With a third of the swimming program at Paris 2024 already complete, World Aquatics looks back at some of the top moments from the first three days of racing at Paris La Defense Arena.
Marchons Marchand!
We’ve gone from an Olympic Games with no spectators to possibly the most boisterous crowd and rapturous applause ever heard at an Olympic Pool. Night two at Paris La Defense Arena, which could well have been Leon Marchand Arena, was all about the 22 year-old Frenchman. From the moment the lights dimmed to open the session, to the walkout, the race, and the national anthem, the ‘Leon Fever’ was deafening. As for the race, it was over from the get go, with Marchand winning by the greatest margin in the history of the event – 5.67 seconds.
It’s Budapest 2022 on repeat
The first three days of racing at Paris La Defense arena has delivered five first-time Olympic champions in the male individual events. David Popovici (200m Freestyle), Lukas Maertens (400m Freestyle), Thomas Ceccon (100m Backstroke), Nicolo Martinenghi (100m Breaststroke), and Leon Marchand (400m Individual Medley), all won their first career Olympic gold medals in a near identical set of results to the World Aquatics Championships at Budapest 2022. Of the five winners over the first three days of competition, only Maertens didn’t win that event at Budapest 2022 – finishing second to Elijah Winnington.
Return of the Emerald Isle
Ireland is back on the Olympic podium for the first time in twenty-eight years. Mona McSharry’s bronze in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke was the nation’s first Olympic swimming medal since Michelle Smith’s four medal-haul at Atlanta 1996. Should Daniel Wiffen end up on the dais in either the 800m or 1500m Freestyle here in Paris it will be the first time ever two Irish swimmers have medalled in the pool at the same Olympic Games.
Trials World Record Breakers miss out in Paris
Three World Records were broken across the Australian and United States of America’s Olympic selection trials last month. However so far in Paris, it hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the sport’s newest record holders. Ariarne Titmus clocked a new world mark of 1:52.23 at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre in June but could only deliver a 1:53.81 on night three of racing in Paris to touch second behind teammate Mollie O’Callaghan. Similarly, Gretchen Walsh, who set the Indianapolis trials alight on night one of racing with a new world record of 55.18 in the semi-finals of the 100m Butterfly, touched in 55.63 on Sunday, also behind fellow teammate Torri Huske.
La Vita e Bella for Team Italy
In twenty-five appearances at the Olympic Games through to Tokyo 2020, the Italian male swim team had returned an overall total of four individual Olympic gold medals. By night three in Paris, that number had swelled to six. Thomas Ceccon’s win in the Men’s 100m Backstroke and Nicolo Martinenghi’s gold in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke now puts the Azzuri ahead of the United States of America for individual medals won in the pool at Paris 2024.
Titmus emulates the great Dawn Fraser
Ariarne Titmus’s win in the 400m Freestyle on the opening night of racing makes her just the second female Australian swimmer to defend an Olympic title. Dawn Fraser defended her 100m Freestyle title at Rome 1960, and again at Tokyo 1964. While claiming a little piece of Australian Olympic history, Titmus was unable to defend her 200m Freestyle on night three, and fascinatingly the Olympic streak continues of no male or female swimmer ever going back-to-back in the four-lap swim.
Fingernail Finishes
The first three nights of racing delivered two of the tightest podiums in recent times. The Men’s 200m Freestyle podium was separated by just 0.07 seconds from gold to bronze, and the Men’s 100m Breaststroke top three were split by just 0.02 seconds. Torri Huske, having missed a medal in the Women’s 100m Butterfly in Tokyo by 0.01, edged past teammate Gretchen Walsh on the wall on night three in Paris by just 0.04.