European Men Six-For-Six In Individual Golds After Four Days In Paris

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

Through four nights of racing at the Paris Olympic Games, we’ve had six individual finals for both men and women, and the difference in where the medals are coming from is striking.

The European men have been on a tear, claiming the top step of the podium in all six races, while the Euro women are not only looking at zero wins, but just one medal, period.

The victories on the men’s side haven’t been surprises, for the most part, with big favorites Leon Marchand (400 IM) and David Popovici (200 free) getting the job done, as did Lukas Märtens (400 free), Daniel Wiffen (800 free) and Thomas Ceccon (100 back), who were on the short list of gold medal contenders in their respective events.

The lone upset came from Nicolo Martinenghi, as the Italian snared gold in the 100 breast, though fellow Euro Adam Peaty was one of the pre-race favorites and walked away with silver.

The European men’s standout performance thus far in Paris was punctuated by the British men, who roared to a repeat gold in the 800 free relay to close out Day 4 finals on Tuesday.

Juxtaposing the men’s performances are the European women. Although they’ve had no favorites in any of the six events we’ve seen thus far, they still only have one medal to their credit, which was a surprise bronze from Ireland’s Mona McSharry.

The European women had four finalists in the 100 breast, with Italy’s Benedetta Pilato finishing closely behind McSharry in a tie for 4th, while Germany’s Angelina Köhler (100 fly) and Great Britain Freya Colbert (400 IM) also recorded 4th-place finishes.

In terms of individual finalists, the European men have 27 through six events (average of 4.5 per event), while the women have 13 (2.17 per event).

EUROPEAN MEN’S INDIVIDUAL FINALISTS – THROUGH DAY 4

Event European Finalists Finish
200 free David Popovici (ROU) Gold
Matt Richards (GBR) Silver
Duncan Scott (GBR) 4th
Lukas Märtens (GER) 5th
Danas Rapsys (LTU) 6th
400 free Lukas Märtens (GER) Gold
Oliver Klemet (GER) 7th
800 free Daniel Wiffen (IRL) Gold
Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) Bronze
Sven Schwarz (GER) 5th
David Aubry (FRA) 5th
Luca De Tullio (ITA) 7th
100 back Thomas Ceccon (ITA) Gold
Apostolos Christou (GRE) 4th
Hugo Gonzalez (ESP) 6th
Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (FRA) 7th
Ollie Morgan (GBR) 8th
100 breast Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA) Gold
Adam Peaty (GBR) Silver
Melvin Imoudu (GER) 4th
Lucas Matzerath (GER) 5th
Arno Kamminga (NED) 6th
Caspar Corbeau (NED) 8th
400 IM Leon Marchand (FRA) Gold
Max Litchfield (GBR) 4th
Alberto Razzetti (ITA) 5th
Cedric Büssing (GER) 8th

EUROPEAN WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL FINALISTS – THROUGH DAY 4

Event European Finalists Finish
200 free Barbora Seemanova (CZE) 6th
400 free Isabel Gose (GER) 5th
100 back Emma Terebo (FRA) 7th
Beryl Gastaldello (FRA) 8th
100 breast Mona McSharry (IRL) Bronze
Benedetta Pilato (ITA) 4th
Angharad Evans (GBR) 6th
Eneli Jefimova (EST) 7th
100 fly Angelina Köhler (GER) 4th
Louise Hansson (SWE) 8th
400 IM Freya Colbert (GBR) 4th
Katie Shanahan (GBR) 7th
Ellen Walshe (IRL) 8th

For what it’s worth, we didn’t predict any European female medalists in the six events that have taken place thus far.

The only individual European females predicted to medal were Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) and Kasia Wasick (POL) in the 50 free, Simona Quadarella (ITA) in the 1500 free, and Tes Schouten (NED) in the women’s 200 breast.

We predicted seven European male medalists in the six events we’ve seen thus far, so their current tally of nine shows the men are outperforming expectations.

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Boknows34
50 seconds ago

2/15 gold combined for USA/China is not what I expected.

Thomas The Tank Engine
18 minutes ago

European men are like maternity nurses:

They deliver.

Admin
Reply to  Thomas The Tank Engine
17 minutes ago

Oh no.

Barty’s Bakery
3 hours ago

11/15 golds European men or Aussie women. Plus 2 for USA, 1 for Canada and 1 for RSA

Swimmer.thingz
3 hours ago

Who would win relays,
USA or the european B-team?

NCSwimFan
Reply to  Swimmer.thingz
3 hours ago

A 4×100 free between the US team and a team of Popovici-Nemeth-Grousset-Salchow would be a hell of a race based on the 100 free results. Also have the British team’s freestylers to consider, obviously Scott and Richards have some crazy speed as well.

Emily Se-Bom Lee
Reply to  NCSwimFan
3 hours ago

maybe milak instead of salchow. his pb is 47.47 and his 200 fly showings are promising

Justin Pollard
Reply to  Swimmer.thingz
27 minutes ago

Take the 4×100 free for men. Given the US & Euro A teams would be about a dead heat (at least at this Olympics), the US would certainly beat the Euro B team.

US 3:09.28 (actual relay time)
Alexy 47.67
Giuliano 47.33
Armstrong 46.75
Dressel 47.53

Euro 3:09.16 (add up with some adjustments)
Popovici 47.30 (hypothetically, he went 47.66 in semis)
Frigo 47.06
Ceccon 47.44
Nemeth 47.36 (his 47.76 leadoff minus .4 for relay)

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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