Given the Frenchman’s successes at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha and Europeans in Belgrade he entered his home Games, Paris 2024, viewed as a strong medal prospect and spoke openly about his passion to perform in front of partisan Parisian supporters.

However, despite a highly spirited swim in the Seine, Olivier (FRA), who won 10km bronze at Rio 2016, would finish seventh.

Since returning to the water, for the final three legs of the World Cup, the 28-year-old has been in strong form, finish fourth and third, before securing the overall title with a hard-fought bronze in the NEOM finale, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“I’m very happy to win the overall champion in general and in sprint,” Olivier told World Aquatics after claiming the first overall World Cup title of his career.

“For me it’s very important, as I didn’t swim very good at the Olympic Games in my country, so this is like my second chance to win a very important competition.

Olivier continues; “After the Olympics I took one and a half months off to rest my brain and body, before starting with a new group and this (result) is good ahead of next season.

“I always need to find a new target, so after the Olympics it was this (World Cup) and I did my job, but for 2025, there is Singapore (World Aquatics Championships) as well as the European Championships and then the longer goal will be the Olympics (LA 2028).”

Olivier (3100) topped the end-of-season standings, with Italian duo Dario Verani (2850) and Marcello Guidi (2558) second and third respectively, but that only tells a segment of the story.

Here World Aquatics takes a look at some of Olivier’s key moments, well as those delivered by other leading athletes in the field, during the men’s 2024 season.

How The 2024 World Cup Season Played Out

Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) have a hint of what might be to come later in the year by securing his maiden 10km World title in February, with Olivier claiming silver medals in both the 5km and 10km events, while Hector Pardoe (GBR) landed his first major honour, with 10km bronze.

Other competitors from France, Hungary and traditional powerhouses Italy all performed well, with Germany and Australia also putting in strong performances, suggesting it might be one of the most unpredictable World Cup seasons to date – and so it proved.

World Cup 1 – Soma Bay, Egypt – 23-24 March

Sprint specialists Olivier and Betlehem made their traditional strong starts in Soma Bay, but the Italians are strong in the ‘choppy’ conditions which strengthened as the race progressed.

Although they were not officially racing as a team or ‘pack’ the group worked their way to the front and Domenico Acerenza battled to the pad first, to claim only the second individual World Cup win of his career.

Countrymen Gregorio Paltrinieri and Dario Verani were second and third respectively.

Olivier was fourth and Betlehem, who took the lead in the sprint standings, fifth at the finish, with each swimmer less than two seconds off the podium places.

World Cup 2 – Golfo Aranci, Italy – 24-25 May

The second World Cup of the season would be the final opportunity for many athletes to perfect their preparations ahead of the Olympic Games and with those from host nation France particularly keen to perform in Paris, they impressed in Italy.

Betlehem (HUN) set the early pace, before being joined at the front by fellow Hungarian – and 2024 World champion – Kristof Rasovszky, with Australian’s Thomas Raymond and Nicholas Sloman as well as Marcello Guidi (ITA) close by.

Biding their time though were the French duo Olivier and Logan Fontaine, who in a sprint finish would touch first and second, with Rasovszky in third and Beltlehem fourth.

Olivier (FRA) took the lead in the series standings with 1350 points, with Betlehem second (1050) and Italian Dario Verani (950) third.

World Cup 3 – Setubal, Portugal – Oct 12

Following a break for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which saw Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) claim marathon swimming gold ahead of Germany’s Oliver Klemet, with David Betlehem (HUN) taking bronze, the World Cup season resumed.

While Klemet and Betlehem were taking time out of the sport following their exercisions in Paris, Rasovszky returned, but he was unsurprisingly a little short of his best following a post-Games break.

He would still have enough in the tank to remain competitive, but placed sixth, while at the front the Italian’s were returning to winning ways.

A strong finish from Marcello Guidi saw him power to an impressive victory, as Andrea Filadelli and Dario Verani joined him on the podium in the second Italian clean-sweep of the season.

Olivier was fourth, picking up valuable points which helped him retain the overall lead (1900) with Verani (ITA) second (1550) and team-mate Filadelli third (1500).

World Cup 4 – Hong Kong – Oct 26-27

As with the previous World Cup, there were Italian swimmers, literally battling, for the podium places in the closing stages in Hong Kong, with Verani and Guidi clashing in the closing stages and stopping just meters before the touch pad.

Both were frustrated with the other athlete’s attempt to gain an advantage, but ultimately, after what had already been an entertaining race, Guidi (ITA) allowed Verani (ITA) to touch first, with Olivier (FRA) soon coming in to take bronze.

Again, Olivier would retain the lead of the series, which he had held since the second round, but that advantage was down to just 150 over Verani (ITA), heading into the season finale.

World Cup 5 – NEOM, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – 22-23 Nov

Five athletes had the potential to claim the overall crown for the 2024 World Cup season heading into the deciding fifth leg in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but the biggest battle was likely to be between Olivier (FRA) and Verani (ITA).

In the race for victory on the day though, there was a clear favourite from the early stages as Tokyo Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock (GER) marked his first World Cup appearance of the season with a dominant display.

While others would occasionally move in close to the German, he always remained in control and would eventually ease to victory, despite the efforts of World junior champion Sacha Velly (FRA), whose strong finish would see him claim second.

Verani’s challenge for the overall title faded slightly in the closing stages, as he finished fifth, four places short of what would have been required for the win after Olivier claimed bronze.

Check out the final season rankings following all five stages of the Open Water Swimming World Cup 2024 season. 

Other Notable Performances

In addition to Olivier’s overall title and victory in the sprint contest, Matheus Melecchi (BRA) was another able to celebrate overall success at the end of the final world cup after ranking top of the Male Junior standings.

“My best memories is that I was able to stay on top and compete with athletes from Olympic level and all kinds of top competition for the entire season,” Melecchi tells World Aquatics.

“I’m enjoying the fact that I can compete head-to-head with some of the best in the world and looking forwards, as open water swimming now is bringing a lot of people from the indoor pool to the ocean we’re seeing growth in the sport and I’m very happy to be part of that.

The 19-year-old continues; “It’s my last junior year and next year I’ll be with the big people so I’m expecting to keep growing in my swimming and I’m hoping to have a great year in 2025.”