Swimming at the Summer Olympic Games Paris 2024

[Benolympique 2,398]

[Benolympique 2,398]

[Benolympique 2,398]

[Topicmaster1010 4,166]

Qualified Relays

[PHI2019 262]

World Aquatics drops Lithuanian 4 x 200 free relay due to Olympic quota

 

https://swimswam.com/world-aquatics-drops-lithuanianmens-4x200freerelay-due-to-olympic-quota/

[Bearas 521]

40 minutes ago, PHI2019 said:

World Aquatics drops Lithuanian 4 x 200 free relay due to Olympic quota

 

https://swimswam.com/world-aquatics-drops-lithuanianmens-4x200freerelay-due-to-olympic-quota/

This is such a major blow! We had such a competitive relay and now we will have to let someone who don't even competitively swim in freestyle to enter the relay because WA won't give us enough quotas to fill the relay!!! 

[dodge 1,024]

2 hours ago, PHI2019 said:

World Aquatics drops Lithuanian 4 x 200 free relay due to Olympic quota

 

https://swimswam.com/world-aquatics-drops-lithuanianmens-4x200freerelay-due-to-olympic-quota/

They don’t drop the relay. They just have to use a swimmer from another event

 

Ireland made the same mistake in Tokyo and our relay squad included a back stroke sprinter and a butterfly swimmer as we had nobody else qualified 

[JoshMartini007 2,536]

Yeah, Lithuania will compete in the relay, it's just that they have to use their breaststroker.

[Topicmaster1010 4,166]

Relay Power Rankings: Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay

 

Thought it would be cool to start a series on this thread to preview all the relay events and seeing how each country compares to the rest. We begin with the women's 4x200m freestyle relay because I know all the entries already. For each country, I'm taking the top 4 eligible swimmers for each country and using their best times from 2024 to form a estimated relay time. 1.5 seconds will be subtracted from each cumulative time to account for reaction times.

 

*Please note that the order of swimmers is arranged from fastest to slowest times, NOT by predicted relay order.

 

16.  Türkiye - 8:02.37

• Givem Guvenç - 1:59.23
• Ela Naz Özdemir - 2:00.52
• Zehra Bilgin - 2:01.74
• Ecem Dönmez - 2:02.38

 

15.  France - 7:58.41

• Lucile Tessariol - 1:59.22
• Marina Jehl - 2:00.04
• Assia Touati - 2:00.05
• Oceane Carnez - 2:00.60

 

14.  Netherlands - 7:55.94

• Marrit Steenbergen - 1:56.09
• Imani de Jong - 1:59.25
• Janna van Kooten - 1:59.35
• Silke Holkenborg - 2:02.75

 

Was a little bit surprised to see the Netherlands this low. They should be higher but all 4 of their relays swimmers haven't been able to match their times from last year so far this year.

 

13.  Spain - 7:54.66

• María Daza - 1:58.81
• Alba Herrero - 1:59.04
• Paula Juste - 1:59.09
• Ainhoa Campabadal - 1:59.22

 

12.  Italy - 7:53.67

• Sofia Morini - 1:57.81
• Simona Quadarella - 1:58.82
• Giulia D'Innocenzo - 1:59.23
• Giulia Ramatelli - 1:59.31

 

11.  New Zealand - 7:52.16

• Erika Fairweather - 1:55.45
• Laticia-Leigh Transom - 1:58.42
• Eve Thomas - 1:59.07
• Caitlin Deans - 2:00.72

 

10.  Japan - 7:51.92

• Waka Kobori - 1:58.22
• Rio Shirai - 1:58.27
• Hiroko Makino - 1:58.42
• Nagisa Ikemoto - 1:58.51

 

9.  Israel - 7:50.99

• Anastasia Gorbenko - 1:56.74
• Daria Golovaty - 1:57.87
• Lea Polonsky - 1:58.89
• Ayla Spitz - 1:58.99

 

8.  Brazil - 7:50.20

• Maria Costa - 1:56.37
• Gabrielle Roncatto - 1:58.01
• Stephanie Balduccini - 1:58.51
• Maria Heitmann - 1:58.81

