The men's 400 free saw a greater range today as the winning time was faster but the 8th place finisher was slower than in Tokyo. Current photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography
This morning saw questions on whether or not the Olympic pool in Paris is “slow.” How does every result from today’s action compare to Tokyo, did 4th place get slower in some events?
Overall, finals had a more positive result and got faster this year compared to Tokyo at the top. Prelims was slower in five out of the six events this morning for the top seed while tonight, the top finisher was slower in 3 out of 6 events.
The data has mixed results throughout all of the results. The men’s 400 freestyle had a greater range in the top 8 tonight and was faster at the top but slower at the bottom. The men’s 100 breast was slower top to bottom. The women’s 100 fly was faster top to bottom while the women’s 400 free was slower at the time and faster at the bottom, resulting in a smaller range.
Prelims data saw almost every event get slower at the top. The only event that was faster in Paris this morning was the women’s 4×100 free relay as the Australians posted a 3:31.57. The largest difference in the top seed came in the women’s 400 free as Katie Ledecky was 1.74 seconds slower today than in Tokyo, posting the top times in both prelims sessions.
Although the top times were slower, the times that it took to move onto semifinals and finals did not see as big of a fall off. All six of the times from the morning that it took to move on either got faster or were within less than half of a second of what it took in Tokyo. The men’s 100 breast was the biggest difference as it was 0.32 slower this year than in Tokyo while the women’s 400 free saw the biggest drop of 0.24 seconds.
FINALS CHARTS
Men’s 400 Free
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Name
Country
Time
1
Ahmed Hafnaoui
Tunisia
3:43.36
1
Lukas Märtens
GER
3:41.78
2
Jack McLoughlin
Australia
3:43.52
2
Elijah Winnington
AUS
3:42.28
3
Kieran Smith
United States
3:43.94
3
Kim Woo-Min
KOR
3:42.50
4
Henning Mühlleitner
Germany
3:44.07
4
Sam Short
AUS
3:42.64
Felix Auböck
Austria
3:44.07
5
Guilherme Costa
BRA
3:42.76
6
Gabriele Detti
Italy
3:44.88
6
Fei Liwei
CHN
3:44.24
7
Elijah Winnington
Australia
3:45.20
7
Oliver Klemet
GER
3:46.59
8
Jake Mitchell
United States
3:45.39
8
Aaron Shackell
USA
3:47.00
Men’s 100 Breast
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Name
Country
Time
1
Adam Peaty
Great Britain
57.63
1
Adam Peaty
GBR
58.86
2
Arno Kamminga
Netherlands
58.19
2
Qin Haiyang
CHN
58.93
3
Nicolò Martinenghi
Italy
58.28
3
Arno Kamminga
NED
59.12
4
Yan Zibei
China
58.72
4
Nic Fink
USA
59.16
5
Michael Andrew
United States
58.99
5
Caspar Corbeau
NED
59.24
6
James Wilby
Great Britain
59
6
Nicolo Martinenghi
ITA
59.28
7
Ilya Shymanovich
Belarus
59.08
7
Lucas Matzerath
GER
59.31
8
Andrew Wilson
United States
59.18
8
Melvin Imoudu
GER
59.38*
8
Ludovico Viberti
ITA
59.38*
Men’s 4×100 Free Relay
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Nation
Time
Rank
Country
