Why are they slow?
Various theories have been put forward for individually disappointing times – such as Peaty’s illness – but the wider pattern suggests a more general issue.
Loading
Most agree the issue inside La Defense Arena is the pool itself and the depth that has been used for what is a temporary structure. Olympic swimming pools are usually also used for the artistic swimming and diving, meaning they have a depth of 3 metres. The pool in Paris is being used only for the swimming and a separate Aquatics Centre has been constructed across the road from the Stade de France. This has meant that organisers can stick much closer to what was the World Aquatics minimum of 2 metres and a depth of 2.15 metres was decided upon.
The technical knock-on for the swimmers is that a shallower pool means less water – and less water means that the water bounces more quickly off the bottom and thus creates greater waves and turbulence. Such conditions are potentially most significant in the breaststroke because of the range of movement beneath the water that is required.
Freestyle and backstroke should theoretically be less impacted therefore and Matt Richards, the world and British champion in the 200 metres front crawl, for example, has said that he actually prefers shallower pools.
What has been said?
Britain’s Nick Gillingham, a double Olympic medallist in the 200 metre breaststroke, said on X: “Did pool maintenance do a back wash down the pool to speed the water up and slow down the swimmers for this race?”
Ken Ono, a data specialist who works with US swimmers, told Yahoo: “The pool is fast compared to your neighbourhood swim club. However, it is not ideal for record-setting. The shallow depth is a primary reason. I have heard from a few competitors that they have been forced to [slightly] modify their dives off the blocks.
“Could we have seen a sub-four-minute 400 IM by Marchand, or a sub-55-second 100 fly by [Olympic champion Torri] Huske and [Gretchen] Walsh [in the women’s 100m butterfly]? Honestly, perhaps we would have in other pools.”
Others have pointed out that it is still early in the swimming programme and, with some Olympic records already broken, that drawing any definite conclusions is premature.
The Telegraph, London