Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle
| Men's 200 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
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| Venue | Olympic Aquatics Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 7 August 2016 (heats & semifinals) 8 August 2016 (final) |
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| Competitors | 48 from 36 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:44.65 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Sun Yang |
 China
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Chad le Clos |
 South Africa
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Conor Dwyer |
 United States
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The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 7–8 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
After a runner-up feat in the 400 m freestyle two days earlier, China's Sun Yang put up a monumental effort for the Olympic mid-distance freestyle title in a race against Chad le Clos of South Africa and Conor Dwyer of the United States. Hanging with the leaders at the 150-metre turn, Sun made a late charge on the final lap to edge out Le Clos in front and did not let Dwyer pass him for the gold medal in 1:44.65. Despite his early jump to the immediate lead before the final stretch, Le Clos could not hold off Sun to finish with a silver and an African record time in 1:45.20. Meanwhile, Dwyer powered home with a bronze in 1:45.23.
Swimming on the outside lane, 2015 World champion James Guy of Great Britain improved upon his position to finish fourth with a 1:45.49. Dwyer's teammate Townley Haas claimed the fifth spot in 1:45.58, while Germany's world record holder Paul Biedermann (1:45.84), Japan's Kosuke Hagino (1:45.90), the Olympic champion in the 400 m individual medley, and Russia's Aleksandr Krasnykh (1:45.91) rounded out the field.
Other notable swimmers featured France's Yannick Agnel, who missed a chance to defend his Olympic title after fading to nineteenth in the prelims with a 1:47.35, and two-time silver medalist Park Tae-hwan of South Korea, who posted a twenty-ninth-place time of 1:48.06 in his fourth Olympic appearance. Shortly after the Games, Agnel, aged 24, officially confirmed his retirement from international swimming.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The heats began at 1:19pm.
* Qualified, but pulled out of semi-finals to focus on 4×100 m freestyle relay.
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