Time
1
United States
3:08.97
1
United States
3:09.28
2
Italy
3:10.11
2
Australia
3:10.35
3
Australia
3:10.22
3
Italy
3:10.70
4
Canada
3:10.82
4
China
3:11.28
5
Hungary
3:11.06
5
Great Britain
3:11.61
6
France
3:11.09
6
Canada
3:12.18
7
ROC
3:12.20
7
Germany
3:12.29
8
Brazil
3:13.41
8
Hungary
3:13.11
Women’s 100 Fly
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Name
Country
Time
1
Zhang Yufei
China
55.89
1
Gretchen Walsh
USA
55.38
2
Marie Wattel
France
56.16
2
Torri Huske
USA
56
3
Emma McKeon
Australia
56.33
3
Zhang Yufei
CHN
56.15
4
Sarah Sjöström
Sweden
56.4
4
Angelina Kohler
GER
56.55
5
Torri Huske
United States
56.51
4
Maggie MacNeil
CAN
56.55
6
Maggie Mac Neil
Canada
56.56
6
Emma McKeon
AUS
56.74
7
Louise Hansson
Sweden
56.92
7
Mizuki Hirai
JPN
56.8
8
Anastasiya Shkurdai
Belarus
57.19
8
Louise Hansson
SWE
56.93
Women’s 400 Free
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Name
Country
Time
1
Ariarne Titmus
Australia
3:56.69
1
Ariarne Titmus
AUS
3:57.49
2
Katie Ledecky
United States
3:57.36
2
Summer McIntosh
CAN
3:58.37
3
Li Bingjie
China
4:01.08
3
Katie Ledecky
USA
4:00.86
4
Summer McIntosh
Canada
4:02.42
4
Erika Fairweather
NZL
4:01.12
5
Tang Muhan
China
4:04.10
5
Isabel Gose
GER
4:02.14
6
Isabel Gose
Germany
4:04.98
6
Paige Madden
USA
4:02.26
7
Paige Madden
United States
4:06.81
7
M.F Costa
BRA
4:03.53
8
Erika Fairweather
New Zealand
4:08.01
8
Jamie Perkins
AUS
4:04.96
Women’s 4×100 Free Relay
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Nation
Time
Rank
Country
Time
1
Australia
3:29.69
1
Australia
3:28.92
2
Canada
3:32.78
2
USA
3:30.20
3
United States
3:32.81
3
China
3:30.30
4
Netherlands
3:33.70
4
Canada
3:32.99
5
Great Britain
3:33.96
5
Sweden
3:33.79
6
Sweden
3:34.69
6
France
3:34.99
7
China
3:34.76
7
Great Britain
3:35.25
8
Denmark
3:35.70
8
Italy
3:36.51
PRELIMS CHARTS
Men’s 400 Free, Prelims
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
1
Henning Mühlleitner
Germany
3:43.67
1
Lukas Martens
GER
3:44.13
2
Felix Auböck
Austria
3:43.91
2
Guilherme Costa
BRA
3:44.23
3
Gabriele Detti
Italy
3:44.67
3
Fei Liwei
CHN
3:44.60
4
Elijah Winnington
Australia
3:45.20
4
Elijah Winnington
AUS
3:44.87
4
Jack McLoughlin
Australia
3:45.20
4
Sam Short
AUS
3:44.88
6
Kieran Smith
United States
3:45.25
6
Aaron Shackell
USA
3:45.45
7
Jake Mitchell
United States
3:45.38
7
Kim Woomin
KOR
3:45.52
8
Ahmed Hafnaoui
Tunisia
3:45.68
8
Oliver Klemet
GER
3:45.75
Men’s 100 Breast Prelims
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Name
Country
Time
1
Adam Peaty
Great Britain
57.56
1
Caspar Corbeau
NED
59.04
2
Arno Kamminga
Netherlands
57.8
2
Adam Peaty
GBR
59.18
3
Michael Andrew
United States
58.62
3
Ilya Shymanovich
NIA
59.25
4
Nicolò Martinenghi
Italy
58.68
4
Nicolo Martinenghi
ITA
59.39
5
Yan Zibei
China
58.75
4
Arno Kamminga
NED
59.39
6
James Wilby
Great Britain
58.99
6
James Wilby
GBR
59.4
7
Andrew Wilson
United States
59.03
7
Melvin Imoudu
GER
59.49
8
Felipe Lima
Brazil
59.17
8
Lucas Matzerath
GER
59.52
9
Ilya Shymanovich
Belarus
59.33
9
Qin Haiyang
CHN
59.58
Federico Poggio
Italy
59.33
10
Nic Fink
