Kate Douglass wins first Olympic heat in 200 IM, moves to semifinals Monday night (video)

NBCOlympics.com

Heading to touch for first, Kate Douglass in the final lap of the 200 IM quarterfinal.

In her Tokyo Olympics debut Monday, PMHS alum Kate Douglass won a quarterfinal heat of the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.16, swimming her personal best and leading right off the block.

Douglass was also first overall after the four heats, beating the next swimmer, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, by more than half a second.

Douglass qualified for the women’s 200 IM in June with a second-place finish. It’s her sole event in Tokyo.

The top four swimmers in each heat move on to the semifinals. Alex Walsh, Douglass’s University of Virginia teammate, also made it through to the semifinal round with a second-place finish in the first heat.

Douglass will swim next in the semifinals Monday night in one of the two races starting at 10:58 p.m. She will have to again place in the top four in her race to make the finals, which will be Tuesday at 10:45 p.m. Both events can be watched on NBC.

The finishing order and times in the race, according to NBCOlympics.com:

  1. K. Douglass (USA) – 2:09.16
  2. Y.T. YU (China) – 2:10.22
  3. Y. Ohashi (Japan) – 2:10.77
  4. I.  Cusinato (Italy) – 2:11.41
  5. D. Sebestyen (Hungary) – 2.12.42
  6. B. Andison (Canada) – 2:12.52
  7. R. Meder (South Africa) – 2:14. 79
  8. D. Petkova (Bulgaria) – 2:16.70