2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games
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Katharine Berkoff blasted to a strong start in the first race of her debut Olympics Monday morning, posting a time of 57.99 in the preliminary heats of the women’s 100-meter back.
The only swimmer under the 58 mark in prelims, Berkoff heads into the semifinals as the top seed after clocking in almost half a second ahead of both Australia’s Kaylee McKeown (58.48) and fellow American Regan Smith (58.45).
Known for her speed and willingness to attack the race on both ends, Berkoff had the fastest closing split in the field with a 29.85 to secure spot atop the rankings.
The performance highlights just how far Berkoff has come since the last Olympic cycle, as she narrowly missed qualifying for the Tokyo Games. At the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2021, Berkoff finished 4th overall with a time of 58.82.
Since then, Berkoff has racked up 10 medals at international championships, including four World Championships medals, and become a three-time NCAA champion in the 100-yard back.
Berkoff joined the elite sub-58 club in the 100-meter back at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in June, turning in not one but two swims in the 57 range. She threw down a lifetime best 57.83 in the semifinals before posting a time of 57.91 in the finals to clinch her spot on the Olympic roster behind Smith.
Berkoff’s performance in the Paris prelims marks her 3rd-fastest swim ever and her 3rd time under that sub-58 barrier. Coincidentally, that also means that she has not swam a time in the 58 range since first cracking that barrier.
Berkoff’s consistency and notable speed will certainly be an asset to her as she moves on to the semifinals and finals, putting her right at the heart of the competition.
Much of the talk about this event centers around Smith and McKeown as they vie for control of the world record, but Berkoff cannot be counted out as one of the top contenders for an Olympic medal, especially after this swim.
suprised only because the shallow pool should be crippling those with good underwaters, relative to those who spend less time underwater
Imagine she goes full berkoff blastoff mode and upsets everyone in the final
To be fair, her pressure is nowhere near Smith’s or McKoewn’s. Everyone talking about Regan and Kaylee as if Katherine’s not even in the race.
While pure speculation, who’s to say both of them haven’t given everything they have already to try to claim/reclaim that world record that maybe there’s not a tremendous amount left…obviously that’s unlikely, but just saying who knows if Katherine can get down under 57.5 by finals, what she is capable of doing.
Regan smith actually went 58.45 and Kylee McKeown went 58.48 😉
I know it’s the other chat for the AVD fan club but it’s nice that someone noticed that a sub-58 swim is pretty impressive and worth mentioning. Of course it would have been a bridge of insight too far to use it as an example of the 100 back trajectory overall since that would have been the WR 6 years ago.
Can anybody please tell me how she looked in her swim? Did she seem to be going all out or was it a walk in the park?
The first one. She went for it right from the start.
Regan and Kaylee were chills.
Not at all. She was quoted as saying she thought she was going 58.5.
“Berkoff Blasts”
I see what you did there 😉
too funny- was going to post the same thing!
I realize there are two more swims but with all the hype on Kaylee and Regan, Katharine could sneak in as their spoiler. She’s got the talent but most importantly, she thrives on the pressure!
She’ll be in a battle for bronze with Masse and Anderson. The trajectory of Anderson has been impressive. But Kaylee has the edge and looked quite smooth. Regan almost pushed above 15 m from her underwater as well
Anderson 😂😂😂
….?
Anderson may be battling for 4th/5th.
Top 3 is locked with Reagan,Kaylee, Berkoff and Masse fighting for them.
He’s basically saying AUS has 3 sub58 swimmers. They sub in MOC.
Your Wei Regan has the edge she the world record holder she lowered more than McKeown ever did .12 in 2021 while smith lowered it in 2019 by .43 and again at this years trials by .20