2024 Paris Olympics Data Dive (Day 3 Prelims)

‘Twas the morning before a five-final night, and with only three events this morning, I’m ready to see some fast swimming. During day 3’s prelims session we saw two world record holders in Summer McIntosh and Regan Smith make their Paris debuts. We also took our first steps into the world of distance freestyle with the men’s 800 freestyle, watching returning Olympic gold and silver medalists Bobby Finke and Gregorio Paltrinieri qualify for this year’s final. 

PRELIMS SWIMS

(names and countries in bold represent swimmers who have made the semifinal/final in a previous Olympics)

WOMEN’S 400 IM

 Top 8:

1. Emma Weyant, United States (4:36.27)
2. Katie Grimes, United States (4:37.24)
3. Summer McIntosh, Canada (4:37.35)
4. Freya Colbert, Great Britain (4:37.62)
5. Mio Narita, Japan (4:37.84)
6. Ella Ramsay, Australia (4:39.04)
7. Ellen Walshe, Ireland (4:39.97)
8. Katie Shanahan, Great Britain (4:40.40)

• Time to Qualify: 4:40.40
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 4:37.37
• Time to Qualify (Rio): 4:36.54

With the top-seeded Summer McIntosh coming into Paris holding the world record and seven seconds ahead of the next fastest swimmer, she didn’t need to go all-out to place within the top eight this morning. She comes in at a comfortable third place, behind the two swimmers from the United States. One of America’s qualifiers, Emma Weyant, is the only finalist from the Tokyo games to return to finals for this year’s competition, something that we haven’t seen at all this time around. In fact, Weyant is the only finalist to have competed in the 400 IM at the Paris Olympics, the other seven have either retired, are on a break from the sport, or failed to qualify. This year’s prelims session also seemed to be on the slower side (consistent with what we’ve seen in the Games so far), with the finals qualifying time being over three seconds slower than Tokyo’s, and almost four seconds slower than Rio’s. The United States and Great Britain are sending both of their swimmers back for finals. Six countries are represented across four continents. 

WOMEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE

 Top 16:

1. 1. Katharine Berkoff, USA (57.99)
   2. Regan Smith, USA (58.45)
   3. Kaylee McKeown, Australia (58.48)
   4. Kylie Masse, Canada (59.06)
   5. Emma Terebo, France (59.10)
   6. Beryl Gastaldello, France (59.31)
   7. Iona Anderson, Australia (59.37)
   8. Carmen Weiler Sastre, Spain (59.57)
   9. Roos Vanotterdijk, Belgium (59.68)
   10. Kira Toussaint, Netherlands (59.84)
   11. Wan Letian, China (59.87)
   12. Ingrid Wilm, Canada (1:00.06)
   13. Maaike de Waard, Netherlands (1:00.12)
   14. Wang Xueer, China (1:00.15)
   15. Louise Hansson, Sweden (1:00.26)
   16. Danielle Hill, Ireland (1:00.40)

• Time to Qualify: 1:00.40
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 1:00.04
• Time to Qualify (Rio): 1:00.89

Katharine Berkoff’s blistering 57.99 places her in front of world record holder Regan Smith going into tonight’s semifinal, making this the second event of the morning to feature two American women at the top of the standings. Alongside Smith, Kaylee McKeown and Kylie Masse have been consistent fixtures on international podiums in the 100 backstroke for the past few years, so it’s exciting to see a newcomer join their ranks in this event. The host nation, France, features two swimmers within the top 6 in Emma Terebo and Beryl Gastaldello. The last time the nation sent one swimmer to the semifinal in the women’s 100 backstroke was in 2012, with Alexianne Castel. Six swimmers among these 16 made it to the semifinals in a previous Olympics, their names in bold. The United States, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Canada, and China are all returning both of their representatives. This semifinal will feature 16 swimmers from 10 different countries and four continents. 

MEN’S 800 FREESTYLE
Top 8 

1. 1. Daniel Wiffen, Ireland (7:41.53)
   2. Ahmed Jaouadi, Tunisia (7:42.07)
   3. Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy (7:42.48)
   4. Elijah Winnington, Australia (7:42.86)
   5. Bobby Finke, United States (7:43.00)
   6. Sven Schwarz, Germany (7:43.67)
   7. Luca de Tullio, Italy (7:44.07)
   8. David Aubry, France (7:44.59)

• Time to Qualify: 7:44.59
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 7:47.73

The men’s 800 freestyle made its debut as an Olympic event in 2021, where we saw Bobby Finke win gold. Among the three swimmers on the inaugural podium in Tokyo (Finke, Gregorio Paltrinieri, Mykhailo Romanchuk), both Finke and Paltrinieri will return for finals this year. Romanchuk, the Olympic record holder, did not make the finals, finishing 17th. Daniel Wiffen, seeded first going into Wednesday’s final, has a chance to win Ireland’s first medal since 1996 (unless breaststroker Mona McSharry beats him to the punch and medals in the 100 tonight). This event is one of a rare few that have required a notably faster time to qualify for the previous year’s final. Italy is the only nation sending both of its representatives back to finals. Across these eight swimmers, four continents and seven countries are represented. 

NATIONAL RECORDS

Carmen Weiler, Spain, 100 backstroke: 59.57

• The 19-year-old shaved off 0.08 seconds from her previous Spanish record of 59.65 with a new national record of 59.57. Weiler set her previous record at the 2024 Spanish Championships.

Kuzey Tuncelli, Turkey, 800 freestyle: 7:47.29

• Tuncelli has blasted onto the swimming scene recently, after breaking the 1500 freestyle world junior record at 2024 European Juniors. The young Turkish star broke his previous 800 freestyle national record of 7:48.53 this morning with a 7:47.29, dropping over a second. 

Lucas Henveaux, Belgium, 800 freestyle: 7:51.51

• For his second national record of the meet, Henveaux broke the Belgian record in the 800 freestyle, narrowing his 7:52.10 from 2024 Worlds to a 7:51.51. Yesterday, Henveaux broke the 400 freestyle national record for Belgium. 

Note: for the following swimmer, there are seemingly little to no officially-recognized national records on World Aquatics’ website or elsewhere. This universality swimmer swam faster than her seed time, and there are no records of any faster swims for her country. 

• Amani Alobaildi, Bahrain, 100 backstroke: 1:04.27