2024 Olympics Race Data Breakdown: Women’s 200 IM

The French governing body for swimming (Fรฉdรฉration Franรงaise de Natation) recently released a data analysis booklet of each event raced at the Paris Olympics. In this data-packed guide, information including swimmersโ€™ 25m splits, time spent underwater, total stroke count, and more are laid out in a table with a breakdown of each finalistโ€™s information. Over the next few days, Iโ€™ll be choosing some of my favorite races from the Olympics and analyzing the data behind the worldโ€™s fastest swimmers.

This data gold mine, all in French, has four distinct sections: Laps (splits), Parties Nagรฉes (Parts of the race swum), Parties Non Nagรฉes (Parts of the race not swum, including the start, underwaters, and finish), and Mouvements (total strokes and such).

LOOKING BACK

One of the most anticipated events of this meet was the women’s 200 IM, with some of the biggest names in the sport like Summer McIntosh, Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, and Kaylee McKeown finally getting the chance to all go head-to-head. This event was raced on the penultimate day of finals, and the final showed two interesting things: an empty lane in an Olympic final and a disqualification. Ella Ramsay, the original eighth qualifier coming out of semifinals, withdrew from the 200 IM final due to illness. Usually, this spot would go to the reserves, Anastasia Gorbenko and Ye Shiwen, but neither of the swimmers appeared in the final, leaving an empty lane. Alex Walsh, who swam the third-fastest time in the final, was disqualified after going past vertical on the backstroke-to-breaststroke turn. With this information, there were only six swimmers that earned a time in this year’s competition.

  1. Summer McIntosh, Canada – 2:06.56
  2. Kate Douglass, United States – 2:06.92
  3. Kaylee McKeown, Australia – 2:08.08
  4. Yu Yiting, China – 2:08.49
  5. Abbie Wood, Great Britain – 2:09.51
  6. Sydney Pickrem, Canada – 2:09.74
  7. Ella Ramsay, Australia – DNS
  8. Alex Walsh, United States – DSQ

LAPSย (SPLITS)

To 50m (butterfly):

  1. Douglass – 26.73
  2. McIntosh – 26.80
  3. Yu – 27.31
  4. Wood – 27.43
  5. McKeown – 27.59
  6. Pickrem – 27.89

50m-100m (backstroke):

  1. McKeown – 31.68
  2. McIntosh – 31.80
  3. Pickrem – 32.47
  4. Yu – 32.74
  5. Wood – 32.78
  6. Douglass – 34.32

100m-150m (breaststroke):

  1. Douglass – 35.75
  2. Pickrem – 37.19
  3. Yu – 37.37
  4. McIntosh – 37.53
  5. McKeown – 37.77
  6. Wood – 37.87

150m-200m (freestyle):

  1. Douglass – 30.12
  2. McIntosh – 30.43
  3. McKeown – 31.04
  4. Yu – 31.07
  5. Wood – 31.43
  6. Pickrem – 32.19

With the 200 IM being a true test of a swimmer’s ability to swim all four strokes as fast as they can, it’s going to expose some weaknesses wherever it can. For example, Kate Douglass was the fastest in the field in every stroke (including a 1.44 second gap over everyone in the breaststroke) except for backstroke, where she was nearly three seconds behind the fastest split. Summer McIntosh, the winner of the race, was not the fastest swimmer on any leg, but she was right in the mix on every stroke, having the second-fastest splits on every stroke except for breaststroke. Kaylee McKeown fell back on the butterfly and breaststroke legs, but her backstroke and freestyle were enough to place her in to medal contention.

PARTIES NAGร‰ES (PARTS OF THE RACE SWUM)

This section provides the swimmersโ€™ times from 15m to 45m, as well as their times from 65m-95m, 115m-145m, and 165m-195m, accounting for everything except the start, turn, and the finish. The following ranking is their total time spent “swimming.”

