Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's 100-metre backstroke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
The women's 100-metre backstroke event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 29 to 30 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.
The US' Regan Smith and Australia's Kaylee McKeown were the favourites to win the event, with Canada's Kylie Masse and the US' Katharine Berkoff also likely medallists. In the heats, Spain's Carmen Weiler set her country's national record at 59.57. In the final, Smith and Masse led at the halfway point, but McKeown ended up winning the gold with a new Olympic record of 57.33. Smith won silver and Berkoff won bronze.
Remove ads
Background
The US' defending Olympic bronze medallist and 2022 World Champion Regan Smith broke the world record at the 2024 US Olympic Trials with a time of 57.13. Defending Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown from Australia held the previous world record, and won the event at the 2023 World Championships.[1] She swam 57.41 at the Australian Olympic Trials. Canada's Kylie Massewon the silver medal at the previous Olympics in the event, and she finished second at the 2023 Championships.[1] Other contenders included the US' Katharine Berkoff, who swam 57.83 at the US Trials, and Australia's Iona Anderson, who swam 58.43 at the Australian Trials.[1] Both SwimSwam and Swimming World predicted that Smith would win, McKeown would come second and Berkoff would come third.[2]
The event was held at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.[3]
Remove ads
Qualification
Summarize
Perspective
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT).[4] For this event, the OQT was 59.99 seconds. World Aquatics then filled the rest of the event places with athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT.[4][5] In total, 20 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, while 16 athletes qualified through universality places.[5]
Remove ads
Heats
Summarize
Perspective
Five heats (preliminary rounds) took place on 29 July 2024, starting at 11:13.[6][a] The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals.[7] Berkoff qualified with the fastest time of 57.99, Smith qualified in second and McKeown in third.[8] Carmen Weiler broke Spain's national record by 0.19 seconds, setting it at 59.57 to qualify.[9]
Remove ads
Semifinals
Summarize
Perspective
Two semifinals took place on 29 July, starting at 21:01.[10] The swimmers with the best eight times in the semifinals advanced to the final.[7] Smith won the first semifinal with a time of 57.97 seconds, while McKeown won the second in 57.99.[11]
Remove ads
Final
Summarize
Perspective
The final took place at 21:00 on 30 July.[12] Smith and Masse led at the 50 metre mark, both pushing off the halfway wall with a split time of 28.02. Berkoff split third with 28.05 and McKeown fourth with 28.08.[13] Over the last 50 metres, McKeown elevated herself to first to win the gold medal with a time of 57.33 seconds.[14][13] Smith won the silver with 57.66, Berkoff won bronze with 57.98 and Masse finished fourth.[13]
Smith spent the longest underwater and had the fastest average underwater pace,[b] while McKeown had the fastest pace during the non-underwater sections. McKeown did 70 strokes throughout the race,[c] which was the least of the top 4 swimmers; Masse did 75, Smith did 76 and Berkoff did 77.[13]
McKeown's winning time of 57.33 broke her own Olympic Record from Tokyo, matched her former world record in the event and won her her fourth gold medal.[15][16] She later went on to win the 200 metre backstroke as well, which made her the first swimmer to win both the 100 metre and 200 metre backstroke events at consecutive Olympics.[17][18] Later at the Paris Games, Smith broke McKeown's Olympic record with a time of 57.28, which she swam in the opening leg of the women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay.[19] Berkoff's bronze was the US' 3000th Olympic medal, and their 600th swimming medal.[20]
Remove ads
Notes
- All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
- Each half circumduction of the arm in backstroke counts as one stroke.
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads