How Deep Are The Pools Where Swimmers Set World Records?

by Sofia Altavilla 67

August 17th, 2024 News, Paris 2024

It’s been almost two weeks since the swimming competitions wrapped up at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with the closing ceremony taking place on August 12.

This year’s games sparked a lot of buzz, partly due to the questionable depth of the pool at the Defense Arena, where world records were slow to fall. Visible waves more prominent than normal in pools of this stature led spectators wondering if they might be contributing to slower times.

It got me thinking: are there any “slow” pools where world records have still been set? And how deep are the pools where current records were made?

Below, I’ve put together a list of current records, including the depth of the pools they were set in. Like we’ve talked about before, most Olympic pools are around 3 meters deep, and most of the current world records were set in pools like that. There is a bit of a feedback bias here – most big meets choose deeper pools for competition, and big meets are where the most World Records are set. I still think it’s interesting to review.

ARE THERE WORLD RECORDS SET IN SHALLOW POOLS?

Absolutely. Aside from the four world records set during the Paris Olympics, there are three other records made in pools with depths of less than 3 meters. One of these is the men’s 50m freestyle world record, which, while set with a super suit, was made by Cesar Cielo in his home pool at the Pinheiros Club in São Paulo. That pool’s depth ranges from 2.10m to 2.30m.

If we leave out super-suited records, two stand out: Sarah Sjostrom’s 50m butterfly and Ariarne Titmus’s 200m freestyle.

One theory floated around by an Ivy League-educated Olympic gold medalist is that water depth is less important in permanent pools than in temporary pools, because of less cavitation of the body of the structure creating less waves.

Sjöstrom set her record 10 years ago during the Swedish National Championships on July 5, 2014, in Borås at the Borås Simarena, which has a depth of only 2 meters. This record is also the longest-standing (excluding Liu Zige’s “unbeatable” 200m butterfly) among women’s records.

More recently, Ariarne Titmus set a new 200m freestyle record just a month and a half before the Paris Games. On July 12, 2024, during the Australian Olympic Trials in Brisbane, Titmus clocked in at 1:52.23, beating the record her teammate Mollie O’Callaghan had set at the Fukuoka World Championships in 2023. This record came from the Queensland Aquatic Centre at the Sleeman Sport Complex, which also has a depth of 2 meters.

Interestingly, in this same Brisbane pool during the June Trials, Kaylee McKeown (who holds the world record in the women’s 200m backstroke) swam the second-fastest time ever, just 0.16 seconds off her record of 2:03.14.

These examples show us that pool depth isn’t everything when it comes to breaking records. A record that’s lasted a decade was set in a 2-meter deep pool, just as a record set weeks before the Paris Games was made in a pool shallower than the one in Paris.

SO, WAS THIS THE SLOWEST OLYMPICS EVER?

Not really. Looking at Olympic and world records from past Games, the number of records set in Paris isn’t all that different from Rio 2016. Paris saw four world records, while Tokyo 2021 had six, but keep in mind only three years have passed since then.

When we consider both Olympic and world records, Paris saw 21 new records across 20 events. Tokyo had 21 records across 33 events, while Rio had 23 records across just 12 events.

OLYMPIC AND WORLD RECORDS SET AT RECENT GAMES:

  • Paris 2024: 21 records (20 events), 4 WR
  • Tokyo 2021: 33 records (21 events), 6 WR
  • Rio 2016: 23 records (12 events), 8 WR (7 events)

Interestingly, the most “disappointing” performances seemed to happen during the early finals, like the podium for the 100m breaststroke, which took place on day two. Meanwhile, the best performances, including world records, came in the final days, such as Pan Zhanle‘s record on day 5 or the women’s medley relay on day 8.

I’ll leave these thoughts here for now, waiting for more answers—many of which have already come from the Olympic champions pushing boundaries once again.

