The event order at the Paris Olympics has seen a pair of minor changes, one of which figures to be of great benefit to French superstar Leon Marchand.
According to an announcement made by USA Swimming on Wednesday, the following changes have been made to the order of events in Paris, and thus will be mimicked at the U.S. Trials:
- On Day 5, the women’s 200 fly semis and men’s 200 breast final will swap places. This makes the 200 fly the third event of the night and the 200 breast the seventh.
- On Day 6, the men’s 50 free semis will be the third race of the night (originally sixth) and the women’s 200 back will be the fifth (originally third).
The change on Day 5 puts four events and seven total heats, one of which is the women’s 1500 free, between the men’s 200 fly and 200 breast final after they were previously back-to-back (along with multiple medal ceremonies, most likely). That will allow Marchand to race both events at the Games, something we learned earlier this month his coaches had lobbied for.
DAY 5 EVENT CHANGE
| Previous Day 5 Finals |
New Day 5 Finals
|
| Women 100m Freestyle Final |
Women 100m Freestyle Final
|
| Men 200m Butterfly Final |
Men 200m Butterfly Final
|
| Men 200m Breaststroke Final |
Women 200m Butterfly Semi-Final
|
| Women 1500m Freestyle Final |
Women 1500m Freestyle Final
|
| Men 200m Backstroke Semi-Final |
Men 200m Backstroke Semi-Final
|
| Women 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final |
Women 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final
|
| Women 200m Butterfly Semi-Final |
Men 200m Breaststroke Final
|
| Men 100m Freestyle Final |
Men 100m Freestyle Final
|
Marchand is the reigning world champion in the 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM, having won back-to-back titles in the medley events while winning the 200 fly for the first time last year after claiming silver in 2023.
In the 200 breast, he has yet to race the event on the major international stage, but he did produce a time of 2:06.59 at the 2023 French Elite Championships that would’ve won bronze at the World Championships and ranks him #5 all-time.
The other schedule change could open the door for a female swimmer to race both the 200 fly and 200 back with less of a time crunch, and it also would allow a male swimmer to do the 200 IM/50 free double, though there don’t appear to be any obvious candidates for that right now.
Michael Andrew raced both events at the Tokyo Olympics, placing 4th in the 50 free and 5th in the 200 IM, but has previously said the medley event is not one of his focuses this year.
It does, however, make it more difficult for a woman to race both the 200 back and 800 free relay.
DAY 6 EVENT CHANGE
| Previous Day 6 Finals | New Day 6 Finals |
| Women 200m Butterfly Final | Women 200m Butterfly Final |
| Men 200m Backstroke Final | Men 200m Backstroke Final |
|
Women 200m Backstroke Semi-Final
|
Men 50m Freestyle Semi-Final |
|
Women 200m Breaststroke Final
|
Women 200m Breaststroke Final |
|
Men 200m Individual Medley Semi-Final
|
Women 200m Backstroke Semi-Final |
| Men 50m Freestyle Semi-Final | Men 200m Individual Medley Semi-Final |
| Women 4x200m Freestyle Final | Women 4x200m Freestyle Final |
FULL PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC SWIMMING CALENDAR
| Session | Event |
| Day 1 Prelims | Women 100m Butterfly |
| Women 400m Freestyle | |
| Men 100m Breaststroke | |
| Men 400m Freestyle | |
| Women 4x100m Freestyle | |
| Men 4x100m Freestyle | |
| Day 1 Finals | Women 100m Butterfly Semi-Final |
| Men 400m Freestyle Final | |
| Women 400m Freestyle Final | |
| Men 100m Breaststroke Semi-Final | |
| Women 4x100m Freestyle Final | |
| Men 4x100m Freestyle Final | |
| Day 2 Prelims | Men 200m Freestyle |
| Men 400m Individual Medley | |
| Women 100m Breaststroke | |
| Men 100m Backstroke | |
| Women 200m Freestyle | |
| Day 2 Finals | Men 400m Individual Medley Final |
| Women 100m Butterfly Final | |
| Men 200m Freestyle Semi-Final | |
| Women 100m Breaststroke Semi-Final | |
| Men 100m Backstroke Semi-Final | |
| Men 100m Breaststroke Final | |
| Women 200m Freestyle Semi-Final | |
| Day 3 Prelims | Women 400m Individual Medley |
| Women 100m Backstroke | |
| Men 800m Freestyle | |
| Day 3 Finals | Women 400m Individual Medley Final |
| Men 200m Freestyle Final | |
| Women 100m Backstroke Semi-Final | |
| Men 100m Backstroke Final | |
| Women 100m Breaststroke Final | |
| Women 200m Freestyle Final | |
| Day 4 Prelims | Men 200m Butterfly |
