Men’s 800 Freestyle Sees Podium All Faster Than Winning Time In Tokyo (Day 4 Analysis)

All three swimmers on the men’s 800 freestyle podium tonight swam faster than the winning time in Tokyo. Bobby Finke of the US won in a 7:41.87 in Tokyo while Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri won bronze in a 7:39.38 tonight.

The only other event that was faster tonight than the top time in Tokyo was the women’s 100 backstroke. Kaylee McKeown of Australia won in a 57.33 tonight, breaking her own Olympic Record of a 57.47 that she swam to win in Tokyo. Regan Smith was also faster tonight for silver than Kylie Maase swam for silver in 2020. The same can be said for bronze as Katharine Berkoff swam a 57.98 for bronze tonight compared to Smith who won bronze in Tokyo in a 58.05.

The rest of the events tonight saw the top spot in semifinals be slower than what the top seed was heading into finals in Tokyo. The 8th place finisher, the last spot to make finals, in three out of the four semifinals tonight was also slower in Paris than in Tokyo. The only semifinal where 8th was faster this year was the men’s 200 fly as it took a 1:54.62 to make the final compared to a 1:55.31 from Tokyo.

Day 4 Finals Data

Men’s 800 Free, Final

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Robert Finke United States 7:41.87 1 Daniel Wiffen IRE 7:38.19
2 Gregorio Paltrinieri Italy 7:42.11 2 Bobby Finke USA 7:38.75
3 Mykhailo Romanchuk Ukraine 7:42.33 3 Gregorio Paltrinieri ITA 7:39.38
4 Florian Wellbrock Germany 7:42.68 4 Ahmed Jaouadi TUN 7:42.83
5 Jack McLoughlin Australia 7:45.00 5 Sven Schwarz GER 7:43.59
6 Serhiy Frolov Ukraine 7:45.11 5 David Aubry FRA 7:43.59
7 Felix Auböck Austria 7:49.14 7 Luca de Tullio ITA 7:46.16
8 Guilherme Costa Brazil 7:53.31 8 Elijah Winnington AUS 7:48.36

Women’s 100 Backstroke, Final

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Kaylee McKeown Australia 57.47 1 Kaylee McKeown AUS 57.33
2 Kylie Masse Canada 57.72 2 Regan Smith USA 57.66
3 Regan Smith United States 58.05 3 Katharine Berkoff USA 57.98
4 Rhyan White United States 58.43 4 Kylie Masse CAN 58.29
5 Emily Seebohm Australia 58.45 5 Iona Anderson AUS 58.98
6 Kathleen Dawson Great Britain 58.7 6 Ingrid Wilm CAN 59.25
7 Kira Toussaint Netherlands 59.11 7 Emma Terebo FRA 59.4
8 Anastasia Gorbenko Israel 59.53 8 Beryl Gastaldello FRA 59.8

Men’s 200 Breaststroke, Semis

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Zac Stubblety-Cook Australia 2:07.35 1 Leon Marchand FRA 2:08.11
2 James Wilby Great Britain 2:07.91 2 Zac Stubblety-Cook AUS 2:08.57
3 Arno Kamminga Netherlands 2:07.99 3 Dong Zhihao CHN 2:08.99
4 Nic Fink United States 2:08.00 4 Caspar Corbeau NED 2:09.52
5 Matti Mattsson Finland 2:08.22 5 Ippei Watanabe JPN 2:09.62
6 Ryuya Mura Japan 2:08.27 6 Josh Matheny USA 2:09.70
7 Anton Chupkov ROC 2:08.54 7 Yu Hanaguruma JPN 2:09.72
8 Erik Persson Sweden 2:08.76 8 Joshua Yong AUS 2:09.89

Women’s 100 Freestyle, Semis

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Emma McKeon Australia 52.32 1 Siobhan Haughey HKG 52.64
2 Siobhán Haughey Hong Kong 52.4 2 Shayna Jack AUS 52.72
3 Cate Campbell Australia 52.71 3 Mollie O’Callaghan AUS 52.75
4 Sarah Sjöström Sweden 52.82 4 Yang Junxuan CHN 52.81
5 Penny Oleksiak Canada 52.86 5 Marrit Steenbergen NED 52.86
6 Femke Heemskerk Netherlands 52.93 6 Sarah Sjostrom SWE 52.87
7 Abbey Weitzeil United States 52.99 7 Torri Huske USA 52.99
8 Anna Hopkin Great Britain 53.11 8 Gretchen Walsh USA 53.18

