Wrapping up the last prelims session, four highly anticipated events were contested for the first time this meet, with the women’s 50 freestyle, men’s 1500 freestyle, and both medley relays. Big names like Sarah Sjostrom, Gretchen Walsh, Bobby Finke, Daniel Wiffen, and many more are all looking to add to their medal collections with the finals of these events on Sunday night. This was one of the fastest sessions we’ve seen as well, with every qualification time being faster than both the Tokyo and Rio qualification times.
PRELIMS SWIMS
WOMEN’S 50 FREESTYLE
- Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden: 23.85
- Katarzyna Wasick, Poland: 24.27
- Gretchen Walsh, United States: 24.37
- Shayna Jack, Australia: 24.38
- Meg Harris, Australia: 24.50
- Zhang Yufei, China: 24.54
- Michelle Coleman, Sweden: 24.55
- Wu Qingfeng, China/Taylor Ruck, Canada: 24.57
- ^tie for eighth
- Beryl Gastaldello, France: 24.60
- Julie Jensen, Denmark/Neza Klancar, Slovenia: 24.64
- ^tie for 11th
- Sara Curtis, Italy: 24.67
- Florine Gaspard, Belgium: 24.69
- Anna Hopkin, Great Britain/Valerie van Roon, Netherlands: 24.72
- ^tie for 15th
- Time to Qualify: 24.72
- Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 24.82
- Time to Qualify (Rio): 24.82
Returning Olympic Medalists:
- Sarah Sjostrom (Silver, Tokyo)
Returning Tokyo Finalists:
- Sarah Sjostrom (2), Katarzyna Wasick (5), Wu Qingfeng (5)
Current International Record Holders:
- Sarah Sjostrom (World and European Record: 23.61)
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom had a dominant swim in the prelims of the women’s 50 freestyle this morning, earning the top time of 23.85– nearly half a second faster than the next qualifier. The veteran of the sport already has a Paris gold medal under her belt in the 100 freestyle, and she’s well-positioned to complete the sprint freestyle double and take home her second win of the meet. Many of these names that have qualified for the semifinals have found already found great success in this meet, including Gretchen Walsh, a silver medalist in the 100 fly and 400 freestyle relay, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack, two Australian women part of their gold-medal winning relays (Jack on both the 800 and 400 freestyle relays, Harris on just the 400), and Zhang Yufei, the three-time bronze medalist at these games, swimming the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, and 400 freestyle relay for China. Of these 16 swimmers, 13 countries are represented across four continents.
MEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE
- Daniel Wiffen, Ireland: 14:40.34
- Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy: 14:42.56
- Ahmed Jaouadi, Tunisia: 14:44.20
- David Aubry, France: 14:44.90
- Kuzey Tuncelli, Turkey: 14:45.27
- Bobby Finke, United States: 14:45.31
- Damien Joly, France: 14:45.52
- David Betlehem, Hungary: 14:45.59
- Time to Qualify: 14:45.59
- Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 14:52.66
- Time to Qualify (Rio): 14:55.40
Returning Olympic Medalists:
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (Gold, Rio)
- Bobby Finke (Gold, Tokyo)
Returning Tokyo Finalists:
- Bobby Finke (1), Gregorio Paltrinieri (4)
Current International Record Holders:
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (European Record, 14:32.80)
- Bobby Finke (Americas Record, 14:31.59)
- Kuzey Tuncelli (World Junior Record, 14:41.89)
Capping off individual swimming at the Paris Olympics, the men’s 1500 freestyle will be the last individual event contested at this year’s games. It will be the last chance for the United States men to win an individual gold medal, with Bobby Finke looking to repeat his win from the Tokyo Olympics. However, Finke won’t be the only Olympic gold medalist looking to earn another, with Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen trying to win the distance double after clinching the 800 win, and Gregorio Paltrinieri looking to reclaim his gold medal from the Rio Olympics. This is by far the fastest time we’ve seen for a finals spot, with David Betlehem’s 14:45.59 at a full seven seconds faster than the eighth place qualifier in Tokyo.
MEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY
- France: 3:31.36
- China: 3:31.58
- United States: 3:31.62
- Netherlands: 3:31.80
- Great Britain: 3:32.13
- Australia: 3:32.24
- Canada: 3:32.33
- Germany: 3:32.51
- Time to Qualify: 3:32.51
- Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 3:32.37
- Time to Qualify (Rio): 3:33.67
Returning Olympic Medalists (Tokyo/Rio):
- United States (Gold, Tokyo/Rio)
- Great Britain (Silver, Tokyo/Rio)
- Australia (Bronze, Rio)
Returning Tokyo Finalists:
- United States (1), Great Britain (2), Australia (5), Canada (7), China (DQ)
Current International Record Holders:
- United States (World, Olympic, and Americas Record: 3:26.78)
- Great Britain (European and Commonwealth Record: 3:27.51)*
- Australia (Oceanian Record: 3:28.64)
- China (Asian Record: 3:27.01)
*Italy and Great Britain are tied for the 4×100 Men’s Medley Relay European Record.
Always a very exciting race to watch, both of the medley relay prelims did not disappoint this morning. The top eight nations in the men’s race are only separated by 1.15 seconds, with the top seven all being within a second of each other. France continued their streak of consistently strong swims, earning the top spot going into tomorrow night’s final by around 0.2 seconds. The United States will likely change most of their relay going into the finals, and they’ll need everything they have to offer if they want to take home a definitive win in this event. China is in a comfortable second slot right now, even despite world-record holder Pan Zhanle only splitting a 47.74 anchoring for the relay. We’ve seen some impressively strong swims out of Pan this meet, and I’m anticipating another strong split out of Pan tomorrow night. Defending bronze medalists Italy did not advance to the finals, placing ninth.
WOMEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY
- Australia: 3:54.81
- Canada: 3:56.10
- China: 3:56.34
- United States: 3:56.40
- Japan: 3:56.52
- Sweden: 3:57.33
- France: 3:57.40
- Netherlands: 3:57.48
- Time to Qualify: 3:57.48
- Time to Qualify (Tokyo): 3:57.70
- Time to Qualify (Rio): 3:59.34
Returning Olympic Medalists (Tokyo/Rio):
- Australia (Gold, Tokyo; Silver, Rio)
- United States (Silver, Tokyo; Gold, Rio)
- Canada (Bronze, Tokyo)
Returning Tokyo Finalists:
- Australia (1), United States (2), Canada (3), China (4), Sweden (5), Japan (8)
Current International Record Holders:
- United States (World, Olympic*, and Americas Record: 3:50.40, 3:52.05*)
- Australia (Oceanian and Commonwealth Record: 3:51.60)
- China (Asian Record: 3:52.19)
Ending off this session with a bang, this is the fourth event out of four where we saw a faster qualification time than in any previous Olympics. The Netherlands’ eighth-place time of 3:57.48 was 0.22 seconds faster than the time it took to qualify for the finals in Tokyo, and was nearly two seconds faster than the eighth-place time in Rio. The United States and Australia each have a gold and a silver from the previous two Olympic games, with the United States looking to reclaim the title and Australia looking to defend their Tokyo gold. Both teams will likely swap out the majority of their relays for finals tomorrow night, so expect some much faster times.
FASTEST SPLITS
Women’s Backstroke
- Iona Anderson, Australia: 58.67
- Katharine Berkoff, United States: 58.98
- Emma Terebo, France: 59.16
Men’s Backstroke
- Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, France: 52.99
- Hunter Armstrong, United States: 53.26
- Oliver Morgan, Great Britain: 53.21
Women’s Breaststroke
- Mona McSharry, Ireland: 1:05.38
- Angharad Evans, Great Britain: 1:05.40
- Satomi Suzuki, Japan: 1:05.52
Men’s Breaststroke
- Qin Haiyang, China: 58.51
- Caspar Corbeau, Netherlands: 58.94
- Joshua Yong, Australia: 58.99
Women’s Butterfly
- Hirai Mizuki, Japan: 56.32
- Alexandria Perkins, Australia: 56.59
- Yu Yiting, China: 56.60
Men’s Butterfly
- Nyls Korstanje, Netherlands: 50.27
- Ilya Kharun, Canada: 50.40
- Luca Armbruster, Germany: 51.01
Women’s Freestyle
- Marrit Steenbergen, Netherlands: 52.40
- Kate Douglass, United States: 52.71
- Meg Harris, Australia: 52.76
Men’s Freestyle
- Shane Ryan, Ireland: 47.21
- Jack Alexy, United States: 47.48
- Pan Zhanle, China: 47.74
NATIONAL RECORDS
David Betlehem, Hungary, 1500 Freestyle: 14:45.59
- Betlehem, placing third in the fourth heat of the men’s 1500 freestyle this morning, swam to a lifetime best and new Hungarian national record in the event. He took 0.09 seconds off of Gergo Kis’ supersuited record from the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Ireland, Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay: 3:33.81
- Connor Ferguson, Darragh Greene, Max McCusker, and Shane Ryan took down the Irish national record in the men’s 4×100 medley relay in a new time of 3:33.81. Shane Ryan’s freestyle split of 47.21 was the fastest in the field, closing out the Irish relay to finish them 11th overall. The previous Irish record was a 3:34.62, set in May of 2021 at the European Championships in Budapest.
Ireland, Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay: 4:00.12
- Supplemented greatly by Mona McSharry’s 1:05.38 breaststroke split, the Irish women took home a new national record of their own just minutes after the men did the same. The team of Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe, Grace Davison swam a time of 4:00.12, breaking the previous record of 4:01.25, set in 2023 at the Fukuoka World Championships.
Note: for the following swimmers, there are seemingly little to no officially-recognized national records on World Aquatics’ website or elsewhere. These universality swimmers swam faster than their seed times, and there are no accessible records of any faster swims for their countries.
- Divine Miansadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 50 Free: 44.10
- Naima-Zahra Amison, Djibouti, 50 Free: 33.69
- Djenabou Jolie Bah, Guinea, 50 Free: 31.90
- Lina Alemayehu Selo, Ethiopia, 50 Free: 31.87
- Grace Manuela Nguelo’o Mabeu, Cameroon, 50 Free: 30.98
- Imelda Ximenes Belo, East Timor, 50 Free: 32.48
- Maesha Saadi, Comoros, 50 Free: 33.05
- Jasmine Schofield, Dominica, 50 Free: 29.91
- Lois Eliora Irishura, Burundi, 50 Free: 29.63
- Ekaterina Bordachyova, Tajikistan, 50 Free: 28.85
- Noelie Annette Lacour, Gabon, 50 Free: 27.68
- Loane Russet, Vanuatu, 50 Free: 28.86
- Ionnah Eliane Douillet, Benin, 50 Free: 27.64
- Jovana Kuljaca, Montenegro, 50 Free: 27.19
- Christina Rach, Eritrea, 50 Free: 27.20
- Adaku Nwandu, Nigeria, 50 Free: 26.62
- Elizaveta Pecherskikh, Kyrgyzstan, 50 Free: 26.26
- Antsa Rabejaona, Madagascar, 50 Free: 27.12
- Maria Brunlehner, Kenya, 50 Free: 25.82