| Men 100m Freestyle | |
| Women 1500m Freestyle | |
| Women 100m Freestyle | |
| Men 200m Breaststroke | |
| Men 4x200m Freestyle | |
| Day 4 Finals | Men 100m Freestyle Semi-Final |
| Men 200m Butterfly Semi-Final | |
| Women 100m Backstroke Final | |
| Men 800m Freestyle Final | |
| Women 100m Freestyle Semi-Final | |
| Men 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final | |
| Men 4x200m Freestyle Final | |
| Day 5 Prelims | Women 200m Breaststroke |
| Men 200m Backstroke | |
| Women 200m Butterfly | |
| Day 5 Finals | Women 100m Freestyle Final |
| Men 200m Butterfly Final | |
| Women 200m Butterfly Semi-Final | |
| Women 1500m Freestyle Final | |
| Men 200m Backstroke Semi-Final | |
| Women 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final | |
| Men 200m Breaststroke Final | |
| Men 100m Freestyle Final | |
| Day 6 Prelims | Women 200m Backstroke |
| Men’s 50m Freestyle | |
| Men’s 200 IM | |
| Women 4x200m Freestyle | |
| Day 6 Finals | Women 200m Butterfly Final |
| Men 200m Backstroke Final | |
| Men 50m Freestyle Semi-Final | |
| Women 200m Breaststroke Final | |
| Women 200m Backstroke Semi-Final | |
| Men 200m Individual Medley Semi-Final | |
| Women 4x200m Freestyle Final | |
| Day 7 Prelims | Men 100m Butterfly |
| Women 200m Individual Medley | |
| Women 800m Freestyle | |
| Mixed 4x100m Medley | |
| Day 7 Finals | Men 50m Freestyle Final |
| Women 200m Backstroke Final | |
| Men 200m Individual Medley Final | |
| Men 100m Butterfly Semi-Final | |
| Women 200m Individual Medley Semi-Final | |
| Day 8 Prelims | Women 50m Freestyle |
| Men 1500m Freestyle | |
| Men 4x100m Medley | |
| Women 4x100m Medley | |
| Day 8 Finals | Men 100m Butterfly Final |
| Women 50m Freestyle Semi-Final | |
| Women 200m Individual Medley Final | |
| Women 800m Freestyle Final | |
| Mixed 4x100m Medley Final | |
| Day 9 Finals | Women 50m Freestyle Final |
| Men 1500m Freestyle Final | |
| Men 4x100m Medley Final | |
| Women 4x100m Medley Final |
Damn they can do this kinda thing for this dude, but not for Phelps to have swum the 200 back in Beijing and have won 9 Golds???
Would he have even qualified at Trials with Lochte and Peirsol both swimming it though?
I actually believe: yes. He went 1:54 (or 53?) at a not-so-serious meet, and knowing Phelps- always performing best at grand stage meets, no DOUBT he would’ve popped a 1:51 if he needed. He also went 53.0 in the 100 back, at the time that the WR was 52.98. Meaning if the coaches could’ve extended the schedule for Phelps in the manner Marchand’s have for him, he would’ve surely won 10 Golds.
I disagree. He sometimes lost to Lochte in IM, his speciality, so I don’t see how he could beat Lochte in his speciality stroke. And Peirsol was arguably even better than Lochte.
Phelps’s best LC time in the 200 back is a 1:54.65 btw. Very fast indeed, but I very much doubt he could have gone 1:51. That only happened once, with the most advanced super suit. Heck, 1:52 only happened twice.
And my question was wether or not he could even qualify: in his 6th individual event at trials – he would have been stretched thin against more rested opponents.
Ill pose the contrapositive to your argument: if the backstroke wasn’t Lochte’s best stroke (incl. IM), then he would have indeed been beaten in said backstroke.
I think Lochte’s greatest claim to fame is his 1:54.00 WR 200 IM. therefore, Phelps should have lost to him, and perhaps beaten him in Lochte’s less-quality backstroke. Right?
To be honest, now that W 1500 is an event, I don’t see why M and W event order isn’t the same….
Too long to have two distance races in one session I’m guessing
Maybe the real puppeteer isn’t bowman but LVMH, who is the official sponsor of the Olympics and wants to maximize shareholder gains potential by having their poster boy have more medal chances. Money talks more than a coach
Marchand will be destroyed by a healthy Milak do not worry
Milak doesn’t have time to get back in 1:50 form
He doesn’t need to be in 1:50 form to beat Marchand.
It’s such a terrible precedent to set. There’s no reason that just because someone is good at something or that they’re gonna be in the spotlight should they get preferential treatment over other athletes at the biggest sporting event in the world. Hope it gives extra motivation to the likes of Milak and Honda, Qin and ZSC to absolutely crush him in those events at the Olympics.
Don’t worry, Kristof Milak is back in heavy training so Leon is swimming for silver in the 200 fly.
