is ranked number one in three events coming into the Tokyo competition but the medley clashed with the 100m backstroke, for which a tough competition is expected, head coach Rohan Taylor said. McKeown’s rivalry with Regan Smith is expected to figure prominently in Tokyo, after the Australian snatched Smith’s 100m backstroke world record at the Australian trials last month.Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.
The other men’s semifinal Friday is Norway’s Casper Ruud, twice the runner-up in Paris — to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023 — against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open, an Olympic gold medalist and into the final four at Roland Garros for the fourth consecutive year.