Tirol’s Simon Bucher Misses Olympic Final by a Hair, Eyes Relay Redemption

Ultimately, it was 27 hundredths of a second too slow for the hoped-for Olympic final in the 100 meters butterfly. The Tyrolean Simon Bucher, who swims for ASV Linz and is the reigning vice-world champion over this distance, finished “only” in tenth place with a time of 51.35 seconds.

“I can’t complain about that. Of course, I’m a bit disappointed; I put a lot of pressure on myself,” said the 24-year-old. However, he will be able to compete in the evening as the second reserve for the final. Before that (12:40 PM), Bucher will be engaged in the heats for the 4 x 100 m medley alongside Bernhard Reitshammer, Valentin Bayer, and Heiko Gigler.

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Olympic Summer Games

French judoka Teddy Riner sets gold record

PARIS. France’s superstar Teddy Riner has become the first judoka to win Olympic gold for the fourth time.

French judoka Teddy Riner sets gold record

Already on Friday morning, Lena Kreundl exited the pool of the sold-out La Defense Arena, with 17,000 spectators, as the 24th in the 200-meter individual medley preliminaries (2:15.04 minutes). “For me, a circle has closed,” reported the 26-year-old with tears in her eyes. The semi-final entry, which was 3.08 seconds away, would have been out of reach for the native of Steyr even with a personal best time. Nevertheless, Kreundl had hoped for a better time.

Image: gepa

Kreundl finished 24th in the 200 meters individual medley.
Image: gepa

“Twelve years ago, my international career began with the short course European Championships in France; now I get to swim at the Olympics again, also in France.” The reflective nature of her words was unmistakable: “I swam with the mindset that this could be the last race of my career.”

Whether Kreundl will extend her career by a few months and participate in the upcoming short-course season is still uncertain. It also depends on a new training solution. She cleared out her apartment in Uster (Sui), where she had trained since the fall of 2019, two weeks ago. Since she lost her coach there, she is returning to Austria. “I’m quite sure I will transition to a full-time job in September,” said the trained police officer.