The French Swimming Federation has released detailed statistics on all the swimming finals at the Paris Olympics, and in this article, we will analyze the men’s 100 breaststroke final.
Nicolo Martinenghi made history for Italian swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics, capturing a stunning gold medal in the men’s 100m breaststroke. He was one of two Italian swimmers to win gold in Paris, and became the second from the country to win the men’s 100 breast, joining Domenico Fioravanti (2000).
Martinenghi clocked a time of 59.03, narrowly defeating Adam Peaty and Nic Fink by just two-hundredths of a second in a fiercely competitive and technically demanding race.
The race was characterized by an extremely fast pace, with Melvin Imoudou and Lucas Matzerath setting the early tempo. However, Martinenghi’s strength shone through in the final 50 meters, where he expertly managed his speed and stroke efficiency to take the lead.
Race Breakdown: Martinenghi’s Winning Strategy
Men’s 100 Breast Final Results
- GOLD Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 59.03
- SILVER: Adam Peaty (GBR) / Nic Fink (USA), 59.05
- –
- Melvin Imoudou (GER) – 59.11
- Lucas Matzerath (GER) – 59.30
- Arno Kamminga (NED) – 59.32
- Qin Haiyang (CHN) – 59.50
- Caspar Corbeau (NED) – 59.98
Martinenghi’s victory can be analyzed in detail by breaking down his performance across different race segments, including his underwater phases, stroke rate, and overall speed management.
Start and Initial Phase
Reaction time played a crucial role in the outcome of the race, one could gleam, given that the difference between gold, silver and no medal was just hundredths. Martinenghi’s reaction time off the blocks was 0.63 seconds, just slightly slower than Peaty’s 0.62, but still competitive with the rest of the field.
Adam Peaty was fastest off the blocks, followed within a hundredth of three athletes: Martinenghi, Arno Kamminga, and Qin Haiyang.
Initially, several swimmers, including Corbeau and world champion Qin Haiyang, vied for the lead. However, as the race progressed, it became clear that Martinenghi, Peaty, and Fink would be the main contenders for the podium.
At the 15-meter mark, the American Fink was the fastest, recording an opening split of 5.96 seconds, 18 one-hundredths clear of Qin and 22 one-hundredths ahead of Corbeau.
Peaty who in the divers of the start always had his weak point is in 5th position at 44 hundredths.
In the diving phase one can see the differences in execution between Fink, Qin and Peaty.
Fink, enters slightly later than Peaty and Qin, but performs an early leg stroke, but more importantly, does not lose alignment as the other two athletes do.
From 15 to 50 Meters
In the middle section of the race, Martinenghi showcased his strategy of maintaining a consistent speed, especially between the 15-meter and 50-meter marks. His ability to generate powerful propulsion with fewer strokes than his competitors gave him a critical edge.
At 25 meters Qin inches ahead, splitting 12.12. Fink was at 12.13, and Martinenghi was in 4th one tenth back.
At the 50-meter turn, Qin and Peaty overtake Martinenghi, increasing their gap in just five meters to 31 hundredths and 26 hundredths, respectively, on the Italian.
At the 50-meter mark, Martinenghi was in third place, trailing behind Qinand Peaty. However, his steady pace allowed him to maintain a competitive position for the final stretch.
RANKING AT 50 METER MARK
- Qin Haiyang 27.03
- Adam Peaty 27.08
- Nicolo Martinenghi 27.34
- Melvin Imoudou 27.37
- Nic Fink 27.45
Stroke Count and Efficiency
One of the key factors in Martinenghi’s success was his stroke efficiency. He completed the 100 meters with 44 total strokes, covering an average of 1.73 meters per stroke. This efficiency allowed him to maintain speed while expending less energy compared to his competitors.
Final 50 Meters
In the last 50 meters, Martinenghi made his decisive move. His underwater phase after the turn was particularly strong, allowing him to close the gap on Peaty. By the 75-meter mark, he was neck-and-neck with Peaty, while Qin began to fall behind.
In the final few meters, Martinenghi executed his strokes with perfect timing. Peaty, although still leading, mistimed his last stroke, finishing 1.46 meters from the wall. Martinenghi, on the other hand, was positioned closer at 0.95 meters and managed to touch the wall two-hundredths of a second faster, securing the gold medal.
Fink also timed his final strokes well, finishing in a tie for silver with Peaty.
Conclusion
Nicolo Martinenghi ‘s victory in the 100 breaststroke at the Paris 2024 Olympics was the result of a perfect balance of speed, technique and efficiency. The Italian made the most of every phase of the race, from the start to the underwater to the actual swimming , demonstrating a remarkable ability to manage effort.
Although Adam Peaty and Nic Fink offered strong competition, Martinenghi excelled especially in the second part of the race, where he was able to maintain his speed without increasing his stroke rate too much. With fewer strokes and more distance covered for each one, Martinenghi consolidated his technical advantage, thus winning a well-deserved gold medal.
Peaty, while maintaining a quick speed in the early stages of the race, saw his performance drop slightly in the second half, while Fink maintained a good rhythm but failed to achieve the efficiency shown by the Italian.
Qin druggyang
It’s simple. They all underperformed. He underperformed the least.
Damn you covid
I was happy for his win, just disappointed that it wasn’t around the 58.2 that he’s capable of (darn you, slow pool!!).
I think on reflection, the slow pool myth was slightly over hyped as we saw a numer of WR and ORs go throughout the meet. The mens 100br was just a slow field based on the swimmers’ current form. Consider the following:
-Martinenghi was only around a tenth of a second slower than he went a month earlier at sete coli (acts as the Italian trials) and 2 tenths slower than he went in Doha. He hasn’t been a 58:20 or anywhere close since 2022
-Fink was more or less the same time he went in US trials just over a month earlier.
-Peaty had Covid and aside from his 57.9 at British trials really has not been in any… Read more »
The pool was certainly slow. Yes, people seemed to adapt as the meet went on but the pool is undeniably slower than the U.S trials pool. Its likley not the reason they didnt go 57s, but definetly the reason they went 59s
One counter point comparing it to US trials is that Fink basically went the same time in both meets only about 5 weeks apart.
The men’s 100 breast wasn’t the only slow race. The women’s 100 breast was also reasonably slow, so was the men’s 200 free (and to an extent, the women’s – all medalists were far from their SBs), both 400 frees, the 400IMs were also quite slow (compared to Marchand and McIntosh’s best – I mean, Hosszu’s OR is still standing, and McIntosh is 2 seconds faster than that).
The men’s 100 frees were also somewhat slow (except for Pan) – and after Popovici, Giuliano, Alexy, Grousset and Chalmers were all faster than 47.40 in the past 12 months, that’s just strange. I’ve already written a long comment on a previous thread, but the gist of it is that most… Read more »
I think it’s a mixture of slow pool and slow field.
58.7 won silvers at last year’s Worlds (behind Qin who was not in form in Paris). I think the winning time would have been in the same range had it been a normal pool.
I think that’s a fair assessment although I guess one could go down the rabbit hole of asking was it the pool in itself that was slow or more the athlete village/surroundings being sub optimal.
Having food with worms is surely not the best prep for fast swimming!
Not everybody stayed in the village. I suppose it would be pretty interesting to see how athletes who stayed in the village performed vs athletes who stayed in hotels.