I believe it should be possible to derive an optimal timing of events by maximizing the sum of recovery time of all the swimmers susceptible to take part in the semi-finals or finals. Thus the day calendar could be fixed well in advance for heats, semis and finals and the final schedule 6 months before the start of the game based on the most relevant information (i.e. best time achieved by February ) The timing of the medal ceremonies could also be used to create appropriate buffer zones.
This is the preliminary result of this exercice
“For each session what is the order of events that conducts to maximize the resting time, all swimmer being considered equal.”
(no medal ceremonies included yet, and something got wrong for Day 8 Finals).
This focuses on the swimmers likely to qualify for at least one semi final.
Taking the following durations for each events (open as csv)
MOD: CSV file so the site doesn’t crash: https://swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/oooFile.csv
Apologies, I manged to read the wrong file for some entries (hence the Day 8) this should be better
Day1 Morning ♀ H 4X100 ♂ H 4X100 ♂ H 100 breast ♂ H 400 free ♀ H 400 free ♀ H 100 fly
Day 1 Finals ♀ S 100 fly ♀ F 400 free ♂ S 100 breast ♂ F 400 free ♂ F 4X100 ♀ F 4X100
Day 1 Finals ♀ S 100 fly ♀ F 400 free ♂ S 100 breast ♂ F 4X100 ♂ F 400 free ♀ F 4X100
Day 1 Finals ♀ S 100 fly ♀ F 400 free ♂ F 400 free ♂ S 100 breast ♂ F 4X100 ♀ F 4X100
Day 1 Finals ♀ S 100 fly ♀ F 400 free ♂ F 400 free ♂ F 4X100 ♂ S 100 breast ♀ F… Read more »
I have no problem with this. Michael Johnson had the schedule adjusted for the 200m and 400m to allow him to attempt and win the Olympic double in Atlanta 1996.
That’s unfair!! Preferential treatment!!! Sucks that it was one the greatest performances in Olympic history but it should not have happened because of idk the schedule was made arbitrarily a different way!
There is a lot of jealousy in most of these comments. The versatility of a swimmer displeases you when you should be enthusiastic. At the time of Phelps, I would have loved him to shine in all swimming disciplines (including breaststroke) and definitely be the most versatile swimmer of all time.
If I were to provoke you, I would say that you should be happy that Qin can swim the 200 fly and that Milak and Carson Foster can try the 200 breaststroke unless you don’t find them versatile enough!
As long as it doesn’t penalize another swimmer, it doesn’t matter. Sorry to contradict you, but the Olympic spirit is to allow all those who can shine in… Read more »
The issue is that giving one swimmer preferential treatment is the equivalent of penalising other swimmers. Just like deliberately not calling a DQ on a swimmer indirectly penalises other swimmers who followed the rules.
What preferential treatment? Making two finals 45 minutes apart is a favor, especially with a swim like the 200 fly which is very demanding.
Yes. As you say “it’s a favour”. The organisers did a “favour” to help Marchand = preferential treatment
The organizers favor Marchand and Regan Smith at the expense of other swimmers.
That it’s some zero-sum game, that if one swimmer is helped out by a change it immediately negatively affects all others is such a weird way to look at this.
Sure. Many other greats of the sport have schedule confilcts that haven’t been adressed. Again, why would Marchand deserve the preferential treatment more than others.
Maybe they should’ve asked?
Coulda been greater that way.
You don’t know who did or didn’t ask. What we do know is that the favour has been granted for one athlete only.
Guess they made a better case!
I asked elsewhere, but what other schedule changes would people make for Their Faves??
This just moved stuff around within sessions, no? Which seems like it would be a tough restraint but I’m taking proposals.
Yeah, upon thinking on this a bit more it’s not that big of a deal. Like, what I’ve said previously about it setting a bad precedent still holds, because the end of that route is everyone getting a schedule change who asks and we are back to square one.
But further than that, it’s a relatively minor change.
I disagree that the most logical explanation for the change is that they made a better case than others, because every case you can make for anyone is basically the same: change stuff around so this one particular athlete has a better schedule. What motivates the decision beyond that is what makes it unfair in my eyes, because that’s the… Read more »
Yeehaw!
But yeah, that’s sort of what I mean – if you could move those events around in-session for those dudes, sure not really a huge deal. But if you’ve gotta change what days those events are on, you’ll start creating new conflicts for other swimmers in other events. (And those might be issues for more athletes than the ones you’re fixing.)
I don’t think this is a huge deal mostly b/c the schedule isn’t created by Divine Right or anything, there are inherently going to be conflicts for some swimmers and not for others. “Aww, Marchand gets to swim more events???” is… Read more »
Right.
And at the end of the day, I still think he is gonna scratch the 200 breast – because that double is a killer one, and there is still the 800 free relay. So I think it will turn out to be a “much ado about nothing” kind of situation.