  1. McIntosh – 1:18.55
  2. Douglass – 1:20.25
  3. McKeown – 1:20.63
  4. Yu – 1:20.73
  5. Wood – 1:21.42
  6. Pickrem – 1:21.44

This metric isn’t as surprising as some of the others are when considering the total finish order, as the time spent “swimming” is the exact same as the finish order. While underwaters, starts, and turns can help you a lot in a shorter-distance race, the higher the distance the less total effect they tend to have on a race (in most cases). Despite this race being very close between McIntosh and Douglass for first and second place, McIntosh spent almost 2 seconds less than Douglass during the 120m in the middle of the pool.

PARTIES NON NAGร‰ES (PARTS OF THE RACEย NOTย SWUM)

This section highlights the start, turn, and finish of the race, including reaction times, time spent underwater, distance covered underwater, time to hit the 15m mark, and closing 5m time on each 50, alongside the distance from last stroke into the final wall. The following ranking shows the total time spent on starts, turns, and the closing 5 meters (15 meters off of and 5 meters into every wall).

  1. Douglass – 46.67
  2. McKeown – 47.45
  3. Yu – 47.76
  4. McIntosh – 48.01
  5. Wood – 48.09
  6. Pickrem – 48.30

The following ranking shows the distance (in meters) each swimmer spent underwater during this race:

  1. Wood – 47.1
  2. McKeown – 43.3
  3. Yu – 39.5
  4. Douglass – 39.1
  5. Pickrem – 38.3
  6. McIntosh – 37.9

These metrics further enunciate that there are multiple ways to win a race, and the idea that each swimmer plays to their own strengths when swimming the 200 IM. Summer McIntosh spent a full 10 meters longer on top of the water than Abbie Wood did, because underwaters are not as crucial to her race plan. Kate Douglass was the quickest through the auxiliary portions of her race, but still was bested by McIntosh. Douglass had the fastest time from each wall to the 15m mark (except for backstroke, where Yu Yiting had the fastest), showcasing UVA’s quick and efficient underwater style that has worked very well for her in the past. Yu Yiting continued to be within the top 3/4 swimmers in every metric from this race, consistent with her placing in a very safe fourth place.

MOUVEMENTSย (STROKE)

This final section modeled the total strokes that each swimmer took during the race, and the following ranking shows from least strokes to most.

Butterfly:

  1. Douglass – 18
  2. McIntosh/Yu/Wood – 20
  3. .
  4. .
  5. McKeown/Pickrem – 21
  6. .

Backstroke:

  1. Douglass/Yu/Wood – 35
  2. .
  3. .
  4. McKeown – 37
  5. Pickrem – 38
  6. McIntosh – 39

Breaststroke:

  1. Douglass/Pickrem – 19
  2. .
  3. Wood – 20
  4. McIntosh/McKeown/Yu – 23
  5. .
  6. .

Freestyle:

  1. Douglass – 38
  2. Yu – 39
  3. McIntosh/Wood – 40
  4. .
  5. McKeown/Pickrem – 42
  6. .

TOTAL:

  1. Douglass -110
  2. Wood – 115
  3. Yu – 117
  4. Pickrem – 120
  5. McIntosh – 122
  6. McKeown – 123

With this event being so variable, the total stroke count is less important of a metric when considering the stroke count by each 50. For the butterfly leg, the amount of strokes taken is similarly correlated to their split times, with Douglass being the fastest but also taking the least strokes and McKeown and Pickrem taking the most and touching the 50m mark later than their competitors. Pickrem and Douglass’ low stroke rate on the breaststroke leg checks out with their experience in the 200 breaststroke, as both of the swimmers made appearances in the semifinals of the breaststroke event, with Douglass going on to win it outright.

Each swimmer between McKeown, McIntosh, and Douglass won a 200 distance event prior to swimming the 200 IM, and their stroke counts and splits showed some interesting things about the similarities/differences between their two races. For example, McIntosh took out her 200 butterfly in 19 strokes and a 27.38, similar in strokes but not time to her 200 IM (20 strokes, 26.80). The second 50 of McKeown’s backstroke showed 38 strokes and a 30.88 split, whereas she took 35 strokes and split a 31.68 on the second 50 of her 200 IM (three strokes more and nearly a second slower). Douglass, in her 200 breaststroke-winning swim, split a 35.81 and took 17 strokes on her third 50, compared to her 19 strokes and 35.75 in her 200 IM, (similar in time but not stroke count.). It’s no surprise that each swimmer has a different race plan between their individual stroke events and their IMs, but it’s interesting to see how the prior/following legs of the IM affect the fastest swimmers in the world.