Men’s 200 Butterfly, Semis

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Kristóf Milák Hungary 1:52.22 1 Kristof Milark HUN 1:52.72
2 Leonardo de Deus Brazil 1:54.97 2 Leon Marchand FRA 1:53.50
3 Chad le Clos South Africa 1:55.06 3 Ilya Kharun CAN 1:54.01
4 Federico Burdisso Italy 1:55.11 4 Noe Ponti SUI 1:54.14
5 Tamás Kenderesi Hungary 1:55.17 5 Kregor Zirk EST 1:54.22
6 Gunnar Bentz United States 1:55.28 6 Krysztof Chmielewski POL 1:54.28
7 Krzysztof Chmielewski Poland 1:55.29 7 Alberto Razzetti ITA 1:54.51
8 Tomoru Honda Japan 1:55.31 8 Martin Espernberger AUT 1:54.62

Men’s 100 Free, Semis

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Kliment Kolesnikov ROC 47.11 1 Pan Zhanle CHN 47.21
2 Caeleb Dressel United States 47.23 2 Kyle Chalmers AUS 47.58
3 Alessandro Miressi Italy 47.52 3 Nandor Nemeth HUN 47.61
4 Hwang Sun-woo South Korea 47.56 4 Maxime Grousset FRA 47.63
5 David Popovici Romania 47.72 5 David Popovici ROU 47.66
6 Kyle Chalmers Australia 47.8 6 Jack Alexy USA 47.68
7 Nándor Németh Hungary 47.81 7 Chris Guiliano USA 47.72
8 Maxime Grousset France 47.82 8 Josha Salchow GER 47.94

Men’s 4×200 Free Relay, Final

Tokyo Paris
Rank Nation Time Rank Name Time
1 Great Britain 6:58.58 1 Great Britain 6:59.43
2 ROC 7:01.81 2 USA 7:00.78
3 Australia 7:01.84 3 Australia 7:01.98
4 United States 7:02.43 4 China 7:04.37
5 Italy 7:03.24 5 France 7:04.80
6 Switzerland 7:06.12 6 Korea 7:07.26
7 Germany 7:06.51 7 Japan 7:07.48
8 Brazil 7:08.22 8 Germany 7:09.56
9 Israel 7:10.22

Day 4 Prelims Data

Men’s 200 Fly

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Kristóf Milák Hungary 1:53.58 1 Kristof Milak HUN 1:53.92
2 Wang Kuan-hung Chinese Taipei 1:54.44 2 Ilya Kharun CAN 1:54.06
3 Leonardo de Deus Brazil 1:54.83 3 Noe Ponti SUI 1:54.77
4 Zach Harting United States 1:54.92 4 Alberto Razzetti ITA 1:54.78
5 Noè Ponti Switzerland 1:55.05 5 Martin Espernberger AUT 1:55.19
6 Tomoru Honda Japan 1:55.10 6 Leon Marchand FRA 1:55.26
7 Federico Burdisso Italy 1:55.14 7 Michal Chmielewski POL 1:55.28
8 Tamás Kenderesi Hungary 1:55.18 8 Wang Kuan-Hung TPE 1:55.32
9 Daiya Seto Japan 1:55.26 9 Krzysztof Cmielewski POL 1:55.42
10 Giacomo Carini Italy 1:55.33 9 Kregor Zirk EST 1:55.42
11 Gunnar Bentz United States 1:55.46 11 Thomas Heilman USA 1:55.74
12 Aleksandr Kudashev ROC 1:55.54 12 Giacomo Carini ITA 1:55.81
13 Krzysztof Chmielewski Poland 1:55.77 13 Genki Terakado JPN 1:55.82
14 Louis Croenen Belgium 1:55.78 14 Arbidel Gonzalez ESP 1:55.86
15 Léon Marchand France 1:55.85 15 Kim Minseop KOR 1:56.02
16 Chad le Clos South Africa 1:55.96 16 Richard Marton HUN 1:56.03

