7 men were under 59 seconds in the final of the 100 breast in Tokyo while it only took a 59.03 to win gold tonight. Current photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography
The narrative that the Paris pool might be “slow” continued this morning as four out of the top 5 seeds coming into the night were slower than they were three years ago in Tokyo. In addition, the men’s 200 freestyle only had 2 men under the 1:46 mark this morning, significantly less than the 10 under that mark in Tokyo.
Tonight’s data shows a bit of a different story as only one event was slower at the top today than in Tokyo. That lone exception is the men’s 100 breast as Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi won gold in a 59.03, the slowest time to win gold in the event since the 2004 Games. In addition, the men’s final was slower overall for the most part as seven of the athletes were sub-59 in Tokyo while none were today.
Another fun fact is that all but one of the men’s 100 breaststroke finalists from tonight hold personal best times that are faster than tonight’s winning time of a 59.03. The exception to that is Caspar Corbeau who swam a best time of a 59.04 in prelims of the event yesterday. Still, if he had replicated that swim tonight, he would have won silver.
The rest of the events tonight had faster gold medal swims (and the fastest swims of semifinals) than in Tokyo (although Torri Huske did equal Maggie MacNeil‘s 100 fly time). The biggest difference was Leon Marchand‘s Olympic Record in the 400 IM as his 4:02.95 was 6.47 seconds faster than Chase Kalisz‘s winning time from Tokyo.
Very obvious they picked Princess Anne to give out gold to Peaty.
Tea rex
5 hours ago
Scary if it’s a slow pool, and we could’ve just witnessed a sub-4:00 IM
SwimFL
5 hours ago
What would be even more interesting would be olympic medaling times versus personal bests at that time. We know many of the swimmers in finals have been faster even as recently as trials or in 2023. Comparing olympic results isn’t as significant if the swimmers are farther off their best times in 2024 than they were in 2021.
Titmus 3.55 few weeks ago, Ledecky 3:58 few weeks ago
Martens, Winnington, Short have much faster season’s best
Kate Douglas was faster in the trials 100 free.
Pan Zhanle has faster SB and PB
All male breaststrokers have faster SB
Walsh has faster SB
Need to continue on?
PFA
5 hours ago
Here’s a wild stat from the meet so far the only race which has seen teams/swimmers enter the top 10 all time performers is the women’s 400 free relay with 4 teams setting new NR’s. So far no individual swimmers have entered or moved up on the all time top 10 performers list.
theroboticrichardsimmons
5 hours ago
Comparing 2021 results to 2024 probably isn’t telling the whole story. 4:02 Marchand didn’t exist in 2021, for example.
Does anyone know if any medalist has set a PB yet? At some people, you’d think the people winning events are the ones that are finding a way to drop time but I can’t name any off the top of my head.
They need to compare season best times with Olympic times in both years. There’ll far more swimmers peaking before the Olympics than at the Olympics this year.
In 5 individual finals through Day 2 there have been 15 medal winners. Fourteen of these 15 did not achieve personal bests and 12 of these 15 didn’t match their seed time for the event, which I assume they must have achieved earlier this year to qualify. These 15 medalists who have been the best of the best so far to earn their medals are a cumulative total of 6.01 seconds above their cumulative seed times. An average 0.4 seconds slower than their seed times per swim. My guess is the 25 finalists not to medal are significantly higher than that on average. Compare that to previous Olympics and maybe then you have comparative metrics. All 40 finalists in these… Read more »
I believe Matsushita is the only individual, a few relay splits as well (eg Harris, Huske)
Ragnar
5 hours ago
Slow pool. Curious to see if it continues and the studies that come out after. Lackluster hosting by France between the food, open water swimming/triathlon conditions, pool depth, you’d think there would be conditions required to be met when bidding for the hosting team of the games.
The Ickabog
5 hours ago
What if this is just the results of COVID training finally showing face?
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Very obvious they picked Princess Anne to give out gold to Peaty.
Scary if it’s a slow pool, and we could’ve just witnessed a sub-4:00 IM
What would be even more interesting would be olympic medaling times versus personal bests at that time. We know many of the swimmers in finals have been faster even as recently as trials or in 2023. Comparing olympic results isn’t as significant if the swimmers are farther off their best times in 2024 than they were in 2021.
Peaty was 57.9 at trials
Titmus 3.55 few weeks ago, Ledecky 3:58 few weeks ago
Martens, Winnington, Short have much faster season’s best
Kate Douglas was faster in the trials 100 free.
Pan Zhanle has faster SB and PB
All male breaststrokers have faster SB
Walsh has faster SB
Need to continue on?
Here’s a wild stat from the meet so far the only race which has seen teams/swimmers enter the top 10 all time performers is the women’s 400 free relay with 4 teams setting new NR’s. So far no individual swimmers have entered or moved up on the all time top 10 performers list.
Comparing 2021 results to 2024 probably isn’t telling the whole story. 4:02 Marchand didn’t exist in 2021, for example.
Does anyone know if any medalist has set a PB yet? At some people, you’d think the people winning events are the ones that are finding a way to drop time but I can’t name any off the top of my head.
Def a PB for Matsushita in the 400 IM
Tomoyuki Matsushita took off more than a second to upset for silver in the 400 IM and Kim Woomin was close (0.08 off of his PB). Otherwise, none.
They need to compare season best times with Olympic times in both years. There’ll far more swimmers peaking before the Olympics than at the Olympics this year.
In 5 individual finals through Day 2 there have been 15 medal winners. Fourteen of these 15 did not achieve personal bests and 12 of these 15 didn’t match their seed time for the event, which I assume they must have achieved earlier this year to qualify. These 15 medalists who have been the best of the best so far to earn their medals are a cumulative total of 6.01 seconds above their cumulative seed times. An average 0.4 seconds slower than their seed times per swim. My guess is the 25 finalists not to medal are significantly higher than that on average. Compare that to previous Olympics and maybe then you have comparative metrics. All 40 finalists in these… Read more »
I believe Matsushita is the only individual, a few relay splits as well (eg Harris, Huske)
Slow pool. Curious to see if it continues and the studies that come out after. Lackluster hosting by France between the food, open water swimming/triathlon conditions, pool depth, you’d think there would be conditions required to be met when bidding for the hosting team of the games.
What if this is just the results of COVID training finally showing face?
Doesn’t make sense, times at trials and championships were fine.
What?
With the exception of Gretchen Walsh and Huske, Fukuoka was much faster.
Is it possible the timing system was off for the 100 breast race?
I won’t lie, I thought the same thing.
On the NBC primetime broadcast tonight I timed it and the timing system wasn’t off. The heat was just ungodly slow.