One of the most exciting swimming nights of these Olympics is in the books after Wednesday night’s record-setting races.
The evening saw a new world record, multiple new Olympic records set, an American legend put her stamp on these Games, a French hero turned into a legend and exciting editions of swimming’s most electric race.
Here are four takeaways from a big night in the pool:
Ledecky dominates once again
American legend Katie Ledecky once again created another iconic Olympic image of her just absolutely destroying her competition.
It’s a sight that has now become familiar but is nevertheless awe-inspiring. The sight of Ledecky pulling away from her competition over the 15-minute race, gradually and then seemingly all at once, can’t help making one shake their head and chuckle. She is simply on a different planet than the rest of the competitors in this race.
Ledecky broke her own Olympic record set three years ago in Tokyo by more than five seconds and finished 10 seconds ahead of France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, whose finish had the home nation fans in full voice.
After a disappointing start to the Games with a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky was clearly thrilled with her performance. She splashed the water in joy upon finishing, raised her fist in the air while still in the pool and put both arms above her head in exultation when she exited.
The American swimming superstar now owns the 20 fastest times in history in the 1500m freestyle – an astounding feat which demonstrates her utter dominance of the distance.
“I did have fun, I felt really good, I just tried to hold steady the whole time… just swim a time I could feel happy with. I’m really proud of that swim,” Ledecky said afterwards. “I’m excited for the rest of the week, I have the relay tomorrow and that’s next on the docket.”
Ledecky competes next in the 4x200 freestyle relay on Thursday.
Marchand, a new French legend
Léon Marchand entered these Olympics with high expectations and the hopes of a nation on his shoulders whenever he got in the water.
Suffice to say, he’s carrying that weight pretty well.
In his first race of the night, the 200-meter butterfly, Marchand trailed for about three-quarters of the race. But, urged on by tens of thousands of boisterous French compatriots, he exploded out of the final turn and entered the last 50 meters of the race in first, bringing whatever portions of the crowd that weren’t already standing to their feet.
Kristóf Milák had led the entire way to that point, but Marchand rode a wave of French cheers to take the lead and set a new Olympic record in the race.
During the medal ceremony, the noise for Marchand was close to overwhelming and the sound of the French crowd singing “La Marseillaise” induced goosebumps.
But he wasn’t done yet.
He never looked bothered in the 200-meter breaststroke, setting yet another Olympic record as he cruised to victory. The atmosphere in La Défense Arena was again electric as shouts of “Allez!” came up from the crowd every time Marchand surfaced during the breaststroke.
He also completed a feat that hadn’t been done in decades: winning two individual gold medals in one night. That feat had not been accomplished since the 1976 Games in Montreal.
The final singing of “La Marseillaise” of the night came with massive smiles and chants of the new French legend’s name rang around the arena during his victory lap.
First world record set in the Paris pool
The pool at La Défense Arena has been described as slow by some of the swimmers in Paris. It’s shallower than most Olympic pools, causing a bit more drag on the swimmers as they go through the water.
Multiple Olympic records had been broken at these Games, but the world records had remained intact.
Until China’s swimming superman Pan Zhanle took to the water.
Pan had already set the world record earlier this year in Doha, Qatar. But his swim on Wednesday night in Paris shattered that mark, taking almost a half-second off that time.
In the end, it was Pan’s race against himself that was most exciting. The distance between him and his nearest competitor was more than a second – an incredible distance in such a short race.
Incredible women’s 100-meter freestyle race goes down to the wire
The first race of the night was one of the quickest races on the Olympic docket and it packed a lot of drama into less than a minute.
American Torri Huske made the turn at the halfway point in the lead. Swimming in Lane 1, Huske looked set to pull off an unlikely gold medal win and was heading toward the wall with aplomb.
But in the last 25 meters of the race, Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström made her charge.
As the crowd roared – plenty of American fans were in La Défense Arena, even if it was mainly French – Sjöström simply could not be denied as the 30-year-old turned back the clock in spectacular fashion.
Sjöström hit the wall .13 seconds ahead of Huske to take home the gold, with the American having to settle for silver. She beat out bronze medalist Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey by .04 seconds.
“I have no more words,” Sjöström said post-race. “This is unbelievable. My reaction said everything. I didn’t know where I was when I finished. It took a few seconds before I saw that I won.
“I didn’t think I would swim the 100 free. After the freestyle relay the first day, I told my coach straight away, ‘I don’t think the 100 free is for me. No, I want to do the 50. I will rest until the 50.’ He was like, ‘No way. You need to go out there and see what you can do, no matter the outcome.’ The staff made my mind.
“I didn’t know exactly what I could do, and I definitely didn’t know what everyone else could do. I am proud of myself that I tried this,” she added.
