The French swimming governing body (Fédération Française de Natation) recently released a data analysis booklet for each event from the Paris Olympics. This data-packed guide lists information such as swimmers’ 25-meter times, time in the water, and total strokes in table format, along with detailed information about each finalist. Over the next few days, I’ll be choosing some of my favorite events from the Olympics and analyzing the data of the world’s fastest swimmers.
This gold mine of data is entirely in French and is divided into four sections. wrap (Division), Party Nager (I swam part of the race) Non-Nazi Party (The part of the race where you don’t swim, including the start, underwater, and finish) Movement (Total number of strokes, etc.).
Looking Back
This was an incredible race. Pan Jianle He improved his own world record by 0.40 seconds and won the final by more than a second in 46.40 seconds, one of the largest margins of victory ever seen in this race. Kyle Chalmers He won his third medal in the event, coming in second with a score of 47.48. All skaters in the heat were initially in the top eight, with the exception of Joshua Salchow, who placed 13th. Nandor Nemeth The difference between their times was 0.02 seconds, with Popovic 0.01 seconds faster than Nemeth and slower than Chalmers, and he won the bronze medal. All eight athletes finished under 48 seconds, the first time such a time has been achieved in an Olympic final. The athletes’ results are as follows:
- Pan JianleChina – 46.40
- Kyle ChalmersAustralia – 47.48
- David PopovichRomania – 47.49
- Nandor NemethHungary – 47.50
- Maxime GoursetFrance – 47.71
- Joshua Salchow, Germany – 47.80
- Jack AlexieUnited States – 47.96
- Chris JulianoUnited States – 47.98
wrap (Split)
Opening 50:
- Bread – 22.28
- Grusset – 22.61
- Alexy – 22.63
- Giuliano – 22.82
- Nemeth – 22.90
- Salchow – 22.93
- Popovich – 22.94
- Chalmers – 23.03
End 50:
- Bread – 24.12
- Chalmers – 24.45
- Popovich – 24.55
- Nemeth – 24.60
- Salchow – 24.87
- Grusset – 25.10
- Giuliano – 25.16
- Alexy – 25.33
Pan was 0.33 seconds faster than the next fastest sprinter in both the first and last 50 meters of the race. The other seven sprinters experienced something of a comeback, with Groussett, Alexi, and Giuliano (all established 50m freestyle swimmers) coming in first but being the slowest in the last 50 meters, while Popovic and Chalmers used their skills as 200m freestyle swimmers to make up for the first 50 meters and then swim some great second-half strokes to take second and third place. Chalmers was the only swimmer to start the 100 meters in under 22 seconds, but was also the closest to Pan in the last 50 meters.
One of the reasons why Pan was able to break the world record in the “slow pool” is mainly due to his first 50 meters. He was able to get out of the water very quickly and avoid the rough waves caused by other swimmers’ flips by turning before the others. Swimming in clean water is always preferable, and because Pan swam the first 50 meters very quickly (this time alone was 33rd in the individual 50 meters measured in feet), he was able to avoid the roughest waves.
party (I swam part of the race.)
This section gives the swimmer’s time from 15m to 45m, and then from 65m to 95m, taking into account all times except start, turn and finish. The next ranking is the total time the swimmer spent “swimming”.
- Bread – 29.32
- Nemeth – 30.04
- Chalmers – 30.14
- Salchow – 30.19
- Popovich – 30.22
- Alexy – 30.57
- Grusset – 30.63
- Giuliano – 30.73
This is another stat that is relatively consistent with the final rankings. This makes sense considering that in a race like the 100m freestyle, the fastest “swimmers” will finish at the top. Pan was arguably the fastest in these segments, which was essential in him breaking the world record so much. Another interesting thing to note are the two Americans near the bottom of this list. Both Giuliano and Alexi were far from their best times, but it is not uncommon to see American names near the bottom of the “swimmer” rankings. More on this in the next section.
Non-Party Naje (Part of the race do not have Suum
This section focuses on the start, turns and finish of the race and includes reaction time, time spent in the water, distance travelled in the water, time to reach the 15m mark, finishing time for 5m, distance from the last stroke to the wall etc. The next ranking is the combined time taken from the start to the wall for 15m, 45-65m and 95m (measured in seconds).
- Pan/Grosse – 17.08
- Giuliano – 17.25
- Popovich – 17.27
- Chalmers – 17.34
- Alexy – 17.39
- Nemeth – 17.46
- Salchow – 17.61
Fastest swimmer up to 15m (in seconds):
- Grusset – 5.33
- Giuliano – 5.40
- Bread – 5.45
- Alexy – 5.55
- Chalmers/Nemeth – 5.61
- .
- Salchow – 5.62
- Popovich – 5.66
As mentioned in the previous section, American swimmers tend to excel in the support portion of the race compared to the overall race. We’ve seen Nick Fink in the 100m breaststroke record the fastest time in the support portion, Gretchen Walsh in the 50m freestyle swim quicker in the water, and now… Chris Juliano and Jack Alexie He had one of the fastest starts in the men’s 100m freestyle event. Of course, this isn’t true for every race, but it’s likely due to the influence of the NCAA and SCY (short course yard) swimming on the US team. Yard swimming requires more ability in the start and turn than long course, so it makes sense that swimmers who grew up in SCY pools would be more likely to post better times in the start/turn/finish segment of the race.
This section also showcased the talents of the 50 freestylers: Groussett, Alexi and Giuliano. The trio were the third most efficient from the start, a metric calculated by dividing the distance traveled to the first breakout stroke by the time spent in the water. Their ranking was as follows:
- Gurset: 12.92 meters underwater / 3.62 seconds underwater = 3.57 m/s
- Alexy: 12.14m / 3.49s = 3.48 m/s
- Giuliano: 13.64m / 3.95s = 3.45m/s
- Popovic: 11.82m / 3.46s = 3.42m/s
- Pan: 13.18m / 3.90s = 3.38m/s
- Salchow: 12.76m / 3.80s = 3.36 m/s
- Chalmers: 12.22m / 3.65sec = 3.35m/s
- Nemeth: 13.05m / 3.94s = 3.31 m/s
Movement (stroke)
In this final section, we model the total strokes each swimmer took during the race, and the following rankings are given from most to least strokes taken.
- Nemeth: 70
- Popovich: 69
- Guruse: 68
- Chalmers/Alexie: 67
- .
- Salchow/Giuliano: 65
- .
- Pan: 64
This section on stroke rate analysis tends to return to the mantra of “swim at your own pace in a way that suits you.” No swimmer on the men’s 100m freestyle podium took the same number of strokes as the others: Pang 64, Chalmers 67, Popovic 69. Pang’s distance per stroke was commendable, as he took the fewest strokes and had the fastest time. Party Nager section; but Joshua Salchow had the highest DPS rate.
Distance ranking by stroke (total distance on water / total strokes)
- Salchow: 1.229 meters per stroke
- Pan: 1.220 meters per stroke
- Alexy: 1.197 meters per stroke
- Giuliano: 1.192 meters per stroke
- Chalmers: 1.171 metres per stroke
- Popovic: 1.167 meters per stroke
- Grosset: 1.131 meters per stroke
- Nemeth: 1.121 meters per stroke
For a breakdown of previous data, see the following article:
For more detailed information, please see this booklet.