USA
59.66
11
Lucas Matzerath
Germany
59.4
11
Bernard Reitshammer
AUT
59.68
Ryuya Mura
Japan
59.4
12
Joshua Yong
AUS
59.75
13
Andrius Šidlauskas
Lithuania
59.46
13
Evgenii Somov
NIA
59.83
14
Fabian Schwingenschlögl
Germany
59.49
14
Charlie Swanson
USA
59.92
15
Anton Chupkov
ROC
59.55
15
Ludovico Viberti
ITA
59.93
16
Kirill Prigoda
ROC
59.68
16
Ron Polonsky
ISR
1:00.00
Men’s 4×100 Free Relay, Prelims
Rank
Nation
Time
Rank
Nation
Time
1
Italy
3:10.29
1
China
3:11.62
2
United States
3:11.33
2
Australia
3:12.25
3
Australia
3:11.89
3
Great Britain
3:12.49
4
France
3:12.35
4
USA
3:12.61
5
Brazil
3:12.59
5
Canada
3:12.77
6
Hungary
3:12.73
6
Italy
3:12.94
7
Canada
3:13.00
7
Hungary
3:12.96
8
ROC
3:13.13
8
Germany
3:13.15
Women’s 400 Free, Prelims
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Name
Country
Time
1
Katie Ledecky
United States
4:00.45
1
Katie Ledecky
USA
4:02.19
2
Li Bingjie
China
4:01.57
2
Ariarne Titmus
AUS
4:02.46
3
Ariarne Titmus
Australia
4:01.66
3
Erika Fairweather
NZL
4:02.55
4
Erika Fairweather
New Zealand
4:02.28
4
Summer McIntosh
CAN
4:02.65
5
Summer McIntosh
Canada
4:02.72
5
Jamie Perkins
AUS
4:03.30
6
Isabel Gose
Germany
4:03.21
6
Paige Madden
USA
4:03.34
7
Paige Madden
United States
4:03.98
7
Maria Fernanda Costa
BRA
4:03.47
8
Tang Muhan
China
4:04.07
8
Isabel Gose
GER
4:03.83
Women’s 100 Butterfly, Prelims
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Swimmer
Nation
Time
Rank
Name
Country
Time
1
Zhang Yufei
China
55.82
1
Zhang Yufei
CHN
56.5
Emma McKeon
Australia
55.82
2
Mizuki Hirai
JPN
56.71
3
Sarah Sjöström
Sweden
56.18
3
Torri Huske
USA
56.72
4
Torri Huske
United States
56.29
4
Gretchen Walsh
USA
56.75
5
Maggie Mac Neil
Canada
56.55
5
Emma McKeon
AUS
56.79
6
Louise Hansson
Sweden
56.97
6
Angelina Koehler
GER
56.9
7
Anastasiya Shkurdai
Belarus
56.99
7
Maggie MacNeil
CAN
57
8
Marie Wattel
France
57.08
8
Alexandria Perkins
AUS
57.46
9
Elena Di Liddo
Italy
57.41
9
Barbora Seemanova
CZE
57.5
10
Claire Curzan
United States
57.49
10
Marie Wattel
FRA
57.54
11
Katerine Savard
Canada
57.51
10
Roos Vanotterdijk
BEL
57.54
12
Ilaria Bianchi
Italy
57.7
12
Louise Hansson
SWE
57.57
13
Anna Ntountounaki
Greece
57.75
13
Erin Gallagher
RSA
57.8
14
Arina Surkova
ROC
58.02
14
Rikako Ikee
JPN
57.82
15
Svetlana Chimrova
ROC
58.04
15
Tessa Giele
NED
57.89
16
Brianna Throssell
Australia
58.08
16
Keanna MacInnes
GBR
57.9
Women’s 4×100 Free Relay, Prelims
Tokyo
Paris
Rank
Nation
Time
Rank
Country
Time
1
Australia
3:31.73
1
Australia
3:31.57
2
Netherlands
3:33.51
2
USA
3:33.29
3
Canada
3:33.72
3
China
3:34.31
4
Great Britain
3:34.03
4
Sweden
3:34.35
5
United States
3:34.80
5
France
3:35.25
6
China
3:35.07
6
Canada
3:35.29
7
Denmark
3:35.56
7
Great Britain
3:36.13
8
Sweden
3:35.93
8
Italy
3:36.28
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Awsi Dooger
3 months ago
I wouldn’t expect Los Angeles to be a deep pool, if they are scrambling to put it together above a football field in less than a week. Seemingly that lends toward the minimums, unless great emphasis and pressure is applied throughout the process.
