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PARIS — In the men’s 100-meter breaststroke final at the 2024 Olympics on Sunday, eight world-class swimmers glided into a pool … and not a single one would have finished better than eighth at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
In the “Race of the Century” held a night earlier, the women’s 400m freestyle, three former world record holders all fell far short of their personal bests; Katie Ledecky failed to even break the 4-minute mark.
After two cacophonous days of swimming here at Paris La Défense Arena, no world records have been broken and murmurs have been running through the sport: is the pool the problem?
If so, many believe the specific problem lies in its depth.
World Aquatics, the global governing body for swimming, recommends that Olympic pools be 3 metres deep. The pool here in the Paris suburbs – a temporary facility installed in a rugby stadium, similar to the one built at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for last month’s US Olympic trials – is 2.15 metres deep. That’s deeper than the 2-metre minimum that was still in place when the Paris 2024 plans were approved, but below World Aquatics’ new 2.5-metre minimum.
The even more specific problem is that in shallower pools, the water that swimmers displace with their strokes can essentially bounce off the bottom of the pool and make the next 50 meters of a 100-meter swim “wavy” or choppy.
On the other hand, the greater the depth, the less the impact. Some experts believe that deeper pools maximize performance.
These same people often describe shallower pools with an adjective that laypeople might never associate with a pool: “slow.”
Some have said that breaststroke, in particular, is susceptible to “undulating” turbulence.
Others say the impact is marginal or negligible. When asked last May what the difference was between 10 feet and 8 feet — the depth of the U.S. Olympic trials pool — John Ireland, director of technical services for Myrtha Pools in the U.S., said, “Nothing.”
“A lot of it is perception versus reality,” he said. “If you were to talk to a lot of very experienced coaches, they would tell you that the pool should be at least 10 feet deep. Most of our research shows that anything over 6 feet is frivolous. … Obviously, a certain depth is very important. But beyond a certain point, the performance diminishes.”
But what, if not depth, could explain a 100-meter breaststroke final in which no swimmer broke the 59-second barrier? (The world record is 56.88.)
What would explain why five of the seven races produced a winner slower than the winner of the 2023 world championships?
What would explain why neither the French phenomenon Léon Marchand, nor the American star Gretchen Walsh, nor dozens of others, have been able to beat their own personal record?
“Not ideal for setting a record”
Ken Ono, a data scientist who works with American swimmers, agrees with the prevailing theory. “The pool is fast compared to your local swim club. However, it’s not ideal for setting records,” he told Yahoo Sports via email. “The shallow depth is one of the main reasons. I’ve heard from a few competitors that they’ve had to (slightly) change their dives off the blocks.”
He said and reiterated that the “athletic performances were breathtaking in every way.” But, he speculated: “Could we have seen Marchand do a 400m medley in under 4 minutes, or a 100m in under 55 seconds by (Olympic champion Torri) Huske and Walsh? Honestly, maybe we would have done it in other pools.”
Swimmers also spoke of the slow pace of the competition. “It’s a strange competition, time-wise,” Adam Peaty, Britain’s 100m breaststroke world record holder, said of the event.
The Italian who beat Peaty to gold in Sunday’s 100m breaststroke final, Nicolò Martinenghi, said: “The time wasn’t fast for anyone; we talked about it among ourselves.” He wasn’t sure why.
“But I don’t care,” he continued. “I’m an Olympic champion. Today I was the fastest, that’s enough for me.”
Others took a similar approach to questions about the quality of the pool. American freestyler Paige Madden, when asked, first smiled and said, “You know… honestly, it’s hard to say. I think the results will show as the competition goes on.” More importantly, she added, “we’re all in this together. Times don’t matter. What matters is the Olympic berth.”
Katie Grimes, after her first swim on Monday morning, said: “I don’t know, a lot of people say they don’t like the feeling of the pool. Honestly, I don’t feel any different. Sure, times have been slower, but everyone is in the same boat, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Several coaches and officials cautioned that the competition was still young, having been held only two days earlier. Reached by phone Monday, Ireland also noted, “Three Olympic records were set in two days.” He added that Myrtha, the industry leader that built the U.S. trial pool and the one in Paris, was “pretty confident that this is a great example of an Olympic pool.” He’s certain that at some point, world records will be broken.
And while the best times fell short of expectations, on average four of the seven finals were faster than the equivalent race in Tokyo; four of the seven were faster than last summer’s world championships.
Some might expect six or seven of the seven to be faster, given the sport’s broader “swim-flation,” progression and acceleration.
But several factors could also explain the relatively disappointing times. Walsh spoke of the “pressure” of breaking a world record. Coaches said the venue could be “intimidating.” Dozens of swimmers said it was the loudest atmosphere they had ever experienced.
There are also the external challenges that complicate every Olympics but seem even greater here in Paris: food frustrations, doping controls, media responsibilities, transportation chaos and more. “Living in the Olympic Village makes it difficult to perform,” Ariarne Titmus of Australia said Sunday. “It’s definitely not designed for high performance.”
However, the prevailing opinion among athletes seems to be that all this talk of a “slow” pool is a bit ridiculous.
“I mean, the pool is 50 metres and it has 10 lanes,” said Canada’s Summer McIntosh, the favourite in Monday’s women’s 400 individual medley. “It’s an Olympic pool. I don’t think an Olympic pool can be called slow. Regardless, everyone’s racing in the same pool. It doesn’t matter if it’s the fastest pool in the world or the slowest pool in the world, I have the same goals.”