For the previous data breakdowns, see the following articles:

For the full breakdown: see the bookletย here.

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jeff
1 month ago

Okay so from the replay video, Alex’s splits were approximately 27.01 butterfly. 32.45 backstroke, 36.18 breaststroke, 31.42 freestyle. That would put her at 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 5th respectively.

jeff
Reply to  jeff
1 month ago

oops didnโ€™t see the actual splits were posted below, my splits surprisingly close though

TomDeanBoxall
1 month ago

Not the place to ask I know, but on Twitter there seems to be talk of so-called “beef” relating to McIntosh and Marchand. I know a lot of people feel McIntosh’s games were overshadowed by Marchand, but this user seems to allude to an “argument” later in the thread?

I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
Reply to  TomDeanBoxall
1 month ago

I highly doubt Summer, who appears to be one of the kindest and most levelheaded athletes around, got into an argument with Leon, again, one of the kindest and most genuine athletes around, because she was “jealous” he was stealing her thunder.

emmie
Reply to  TomDeanBoxall
1 month ago

twitter fabricated beef once again, not surprising

25fly
Reply to  TomDeanBoxall
1 month ago

They literally follow each other on insta and like each others posts

TomDeanBoxall
1 month ago

Splits for Walsh’s 2:07.06 before DQ if anyone is interested: 27.05 (3), 32.35 (3), 36.22 (1), 31.44 (3).

Was a very good swim and sad that it wasn’t rewarded with a medal. But rules are the rules ig.

Position () is for the race itself, not 3rd fastest split.

I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
Reply to  TomDeanBoxall
1 month ago

She’s really gotta figure out how to finish on that freestyle. This is now the third time in a major meet (Tokyo, Fukuoka, Paris) where she’s heavily died on the freestyle. She swims the 400 IM, so I’m surprised her endurance doesn’t hold up here. It’s not like she’s a slow freestyler, she’s gone 1:57 200 free LC.

Robbos
Reply to  I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
1 month ago

Maybe because she is up against Mcintosh a 1.53.6 200 free swimmer & Douglas a 52.5 100 free swimmer.

Yikes
Reply to  I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
1 month ago

Sheโ€™s losing to people who are just plain much faster than her in freestyle.

Robbos
1 month ago

Something that has gone unanswered, what happened to Mckeown in this race, she swam so much slower than her trail time, she should’ve been challenging for Gold.

jeff
Reply to  Robbos
1 month ago

she was tired

Robbos
Reply to  jeff
1 month ago

McIntosh swam longer & further than McKeown!!!!

Fraser Thorpe
Reply to  Robbos
1 month ago

Yeah, McKeown seems to be effected by fatigue and not be handle big programs like other swimmers. Sheโ€™s always slower in the relay at the end of the meet too.

Wonder if itโ€™s in anyway related to how sheโ€™s able to swim fast in season and doesnโ€™t seem to be much of a taper swimmer.

Not sure how that would correlate but it seems interesting that theyโ€™re both key characteristics of her swimming.

jeff
Reply to  Robbos
1 month ago

I think that speaks more to how superhuman Summer is

‘Pain tolerance is her secret weapon’: The origins of Summer McIntosh from a couple weeks ago is a nice read

non paywall version: https://archive.is/8Fqr9

“All last week, Ms. McIntosh spoke consistently and methodically about her races; just focusing on the next one, trusting in her training, nothing was bothering her. She made it sound easy. But after her final race this weekend, there was a subtle shift. Asked if she felt tired, Ms. McIntosh replied that yes, she was, a little. But, she added: ‘Iโ€™ve trained years and years and simulated this kind of pain and exhaustion.'”

Last edited 1 month ago by jeff
lex
Reply to  jeff
1 month ago

Summer swam the most out of any of the swimmers there. Once again just proving the Mcintosh haters wrong, what can I say

Caleb
Reply to  jeff
1 month ago

being 17 helps

I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
Reply to  jeff
1 month ago

Kate Douglass had relay duty and the 200 breast before the 200 IM, and Summer had the 2 fly, 800 free relay, and 400 IM, they were probably tired too. I think that unless the 200 IM is moved back to the beginning of the program like Fukuoka, McKeown will struggle to recreate that 2:06 form she showed at Trials when it was her first race. We never got to see what she could do at a big meet with the 200 IM first, because of the DQ in Fukuoka, and in Budapest it was later on in the week. She said herself it was a risk to take on the 2 IM too, presumably since it was later. Depends… Read more ยป

Peter
Reply to  Robbos
1 month ago

Got covid

Joel
Reply to  Peter
1 month ago

If true that does explain it.

Yikes
Reply to  Peter
1 month ago

Nah, she had good splits on the 100 back on both MRโ€™s following the IM

jeff
1 month ago

KDโ€™s backstroke split is MAโ€™s freestyle split

Comet16
Reply to  jeff
1 month ago

Exactly thatโ€™s her Achilles heel in this race. Any improvement will lead to a WR.

LBSWIM
1 month ago

Another reminder how sad I still am with Walsh’s DQ.

Marcus
Reply to  LBSWIM
1 month ago

Just a training fault ngl, I think she’s been called out before for her illegal turns not being dqed, so her still not being able to fix this is disappointing

Peter
Reply to  LBSWIM
1 month ago

Other American should have been disqualified as well

IRO
1 month ago

Kind of insane Douglass could be that far back on backstroke and still get a silver medal.

USA
Reply to  IRO
1 month ago

And still going 2:06, nonetheless. If she went 33.2, which would still be the slowest in the field by a good margin, she would have broken the WR.

Facts
Reply to  USA
1 month ago

But if she went 33.2 how much would her back half suffer. Think Douglass can def go faster by finding the equilibrium between the first and second 100 of the IM but there is def a trade off between the front and back half so itโ€™s not as simple as if you just go faster in the backstroke you get a WR

Tanner-Garapick-Oleksiak-McIntosh
Reply to  USA
1 month ago

At the US trials Kate did go 33.27 on her backstroke but was 36.57 on her breaststroke which was .82 quicker than her time in Paris final. It looks like she may have decided to go slower on her backstroke to save her legs for the breaststroke. Her splits on the fly and free are almost identical from trials to Olympic final so perhaps her strategy was different for each race.

jac

If everyone in the event improved their weakest stroke they would all have world records

Tanner-Garapick-Oleksiak-McIntosh
Reply to  jac
1 month ago

100% true!

All of the top 4 in that final have a weakness. Summer swam a great race including a very good breaststroke split which kept her close enough to Alex to be able come back on the free and stay ahead of Kate as well. She executed her game plan perfectly and the end result was a OR and ๐Ÿฅ‡.

Facts

McIntosh fly + Mckeown back + Walsh breast + Douglass free = ๐Ÿ˜ƒ. Mckeown fly + Douglass back + Mcintosh breast + Walsh free = ๐Ÿคฎ

Yikes
Reply to  Facts
1 month ago

Honestly you could also put Douglass on the fly and McIntosh on the free for the ideal race. But either way works

Marcus
Reply to  USA
1 month ago

If my grandmother had wheels she’d be a bicycle

Boxall's Railing
Reply to  Marcus
1 month ago

Nah, it might just be a wheelchair.

Honest Observer
1 month ago

Great analysis, thank you. One thing that struck me about this race was that Douglass couldn’t see Macintosh for the second half of the race, as Walsh was in between them and was slightly ahead of Douglass until the very end, when Douglass took a couple of fast strokes and out-touched her. Would having been able to see Macintosh have made a difference to Douglass’s race? Hard to say, but also hard not to speculate. (The corollary is also true, of course, that if Macintosh had seen Douglass coming up on her, it could have spurred her on to a faster time.)

I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
Reply to  Honest Observer
1 month ago

Kate was so far behind, I think it was quite amazing that she caught up as much as she did. When I was watching and they were at the 150 turn I thought Kate was going to get the bronze because of how far Alex and Summer were ahead of her.