 

7.  Hungary - 7:49.57

• Nikolett Pádár - 1:56.83
• Minna Ábráham - 1:57.22
• Panna Ugrai - 1:58.07
• Dóra Molnár - 1:58.95

 

6.  Germany - 7:48.32

• Isabel Gose - 1:56.66
• Julia Mrozinski - 1:57.22
• Nicole Maier - 1:57.36
• Nele Schulze - 1:58.58

 

5.  Great Britain - 7:47.72

• Freya Colbert - 1:56.22
• Abbie Wood - 1:56.62
• Medi Harris - 1:58.10
• Freya Anderson - 1:58.28

 

Great Britain is the first country on these rankings that I'd say actually has a chance at a medal. Freya Anderson didn't race the individual 200m at British Trials this year due to illness. They'll need her back at her best if they want to contend for a medal along with drops from all the other swimmers.

 

4.  Canada - 7:43.09

• Summer McIntosh - 1:53.69
• Mary-Sophie Harvey - 1:55.44
• Julie Brousseau - 1:57.60
• Emma O'Croinin - 1:57.86

 

This could very well be Canada's best shot at a relay medal. They have two dynamite legs with McIntosh and Harvey. Julie Brousseau is only 18 and has the potential to drop more time which will be a must for Canada if they want to challenge for the podium. If any of the swimmers look off in prelims, Ella Jansen (1:58.25) and Brooklyn Douthwright (1:58.49) will be looking for an opportunity to swim and who knows, maybe Penny Oleksiak will suddenly show signs of her old 200m freestyle form.

 

3.  China - 7:42.57

• Yang Junxuan - 1:54.37
• Li Bingjie - 1:56.29
• Liu Yaxin - 1:56.56
• Tang Muhan - 1:56.85

 

Overall, this is a very well-rounded Chinese team. While the top two swimmers, on paper, are slower than Canada, everybody has shown that they are capable of going sub 1:57 on a flat start. Ge Chutong (1:57.04) and Kong Yaqi (1:57.04) are also relay options. They should still be the favourites to take the bronze medal and as shown at the 2020 Olympics, this Chinese relay is capable of surprising everybody.

 

2.  United States - 7:42.22

• Katie Ledecky - 1:54.97
• Claire Weinstein - 1:55.86
• Paige Madden - 1:56.36
• Erin Gemmell - 1:56.53

 

Slightly leading the charge for 2nd spot is the US. Their trials were much slower than people expected, but there's reason to believe they'll be much faster in Paris. While Ledecky has not been as fast as McIntosh or Yang this year, she's proven to be a game changer in this relay over her career. Claire Weinstein and Erin Gemmell are young and still improving and Paige Madden is having a career year at 25 years old. The US will also have Anna Peplowski (1:56.99) and Alex Shackell (1:57.05) waiting in reserve. The battle for silver should be an interesting one with likely 3 teams fighting for two medals. But...

 

1.  Australia - 7:34.52

• Ariarne Titmus - 1:52.23
• Mollie O'Callaghan - 1:52.48
• Lani Pallister - 1:55.57
• Brianna Throssell - 1:55.74

 

then there's Australia. Good luck beating a relay team with the two fastest performers of all time. The Australian B-team could also have a chance of winning a medal. The next 4 fastest Aussies on the Olympic team this year are Kaylee McKeown (1:56.06), Jamie Perkins (1:56.22), Shayna Jack (1:56.22), and Meg Harris (1:56.93).

[NMQ 243]

Who will be the star of the Games? On paper, Marchand and McIntosh look the ones with higher roofs, but both will face tough competition outside their best events and have fewer chances to add medals on relays. Then there are the americans, but there is no clear choice as was the case with Phelps in the past or even Dressel in 2021. And with the aussies, one of them (Mckeown, Titmus, O'Callaghan) would have to run the table of their individual events and in WR fashion. Not an easy task. I would pick Mollie, as she has a big chance to win 6 medals (with two relay golds almost guaranteed), although only two in individual events. But if she sweeps the 100-200 and with a WR, she gets the crown for me.