Men’s 100 free

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Thomas Ceccon Italy 47.71 1 Jack Alexy USA 47.57
2 Caeleb Dressel United States 47.73 2 Maxime Grousset FRA 47.7
3 Kyle Chalmers Australia 47.77 3 David Popovici ROU 47.92
4 Alessandro Miressi Italy 47.83 4 Nandor Nemeth Hungary 47.93
5 Kliment Kolesnikov ROC 47.89 5 Jordan Crooks CAY 48.01
6 Hwang Sun-woo South Korea 47.97 6 Kyle Chalmers AUS 48.07
7 Andrey Minakov ROC 48 7 Alessandro Miressi ITA 48.24
8 David Popovici Romania 48.03 8 Chris Giuliano USA 48.25
9 Nándor Németh Hungary 48.11 8 Josha Salchow GER 48.25
10 Yuri Kisil Canada 48.15 10 Andrej Barna SRB 48.34
11 Zach Apple United States 48.16 10 Josh Liendo CAN 48.34
12 Maxime Grousset France 48.25 12 Guilherme Santos BRA 48.35
13 Andrej Barna Serbia 48.3 13 Velimir Stjepanovic SRB 48.4
14 Joshua Liendo Canada 48.34 13 Matt Richards GBR 48.4
15 Roman Mityukov Switzerland 48.43 13 Pan Zhanle CHN 48.4
16 Jacob Whittle Great Britain 48.44 16 Hwang Sunwoo KOR 48.41

Women’s 1500 Free

Tokyo Paris
Rank Name Nationality Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Katie Ledecky United States 15:35.35 1 Katie Ledecky USA 15:47.43
2 Wang Jianjiahe China 15:41.49 2 Simona Quadarella ITA 15:51.19
3 Erica Sullivan United States 15:46.67 3 Anastasiia Kirpichnikova FRA 15:52.46
4 Simona Quadarella Italy 15:47.34 4 Isabel Gose GER 15:53.27
5 Anastasiya Kirpichnikova ROC 15:50.22 5 Moesha Johnson AUS 16:04.02
6 Sarah Köhler Germany 15:52.67 6 Li Bingjie CHN 16:05.26
7 Maddy Gough Australia 15:56.81 7 Beatriz Dizotti BRA 16:05.40
8 Kiah Melverton Australia 15:58.96 8 Leonie Martens GER 16:08.69

Women’s 100 Free

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1 Emma McKeon Australia 52.13 1 Sarah Sjostrom SWE 52.99
2 Siobhán Haughey Hong Kong 52.7 2 Siobhan Haughey HKG 53.02
3 Anna Hopkin Great Britain 52.75 3 Yang Junxuan CHN 53.05
4 Cate Campbell Australia 52.8 4 Marrit Steenbergen NED 53.22
5 Sarah Sjöström Sweden 52.91 5 Mollie O’Callaghan AUS 53.27
6 Penny Oleksiak Canada 52.95 6 Shayna Jack AUS 53.4
7 Pernille Blume Denmark 52.96 7 Torri Huske USA 53.53
8 Yang Junxuan China 53.02 8 Gretchen Walsh USA 53.54
9 Femke Heemskerk Netherlands 53.1 9 Beryle Gastaldello FRA 53.65
10 Kayla Sanchez Canada 53.12 10 Anna Hopkin GBR 53.67
11 Abbey Weitzeil United States 53.21 10 Kayla Sanchez PHI 53.67
12 Michelle Coleman Sweden 53.53 12 Marie Wattel FRA 53.7
13 Signe Bro Denmark 53.54 13 Wu Qingfeng CHN 54.03
14 Freya Anderson Great Britain 53.61 14 Michelle Coleman SWE 54.1
15 Charlotte Bonnet France 53.67 15 Neza Klancar SLO 54.12
16
Marie Wattel France
53.71
16 Maggie MacNeil CAN 54.16
Ranomi Kromowidjojo Netherlands

