SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which event at the 2024 Olympic Games was the most surprising:
Question: Which event surprised you the most in Paris?
RESULTS
- M 100 FR – Pan obliterates WR, wins by over 1.08 – 42.1%
- W 100 FR – Late-entry Sjostrom wins gold, O’Callaghan off podium – 21.1%
- M 100 FLY – Dressel misses final – 11.2%
- M 200 BK – Murphy misses final, Christou snags silver – 8.6%
- M 100 BR – Qin misses medals – 6.9%
- M 400 MR – China upsets USA – 4.9%
- M 200 BR – Marchand goes 2:05, Qin misses final – 3.5%
- Other – 1.7%
Despite the relatively “slow” times dominating the conversation early on in the swimming competition at the Paris Olympics, things seemed to pick up as the meet went on and we were treated to some spectacular performances.
And whether or not the times produced were quick or not, the results seemed to come as expected in a lot of events. We had pre-race favorites win gold, headlined by Leon Marchand, Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky. It seemed like, for the most part, one of the top three or four favorites coming into the meet ended up standing on top of the podium.
However, there were still several surprises that came along the way.
Polling our readers on the single event that caught them off guard the most, leading the way by a wide margin was the men’s 100 freestyle.
After four nights of racing and no world records, Pan Zhanle demolished the all-time mark in the final of the men’s 100 free, clocking 46.40 to knock four-tenths of a second off his previous record of 46.80.
As the world record holder, Pan was among the pre-race favorites, but given the amount he broke the world record by, and his stunning margin of victory of 1.08 seconds, it’s no surprise to see this event emerge atop the poll.
David Popovici was regarded by many as the man to beat after he won gold in the 200 free, but the Romanian ended up with the bronze medal in 47.49. Kyle Chalmers, the 2023 world champion and 2016 Olympic gold medalist, was looked at by most as the leading candidate to win prior to the meet, but he settled for silver for the second straight Games, more than a second back of Pan in 47.48.
Pan showed he was on sub-47 form at the beginning of the Games in the men’s 4×100 free relay, leading off in what was an Olympic Record at the time of of 46.92, and he closed out the competition with the fastest relay split in history, 45.92, anchoring China to an upset win over the United States in the men’s medley relay.
Although the Americans were picked by most to win, having never lost the relay at the Olympics, China was viewed as a premier contender to upend them and thus, the relay picked up just under 5% of votes in the poll.
The women’s 100 free was the only option to earn half of the votes of the men’s 100 free, coming in at 21.1% after the gold medalist wasn’t even expected to be in the event prior to the Games.
Sarah Sjostrom is the world record holder in the 100 free, but had previously said she was zeroing in her focus on the 50 free for Paris, cutting out the 100 free and 100 fly. However, she ended up entering the event and soaring to victory in a time of 52.16, topping Torri Huske (52.29) and Siobhan Haughey (52.33) as pre-race favorite Mollie O’Callaghan (52.34) found herself off the podium.
The other event earning more than 10% of votes was the men’s 100 fly, where defending champion Caeleb Dressel missed the final. Dressel’s form in Paris was always in question, but he showed he could’ve fought for the gold medal in the 100 fly after his 49.4 split on the medley relay. He had the semis shortly after the final of the men’s 50 free, and had nothing in the tank on the second 50.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Which women’s NCAA team do you expect to perform best this season?
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As impressive as Pan’s time was, I voted for the women’s 100. Not only did Sjoestroem win, but the Aussies completely missed the podium. That really shocked me.
PAN IS THE MAN 🦄
The most shocking thing must be that no one was sub59 in 100 breast final. With those guys who are capable of sub59 even sub58, this is surprising.
For men’s 100 free, if Pan won 0.01s with a WR, this would have been nothing surprising.
The only sensible rumor I’ve heard is that the cameras on rails at the bottom of pool were creating a draft and they eventually stopped using them. That final being so particulalry slow though is still an enigma to me, we saw splits later on that very clearly indicated many swimmers were in better form than that…
Two doubles a day was too much for a veteran like Dressel.
We know how
TUE?
was he spying for USADA
Hard work?
Rightfully, Pan’s swim was voted the most surprising. That’s the one I never would have believed if you told me the options before the Olympics. Crazy swim. Chalmers said in the “Off the Blocks” podcast, that he thought he was coming last as all he could see was Pan’s feet. So he was very happy with silver.
Chalmers should be very pleased with his silver, even though Matty and James Magnusson on a podcast observed that he looked disappointed. Yeah, winning gold is the ultimate goal for an elite athlete, but afterward, he should realize the quality of any medal is the quality of the competition. The greater the competition, the shinier the medal becomes. I mean, who wants to win by default with run-of-the-mill competitors? (I’m not dismissing Olympic gold medals per se for anyone, as the Olympics draws the best of the best in the world of different degrees.)
For the 100m free, the field was stacked besides Pan – the world record holder, who knew before the race he could swim at least 46.6… Read more »
I still think no one breaking 59 in the men’s 100 br final was the biggest shock of the meet. Pan’s 100 was the biggest positive shock, though.
Swim of the meet beyond any reasonable doubt.