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Australia's three gold medals – the men's and women's fours rowing crews<\/a> and Ariarne Titmus in the 200m freestyle<\/a> – in one hectic hour equalled the team's record for the most gold medals in a single day, set at the 2008 Games in Beijing with two sailing golds and one in triathlon on day 10.<\/p>\n A couple of huge hopes loom in the swimming finals on Thursday.<\/p>\n Kyle Chalmers defends his 100m freestyle title from Rio<\/a>, with his biggest challengers being American Caeleb Dressel and Russian Kliment Kolesnikov. Chalmers will look to swoop from lane seven after qualifying sixth fastest.<\/p>\n There's hardly been a warmer favourite for gold than the women's 4x200m freestyle relay.<\/p>\n Australia's 'B team' easily qualified fastest for the final as Mollie O'Callaghan, Meg Harris, Brianna Throssell and Tamsin Cook clocked a time of 7:44.61 to comfortably win their heat.<\/p>\n Australia look unstoppable for gold, with a trio of stars – Titmus, Emma McKeon and Madi Wilson \u2013 to almost certainly come into the team.<\/p>\n The Aussies look a strong chance to challenge their own world record, set at the 2019 world championships, just days after the 4x100m freestyle team blitzed the field on their way to gold and a new world record.<\/p>\n Zac Stubblety-Cook qualified fastest for the 200m breaststroke final and the 22-year-old's qualifying time of 2:07.35 means he isn't under the radar anymore.<\/p>\n In Thursday's other finals, Jack McLoughlin (800m freestyle) and Brianna Throssell (200m butterfly) will start as outsiders.<\/p>\n Emma McKeon will be back in the pool for the semi-finals of the 100m freestyle.<\/p>\n McKeon broke the Olympic record in the heats with a time of 52.13.<\/p>\n "I'm pretty happy with that, an Olympic record is pretty cool," she said.<\/p>\n Fellow Aussie Cate Campbell will line up in the other semi having swum a slick 52.80s.<\/p>\n Aussie Brendon Smith, who won bronze in the 400m individual medley in Tokyo, missed out on a place in the semis of the 200m IM.<\/p>\n But compatriot Mitch Larkin got through, winning his heat in a time of 1:57.50 by out-touching 35-year-old Hungarian legend Laszlo Cech.<\/p>\n Smith was second in his heat in a time of 1:58.57 but it wasn't enough to qualify for Thursday's semi-finals.<\/p>\n Jenna Strauch progressed through to the 200m breaststroke semi-finals after finishing third in her heat with a time of 2:23.30.<\/p>\n "I hope I can just keep up the Australian breaststroke legacy for all," Strauch said when asked about her idol Leisel Jones after qualification.<\/p>\n However, it's was heartache for fellow Aussie breaststroker Abbey Harkin who was not fast enough to progress with a time of 2:24:41.<\/p>\n Australian debutant Tristan Hollard qualified for the men's 200m backstroke semi-finals after finishing fourth in his heat.<\/p>\n Hollard hit the wall in a time of 1:57.24, which listed him as 10th fastest overall and good enough to progress to the semis.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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