LIST OF RECORDS WITH POOL DEPTHS

WOMEN’S WORLD RECORD

Event SWIMMER TIME LOCATION DEPTH DATE
50m freestyle Sarah Sjostrom 23.61 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 29 July 2023
100m freestyle Sarah Sjostrom 51.71 Budapest, Hungary 3m 23 July 2017
200m freestyle Ariarne Titmus 1:52.23 Brisbane, Australia 2m 12 June 2024
400m freestyle Ariarne Titmus 3:55.38 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 23 July 2023
800m freestyle Katie Ledecky 8:04.79 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3m 12 August 2016
1500m freestyle Katie Ledecky 15:20.48 Indianapolis, United States 3m 16 May 2018
50m backstroke Kaylee McKeown 26.86 Budapest, Hungary 3m 20 October 2023
100m backstroke Regan Smith 57.13 Indianapolis, United States 3m 18 June 2024
200m backstroke Kaylee McKeown 2:03.14 Sydney, Australia 3m 10 March 2023
50m breaststroke Ruta Meilutyte 29.16 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 30 July 2023
100m breaststroke Lilly King 1:04.13 Budapest, Hungary 3m 25 July 2017
200m breaststroke Evgeniia Chikunova 2:17.55 Kazan, Russia  3m 21 April 2023
50m butterfly Sarah Sjostrom 24.43 Borås, Sweden 2m 5 July 2014
100m butterfly Gretchen Walsh 55.18 Indianapolis, United States 3m 15 June 2024
200m butterfly Liu Zige 2:01.81 Jinan, China supersuit, pool’s depth unknown 21 October 2009
200m individual medley Katinka Hosszu 2:06.12 Kazan, Russia  3m 3 August 2015
400m individual medley Summer McIntosh 4:24.38 Toronto, Canada 3m 16 May 2024
4 × 100 m freestyle relay Australia 3:27.96 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 23 July 2023
4 x 200 m freestyle relay Australia 7:37.50 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 27 July 2023
4 x 100 m medley relay United States 3:49.63 Paris, France  2.15m 4 August 2024

MEN’S WORLD RECORD

Event SWIMMER TIME LOCATION DEPTH DATE
50m freestyle Cesar Cielo 20.91 São Paulo, Brazil supersuit, 2.10-2.30m 18 December 2009
100m freestyle Pan Zhanle 46.40 Paris, France 2.15m 31 July 2024
200m freestyle Paul Biedermann 1:42.00 Rome, Italy supersuit, 3m 28 July 2009
400m freestyle Paul Biedermann 3:40.07 Rome, Italy supersuit, 3m 26 July 2009
800m freestyle Zhang Lin 7:32.12 Rome, Italy supersuit, 3m 29 July 2009
1500m freestyle Bobby Finke 14:30.67 Paris, France 2.15m 4 August 2024
50m backstroke Kliment Kolesnikov 23.55 Kazan, Russia 3m 27 July 2023
100m backstroke Thomas Ceccon 51.60 Budapest, Hungary 3m 20 June 2022
200m backstroke Aaron Peirsol 1:51.92 Rome, Italy supersuit, 3m 30 July 2009
50m breaststroke Adam Peaty 25.95 Budapest, Hungary 3m 25 July 2017
100m breaststroke Adam Peaty 56.88 Gwangju, South Korea 3m 21 July 2019
200m breaststroke Qin Haiyang 2:05.48 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 28 July 2023
50m butterfly Andriy Govorov 22.27 Rome, Italy 3m 1 July 2018
100m butterfly Caeleb Dressel 49.45 Tokyo, Japan 3.02m 30 July 2021
200m butterfly Kristof Milak 1:50.34 Budapest, Hungary 3m 21 June 2022
200m individual medley Ryan Lochte 1:54.00 Shanghai, China 3m 28 July 2011
400m individual medley Leon Marchand 4:02.50 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 23 July 2023
4 × 100 m freestyle relay United States 3:08.24 Beijing, China supersuit, 3m 11 August 2008
4 x 200 m freestyle relay United States 6:58.55 Rome, Italy supersuit, 3m 31 July 2009
4 x 100 m medley relay United States 3:26.78 Tokyo, Japan 3.02m 31 July 2021

MIXED WORLD RECORDS

4 x 100 m mixed freestyle relay Australia 3:18.83 Fukuoka, Japan 3m 27 July 2023
4 x 100 m mixed medley relay United States 3:37.43 Paris, France  2.15m 3 August 2024

In This Story

67
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

67 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Luis
3 months ago

Pool depth is indeed a factor, but I think it’s so much more insignificant than anyone gives it credit for.
Actual training aside, there is so much relevant stuff related to the athlete’s mind and body that can influence a swim.
How did they sleep? Are they sore? What did they eat? Was the warm-up right? What is the mental attitude in the moments before the race.
Then the actual technicalities in the race itself.
Was the stroke rate perfect? The jump and breakout? How did they approach and come out of the wall(s)?
Just one of these details can take tenths out of a swim.
You would need to replicate all the other… Read more »

David S
4 months ago

How deep can we go?
Does World Aquatics have a max limit ?

