2024 Paris Olympics Data Dive (Day 2 Prelims)

Day 2’s session wrapped up this morning with the prelims of the men’s and women’s 200 freestyle, men’s 400 IM, women’s 100 breaststroke, and men’s 100 backstroke. Many swimmers were well off of their seed times (even as far as prelims standards go), but some athletes like Tatjana Smith, Leon Marchand, and Hubert Kos all raced in a way that should lead to an exciting semifinal and finals session tonight. 

PRELIMS SWIMS

(swimmers with their names and country in bold have made a semifinal/final in the same event in a previous Olympics)

MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE

 Top 16:

1. David Popovici, Romania (1:45.65)
2. Danas Rapsys, Lithuania (1:45.91)
3. Lucas Henveaux, Belgium (1:46.04)
4. Sunwoo Hwang, South Korea (1:46.13)
5. Maximillian Giuliani, Australia (1:46.15)
6. Matthew Richards, Great Britain (1:46.19)
7. Katsuhiro Matsumoto, Japan/Luke Hobson, United States (1:46.23)
8. Tie for seventh
9. Thomas Neill, Australia (1:46.27)
10. Lukas Märtens, Germany (1:46.33)
11. Duncan Scott, Great Britain (1:46.34)
12. Woomin Kim, South Korea (1:46.64)
13. Rafael Miroslaw, Germany (1:46.81)
14. Denis Loktev, Israel (1:47.01)
15. Alessandro Ragaini, Italy (1:47.31)
16. Filippo Megli, Italy (1:47.39)

• Time to Qualify: 1:47.39
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 1:46.67
• Time to Qualify (Rio): 1:47.19

This batch of swimmers only features five of the 16 who made it to the semifinal round at the last Olympics in Tokyo. Compared to the last two Olympic Games, this 200 freestyle prelim was one of the slowest we’ve seen, with only two swimmers going under the 1:46 mark (as opposed to Tokyo, where we saw 10– including a 1:44 from Sunwoo Hwang– and four in Rio) The only swimmer (of the 25) to drop time from their seed was Belgium’s Lucas Henveaux. Countries sending both of their representatives back for semifinals include Australia, Great Britain, South Korea, Germany, and Italy. Eleven nations are represented across 4 continents. 

MEN’S 400 IM

 Top 8:

1. Leon Marchand, France (4:08.30)
2. Max Litchfield, Great Britain (4:09.51)
3. Daiya Seto, Japan (4:10.92)
4. Carson Foster, United States (4:11.07)
5. Tomoyuki Matsushita, Japan – (4:11.18)
6. Alberto Razzetti, Italy/Lewis Clareburt, New Zealand/Cedric Buessing, Germany (4:11.52)
7. (tie for sixth)
8. (tie for sixth)

• Time to Qualify: 4:11.52
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 4:10.20
• Time to Qualify (Rio): 4:13.55

The name on everyone’s mind in this event is the host nation’s wunderkind, Leon Marchand, who looked quite smooth in this prelims swim. His time of 4:08.30 is well off his world record of 4:02.50, but he looks poised to make some waves tonight. A big shock came from the two 2020 medalists, Chase Kalisz and Brendon Smith, both missing the top eight with swims far off of their seed times. In the absence of Kalisz and Smith, five swimmers from the Tokyo final will return to this year’s final, looking to medal. Japan is the only country to send both of its swimmers back for finals. Seven countries are represented across four continents. 

WOMEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE
Top 16: 

1. Tatjana Smith, South Africa (1:05.00)
2. Tang Qianting, China (1:05.63)
3. Mona McSharry, Ireland (1:05.74)
4. Satomi Suzuki, Japan (1:06.04)
5. Lilly King, USA (1:06.10)
6. Benedetta Pilato, Italy (1:06.19)
7. Anastasia Gorbenko, Israel (1:06.22)
8. Eneli Jefimova, Estonia (1:06.24)
9. Lisa Angiolini, Italy (1:06.27)
10. Ruta Meilutyte, Lithuania (1:06.34)
11. Alina Zmushka, Individual Neutral Athlete (1:06.37)
12. Angharad Evans, Great Britain (1:06.38)
13. Sophie Hansson, Sweden (1:06.66)
14. Tes Schouten, Netherlands (1:06.69)
15. Kotryna Teterevkova, Lithuania (1:06.76)
16. Macarena Ceballos, Argentina (1:06.89)

• Time to Qualify: 1:06.89
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 1:06.96
• Time to Qualify (Rio): 1:07.22

Tatjana Smith, the Olympic champion in the 200 breaststroke and reigning silver medalist in this event, is looking to medal once again, starting her meet off strong with a 1:05.00. Her time places her over half a second faster than the next fastest swimmer, top seed and world champion Tang Qianting. This is the fastest semifinal we’ve ever seen, and the depth of swimmers this year should lead to a fast night. Countries returning two swimmers to the semis include Italy and Lithuania. This semifinal features swimmers from 14 different countries and five continents.

MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE 

Top 16:

1. 1. Hubert Kos, Hungary (52.78)
   2. Pieter Coetze, South Africa (52.90)
   3. Apostolos Christou, Greece (52.95)
   4. Ryan Murphy, United States (53.06)
   5. Ksawery Masiuk, Poland (53.08)
   6. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, France (53.20)
   7. Xu Jiayu, China (53.20)
   8. Evangelos Makrygiannis, Greece (53.24)
   9. Hunter Armstrong, United States (53.34)
   10. Miroslav Knedla, Czech Republic (53.41)
   11. Oliver Morgan, Great Britain (53.44)
   12. Thomas Ceccon, Italy (53.45)
   13. Mewen Tomac, France (53.51)
   14. Hugo Gonzalez, Spain (53.68)
   15. Blake Tierney, Canada (53.89)
   16. Jonny Marshall, Great Britain (53.93)

• Time to Qualify: 53.93
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 53.77
• Time to Qualify (Rio): 53.99

With a top 16 having times very similar to Olympics in the past, this prelim went around as expected, with many of the names not swimming for a world record, but rather just to make the semifinals. However, we did see some early speed from Hungary’s Hubert Kos, South Africa’s Pieter Coetze, and Greece’s Apostolos Christou, all of whom dipped under the 53 second mark to lead the charge into semis. Half of the swimmers in this year’s semi made the semifinal in the same event in Tokyo, including world record holder Thomas Ceccon and multiple-time Olympic medalist Ryan Murphy. Countries returning both of their swimmers include Greece, the United States, France, and Great Britain. Within these 16 swimmers, four continents are represented. 

WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE

Top 16:

1. 1. Mollie O’Callaghan, Australia (1:55.79)
   2. Mary-Sophie Harvey, Canada (1:56.21)
   3. Ariarne Titmus, Australia (1:56.23
   4. Li Bingjie, China (1:56.28)
   5. Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong (1:56.38)
   6. Claire Weinstein, USA (1:56.48)
   7. Erika Fairweather, New Zealand (1:56.54)
   8. Maria Fernanda Costa, Brazil (1:56.65)
   9. Yang Junxuan, China (1:56.83)
   10. Barbora Seemanova, Czech Republic (1:57.02)
   11. Erin Gemmell, USA (1:57.23)
   12. Valentine Dumont, Belgium (1:57.50)
   13. Minna Abraham, Hungary (1:57.77)
   14. Aimee Canny, South Africa (1:57.81)
   15. Snaefridur Jorunnardottir, Iceland (1:58.32)
   16. Rebecca-Aimee Diaconescu, Romania (1:59.29)

• Time to Qualify: 1:59.29
• Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 1:58.33
• Time to Qualify (Rio): 1:57.74

This year features the first Olympics prelim since 2004 where a 1:59 makes the semifinal, a bit shocking considering the 16th place is nearly a second slower than the 16th place in Tokyo. Nevertheless, the top seeded swimmers Mollie O’Callaghan, Ariarne Titmus, and Siobhan Haughey all were well off their seed times, conserving energy for their more high-stakes races later on today. Countries returning both of their swimmers include Australia, China, and the United States. This semifinal is the first one in this Olympic program to feature a swimmer from each of the six inhabited continents, with 13 countries represented. 

NATIONAL RECORDS

Lucas Henveaux, Belgium, 200 freestyle: 1:46.04

• Placing second in heat four this morning, Henveaux shaved 0.27 seconds off of his own Belgian record in the 200 freestyle, which he set in 2023 at the Belgian National Championships. As the third seed in the 200 semis, he will have a chance to lower this record again. 

Cedric Buessing, Germany, 400 IM: 4:11.52

• Cedric Buessing knocked down a nine-year-old German record this morning, shaving half a second off of Jacob Heidtmann’s 4:12.08 from the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. With this swim, Buessing becomes the first German man to break the 4:12 barrier.

Lanihei Connolly, Cook Islands, 100 breaststroke: 1:10.45

• After setting the Cook Islands national record in the 100 breaststroke at the 2024 World Championships in Doha with a time of 1:10.87, Connolly dropped nearly half a second to lower her own record. 

Maximillian Wilson, United States Virgin Islands, 100 backstroke: 54.49

• Wilson’s 54.49 not only allowed him to cruise under the 55 second mark for the first time in his career, but he also bumped half a second off of his previous USVI national record of 55.15 in the 100 back, which the FSU swimmer set at the 36th CCCAN Swimming Championships last month. 

Hubert Kos, Hungary, 100 backstroke: 52.78

• World and European champion Hubert Kos broke his previous Hungarian national record of 53.08 from the 2024 San Antonio TYR Pro Series with a new time of 52.78, his first time under 53. Kos is the top seed in the 100 backstroke. 

***

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

• Enkhkhuslen Batbayar, Mongolia, 200 freestyle: 1:59.94
• Mashael Alayed, Saudi Arabia, 200 freestyle: 2:19.61
• Arian Dirkzwager, Laos, 200 freestyle: 2:17.17
• Maha Alshehhi, United Arab Emirates, 200 freestyle: 2:07.22