Men’s 200 Breast

Tokyo Paris
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Rank Name Country Time
1
Zac Stubblety-Cook Australia
2:07.37
1 Cho Sung Jae KOR 2:09.45
Arno Kamminga Netherlands 2 Zac Stubblety-Cook AUS 2:09.49
3 Matti Mattsson Finland 2:08.44 3 Leon Marchand FRA 2:09.55
4 Nic Fink United States 2:08.48 4 Caspar Corbeau NED 2:09.78
5 Anton Chupkov ROC 2:08.54 5 Ippei Watanabe JPN 2:09.86
6 Erik Persson Sweden 2:08.76 6 Dong Zhihao CHN 2:09.91
7 Dmitriy Balandin Kazakhstan 2:08.99 7 Yu Hanaguruma JPN 2:10.35
8 Ryuya Mura Japan 2:09.00 7 Erik Persson SWE 2:10.35
9 Kirill Prigoda ROC 2:09.21 9 Anton McKee Iceland 2:10.36
10 Matthew Wilson Australia 2:09.29 10 Josh Matheny USA 2:10.39
11 Shoma Sato Japan 2:09.43 11 Matt Fallon USA 2:10.49
12 Antoine Viquerat France 2:09.54 12 Arno Kamminga NED 2:10.53
13 Andrius Šidlauskas Lithuania 2:09.56 13 Lyubomir Epitropov BUL 2:10.59
14 Lyubomir Epitropov Bulgaria 2:09.68 14 Joshua Yong AUS 2:10.68
15 James Wilby Great Britain 2:09.70 15 Qin Haiyang CHN 2:10.98
16 Ross Murdoch Great Britain 2:09.95 16 Denis Petrashov KGZ 2:10.99

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Dylan
2 months ago

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned how much slower the women’s 1500m got this Olympics.

Thomas The Tank Engine
Reply to  Dylan
2 months ago

Ledecky can finish, get out the pool, find the nearest Starbucks, enjoying Macchiato Latte Venti, back to the arena, and the last swimmer is not finished.

Lpman
2 months ago

Wow, another event faster than Tokyo. So weird how the pool is fast for some events and not others, all in the same session. It’s almost like there are other factors at play 🤷

JJ jfhfjg
Reply to  Lpman
2 months ago

U must be new. Was faster than tokyo because tokyo was very very slow, strategy wise, not pool related.

Thomas The Tank Engine
Reply to  Lpman
2 months ago

Thanks for confirming you had no idea what’s Tokyo was like.

Now, go compare Paris to Fukuoka. I dare you.

Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer
2 months ago

On the topic of waves, turbulence and “slow pools”:
I have always wondered why the touchpads in LCM cover the gutters vs their placement completely underwater in SCY meets. See pic related. Seems like an easy way to get rid of at least some of the waves & chop. Is there a reason other than “we’ve always done it this way”?
comment image

SHRKB8
Reply to  Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer
2 months ago

💲💲🤑🤑💲💲

Thomas The Tank Engine
Reply to  SHRKB8
2 months ago

This is the correct answer

JimSwim22
Reply to  Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer
2 months ago

I was thinking about that today too. Anyone have an answer?

NOT the frontman of Metallica
Reply to  Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer
2 months ago

Most pools I’ve seen in Europe don’t have a gutter on the short sides so it wouldn’t make a difference. Come to think about I’ve only seen it in photos of American pools and wondered why you guys put the touchpads so low, so thanks for the explanation

MDE
2 months ago

The races that are ‘fast’ are not actually and are just getting faster results due to massive leaps in the event more generally over the past 3 years. 100 BK might be the main exception, but we will see, Kaylee not much faster than her in season swims so may have had a big drop incoming, and Regan slower than her WR significantly.

The unoriginal Tim
2 months ago

Tokyo was more tactical as no-one forced the pace.

Awsi Dooger
Reply to  The unoriginal Tim
2 months ago

Paltrinieri tried to push the pace from the outside lane in Tokyo but he was sick and subpar.

Otherwise I completely agree with your point. It was situational influence. Paris was faster solely due to the other top guys reacting to Bobby Finke. They weren’t going to dawdle and allow him to sprint away again. Wiffen judged it just right. He didn’t feel capable of a long extended push. It was almost a tag team with Paltrinieri, like a runner taking advantage of a pacer.

Owlmando
2 months ago

Just a laymans assessment, but I would expect distance free and backstroke to create less impediment than say sprint free or the other strokes

Barty’s Bakery
2 months ago

Considering how slow this pool is that really shows how mid the times were in Tokyo

Mike
Reply to  Barty’s Bakery
2 months ago

I guess it showed the interruptions in the preparations for some of the athletes with the lockdown and everything going on at the time

JJ jfhfjg
Reply to  Mike
2 months ago

And paltrinieri had mono.

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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