Gold rush continues for Phelps

Michael Phelps last night claimed the 16th Olympic gold medal of his amazing career and 20th in total with a thrilling victory in the 200m individual medley.

Phelps led from start to finish and held off compatriot Ryan Lochte down the final freestyle leg to win in one minute 54.27 seconds, just 0.04secs outside his own Olympic record.

It means Phelps is the first man to win the event at three consecutive Games and comes just 48 hours after he won his 18th and 19th Olympic medals to overtake Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina.

Lochte, who had been forced to settle for bronze in the 200m backstroke 30 minutes earlier, took silver in 1:54.90, with Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh taking bronze.

It was proving another successful evening for American swimmers. Tyler Clary won the 200m backstroke ahead of Japan’s Ryosuke Irie and Lochte, after Rebecca Soni had claimed gold in the 200m breaststroke by smashing her own world record.

Soni was a massive odds-on favourite after setting a world record of 2:20.00 in Wednesday’s semi-finals, and fully justified her status with a commanding performance last night.

The 25-year-old took control of the race after the opening length and touched in a time of 2:19.59, slicing more than four-tenths of a second off her previous time. Japan’s Satomi Suzuki claimed silver with Russian Iuliia Efimova taking bronze.

“I wasn’t trying to focus on records or medals or anything, I just wanted to swim one more race the way I knew I could,” Soni said.