- Peaty narrowly missed out on a historic third consecutive 100-meter breaststroke title.
- This race was one of the slowest at the Olympics.
- The Paris pool is just over two metres deep, much shallower than in previous Olympic Games.
Three days into the swimming competition at the Paris Olympics, much attention has been focused on the surprisingly slow times in the pool.
This point was best illustrated in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke final on Sunday night, when Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi held off Adam Peaty and America’s Nick Fink in a highly competitive yet surprisingly slow race.
In fact, the event was the slowest at an Olympic Games since the 2004 Athens Games.
Local favorite Leon Marchand was similarly off the pace in his dominant victory in the 400m medley, the Frenchman outmaneuvering his rivals but finishing about half a second behind his own world record.
But the lack of fast times at the Olympics appears to have nothing to do with the athletes — rather, it’s the swimming pool at Paris’ La Défense arena that’s under scrutiny.
The organizers decided to set up a temporary tank measuring 2m by 15cm for the duration of the event, which meets the minimum 2m depth standard required for such competitions, but falls far short of the 3m depth standard set for the past four events.
As artistic swimming (synchronised swimming), which requires a 3m deep pool, takes place at a different venue, it was decided that a shallower pool would be sufficient.
Unfortunately for world record enthusiasts, this resulted in poor conditions for speed.
Deeper water reduces time by reducing turbulence that affects swimmers at the surface.
Breaststroke swimmers are particularly affected by choppy water in shallow pools, as the swimmer’s unique motion creates strong waves that bounce off the wall and floor and come into contact with the swimmer.
Peaty admitted his time in the pool was “weird” after being narrowly prevented from winning a historic third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 100m breaststroke.
“It was a strange one in terms of the times,” said the world record holder, with victorious Martinenghi adding: “The times were not fast for anybody. We talked about it with each other.”
“But I don’t care about that,” he continued. “I’m the Olympic champion. I was the fastest today. That’s enough.”
Shallower pools mean swimmers are closer to technical equipment that is placed on the bottom of the tank for various purposes, such as lighting or event broadcasting. This equipment can be distracting to swimmers.
But Britain’s Matt Richards, who won silver in the 200m freestyle on Monday, expressed a different opinion, arguing he prefers shallow pools because it makes it easier to turn.
“I like shallow pools because it gives me an advantage in turning. In deep pools, drives off the wall always feel a lot more ‘heavy.'”