Why is there even that big of a range on accepted depth? It’s really annoying to have a slow pool at the Olympics… 4 years of training and planning for these athletes to be at their top… and then like- no a/c… let’s just Guinea pig the athletes- we think it’s gonna be fine. The let’s make the pool 2m deep instead of 3… good enough right?
I just don’t get it
Greg17815
3 months ago
Looking at all the times today, it all starts to make sense if you subtract about .5 per 100. Gretchen, Lucas, and Pan would have WRs, Aussie women and American men break the relay records. Men’s breastroke would still be on the slow side but not egregious like it is now. The top 4 women’s 400 freestylers were about 2 seconds off what you’d expect.
I would bet there won’t be a single WR this meet. If there is, it will be a truly extraordinary swim.
There could be a record in a short event. A variable like that will have greatest impact the longer it’s attached
Josh
3 months ago
Comparing to the last Olympics is hardly useful in trying to determine if the pool is slow- that was 3 years ago- compare to world championships 23/24, trials, etc and it’s obvious.
Facts
3 months ago
100 breast was egregiously slow. Every other event was maybe slightly slow but nothing too bad
Maybe there’s a really nasty wave on the way back. The first 50 splits of Peaty/Qin weren’t too bad and on brand with their 57-58 low times but they had pretty slow last 50s
If the issue is that a shallower pool causes more waves, then maybe that’s why? Breaststroke, being the slowest stroke and the most technical, is the most susceptible to disturbance IMO.
What’s also interesting is that it appears to be the middle lanes which are seemingly more impacted by the waves than the outside waves. A number of swimmers today went quicker when they had an outside lane compared to in the middle.
Now watch Martinenghi claim a gold based off this theory!
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 …
I wouldn’t expect Los Angeles to be a deep pool, if they are scrambling to put it together above a football field in less than a week. Seemingly that lends toward the minimums, unless great emphasis and pressure is applied throughout the process.
It’s been said many many times that the pool will already be in place and will have a cover over it for the opening ceremony.
this is the first olympics since 1992 to not have a wr in the first 2 sessions
2024: none
2020: w4x100 free
2016: m100 breast, w400 im, w4x100 free
2012: w400 im
2008: m400 im, w400 im
2004: m400 im, w4x100 free
2000: m100 free, m400 free, m4x100 free, w400 im, w4x100 free
1996: m100 breast
1992: none
Why is there even that big of a range on accepted depth? It’s really annoying to have a slow pool at the Olympics… 4 years of training and planning for these athletes to be at their top… and then like- no a/c… let’s just Guinea pig the athletes- we think it’s gonna be fine. The let’s make the pool 2m deep instead of 3… good enough right?
I just don’t get it
Looking at all the times today, it all starts to make sense if you subtract about .5 per 100. Gretchen, Lucas, and Pan would have WRs, Aussie women and American men break the relay records. Men’s breastroke would still be on the slow side but not egregious like it is now. The top 4 women’s 400 freestylers were about 2 seconds off what you’d expect.
I would bet there won’t be a single WR this meet. If there is, it will be a truly extraordinary swim.
There could be a record in a short event. A variable like that will have greatest impact the longer it’s attached
Comparing to the last Olympics is hardly useful in trying to determine if the pool is slow- that was 3 years ago- compare to world championships 23/24, trials, etc and it’s obvious.
100 breast was egregiously slow. Every other event was maybe slightly slow but nothing too bad
Any theories why breastroke in particular is slower here? Most of the key contenders are all around .7 to 2 seconds off their PBs heading into final.
Maybe there’s a really nasty wave on the way back. The first 50 splits of Peaty/Qin weren’t too bad and on brand with their 57-58 low times but they had pretty slow last 50s
Interesting! And breaststroke vs other strokes generally creates more waves in the pool?
If the issue is that a shallower pool causes more waves, then maybe that’s why? Breaststroke, being the slowest stroke and the most technical, is the most susceptible to disturbance IMO.
What’s also interesting is that it appears to be the middle lanes which are seemingly more impacted by the waves than the outside waves. A number of swimmers today went quicker when they had an outside lane compared to in the middle.
Now watch Martinenghi claim a gold based off this theory!
I think this is a good call
Swim-flation is equalized by a slow pool