ZThomas
4 months ago

The breastsrokers were slow because they are all on the downside of their careers, the men and the women. Qin let the moment get to him, he was good on the relays.

Some of the Americans were slow. Trials was a bigger meet and they didn’t bounce back up.

Short was sick. Others had Covid too.

Bobby said the pool was probably fine and he set a WR.

The pool was slow. But it wasn’t the entirety of the problem.

Ranger Coach
Reply to  ZThomas
4 months ago

Kate Douglass is on the downside of her career?

Zthomas
Reply to  Ranger Coach
4 months ago

No and she went a best time in the 200 breast, furthering my point.

Last edited 4 months ago by Zthomas
snailSpace
Reply to  ZThomas
4 months ago

That theory doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny. Only Peaty, Kamminga and Fink are in the twilight of their careers. Qin, Imoudu and Martinenghi are all 25, Matzerath is 24, Corbeau is 23. That’s around peak age. There is no reason for Qin to be so slow during all three rounds; he should have been right around Fukuoka his times. Peaty might be past his prime, but he has already been 57.9 this year, no reason why he shouldn’t be able to replicate in Paris when he never had trouble peaking at the right time before. Corbeau should still be dropping considerable time, yet he was around his in-season times through all rounds, and only went a small PB in… Read more »

zthomas
Reply to  snailSpace
4 months ago

I think you and I are on the same page. I concluded with “the pool is slow.” And I think it was. But I think the event pointed to the most – the 100 breast – made it appear slower than it was. Peaty, Kamminga, Fink, Smith and King had much more than what they showed. And I don’t know if there is any man besides Qin who has a 57 in them right now and I don’t think any woman at the Olympics has a 1:04 in them. It was going to be a slow event, the pool made a slow event really slow…

Ron
4 months ago

I understood from the athletes that the difficulty lay at the beginning of the meet, where they were adjusting to a food shortage and the uncomforts of the olympic village. The situation got better as the meet went on.

ecoach
4 months ago

The World records were broken by those that got out fast! Ahead of the chop maybe. Also maybe the big underwater events were slower. Maybe the swimmers were thinking strategy and pacing rather than speed. But as it has been said the Olympic Gold is way more important than the WR. So maybe not the depth so much. Although psychologically it definitely had an impact.

NotHimAgain
4 months ago

Cameron McEvoy, a physicist, would be the person to ask about the optimal depth for a “fast” pool.

BigBoiJohnson
Reply to  NotHimAgain
3 months ago

Cameron McEvoy is not a physicist. He merely has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics.

Joel Lin
4 months ago

It was long ago & not at the 1976 Olympics, but Jonty Skinner broke the 100m free WR in a Philadelphia parks & recreation department pool that was 3 feet deep at the starting end & not deeper than 5 feet for 35 of the 50 meters.

I believe that record stood until Rowdy Gaines lowered it in 1981 at a post-NCAAs meet time trial in Austin

bob
Reply to  Joel Lin
4 months ago

Knocked off over a half second, after Montgomery was the first man to go sub 50.

Ranger Coach
Reply to  Joel Lin
4 months ago

Was he one of the first to wear goggles?

Springbrook
Reply to  Joel Lin
4 months ago

Here’s the video of that swim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig4dJiVNxVs

Pdp
Reply to  Springbrook
4 months ago

49 3 no goggles, no pedal on starting block, no suit, no underwaters, 3ft pool. That is actually fast

Last edited 4 months ago by Pdp
Joe
4 months ago

If it was a slow pool, everyone swam in the same conditions

MDE
Reply to  Joe
4 months ago

I don’t buy this part of it at all.

If the pool was effecting athletes there is no reason to believe it was effecting all of them in all lanes equally.

SwimStats
Reply to  MDE
4 months ago

You could actually see that it wasn’t affecting them equally. Especially in the first few days you had guys placing 5th and lower in the final swimming PBs and the top finishers were way off their times from weeks before.

Pdp
Reply to  MDE
4 months ago

These are two different things. Everyone did swim in the same conditions, but these conditions may have impacted swimmers differently. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Any conditions you choose can benefit some competitors and harm others, it’s the nature of any sport