With water up to the neck
Games suggest a curious paradox in the pool La Defense Arena. The atmosphere is electric and the attendance is huge. Some of the tests were impressive, the intensity of which raised the emotional ceiling in the stadium even more. Victory for the French Marchand in the 400 meter run will remain one of the greatest peaks Paris 2024. Overall, we are witnessing a desirable generational change. The Romanian is arriving at full speed David Popovich (19 years old, winner of the 200m freestyle), Canadian Summer Mackintosh (unstoppable yesterday in the 400m individual medley), Australian Molly O’Callaghan (20 years old, gold in the 200m freestyle) and, of course, Leon Marchand (22 years old, heir to the chest) Michael Phelps). They have all proven their status as favourites despite their youth. However, their scores are below expectations. Poole refuses to match brilliant performances with exceptional records.
In the previous Olympic edition Tokyo 2020-21Five world records were broken despite competition circumstances that were severely impacted by the pandemic. COVID-19. Most athletes have been training under significant challenges, with isolation measures, social distancing and facility closures in place. At the aquatic centre TokyoThe stands were empty, which had nothing in common with the noisy atmosphere that reigns in the stands of the swimming pool. Parispacked into the morning session, packed into the final, which has yet to yield a single world record. In most cases, the regression is puzzling.
All young stars arePopovichi, Mac, O’Callaghan And Marchand— have broken world records over the past 12 months. Paris They shone with their competitive quality, but their times were not impressive. To date, only three best records of the year have been achieved: Marchand (4.02:95 minutes in 400 styles), Xu Jiayu (52:02 seconds in the 100m backstroke semi-final) and the Italian Checkon (52:00 in the 100m backstroke final) The harvest is so meager that it raises speculation.
It appears that pool conformation is one of the main reasons for the step back in time, and not so much in the averages, which in most cases were slightly better than in the past. Tokyoas assessed by the winners. In case Popovichi is significant. Yesterday he won a superb 200m freestyle final, beating the Briton by two hundredths. Richards and seven hundredths in relation to the American Luke Hobson. The drama of the race did not match the winner’s mark: 1.44:72. Tokyo GamesAt 16, the Romanian swimmer was fourth with a better result than in Paris: 1.44:68.
Pool Paris 2024 It is 50 meters long and collects 2,500 cubic meters of water. This is the same for all competitors. The difference is that Tokyo lies at its shallower depth – 2.15 meters versus 2.95. The shallower the depth, the stronger the reverse effect of turbulence on swimmers. Increasing the height from the surface of the water to the bottom of the glass helps to dissipate the discomfort of bouncing. The debate is growing every day. Not all opinions agree with the thesis about insufficient depth, but reality prevails. Swimming at these Games is developing successfully, but with records that are not impressive yet.
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