A number of Bay Area swimmer representing the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University will dive in for various races Wednesday night in Rio.
Among other marquee events, Cal's Abbey Weitzeil and Stanford's Simone Manuel will duke it out for a chance to called the world's best 100-meter freestyler.
Both swimmers finished in the top-four in their respective semifinals. Manuel clocked a time a 53:32 seconds and Weitzeil was just behind at 53:54 seconds.
A swimming rivalry between the Bay Area's two largest universities will continue with Cal's Missy Franklin and Stanford's Maya DiRado in the 200-meter backstroke.
Franklin, who set the world record en route to winning gold in the 200-meter backstroke four years ago in London, safely advanced to the 16-woman semifinals in 11th place overall after Thursday’s preliminary heats. She posted a time of two minutes, 9.26 seconds.
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who already owns three gold medals from this Rio Games, posted a personal best of 2:06.09 to lead the pack.
Stanford's DiRado, who already owns the trifecta of a gold-silver-bronze medal from these Games, stands in third place overall with her time of 2:08.60.
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Australian Emily Seebohm, the 2015 world champion in the event, advanced just ahead of Franklin in 10th place with a time of 2:09.00.
