A new champion will be crowned in the women’s 100m breaststroke with Tatjana Smith leading the way after the Sunday morning prelims at La Defense Arena.
Lydia Jacoby won the title three years ago in Tokyo as the 17-year-old from Anchorage pulled off a shocker to become the first swimmer from Alaska to claim an Olympic medal.
However, it has been a testing time for Jacoby who didn’t make the cut for Paris 2024 as she finished third behind Lilly King and Emma Weber at the US trials.
Three of the four fastest women all-time lined up in the French capital in the form of world record-holder King, Ruta Meilutyte (1:04.35) and Tang Qianting (1:04.39).
- Meet Results
- 2024 Paris Olympics Meet Page
- World Record: Lilly King, USA – 1:04.13 (2017)
- Olympic Record: Tatjana Smith (nee Schoenmaker), RSA – 1:04.82 (2021)
- Tokyo Olympic Champion: Lydia Jacoby, USA – 1:04.95
Tatjana Smith (nee Schoenmaker) won silver behind Jacoby in Japan and she was by some margin the fastest qualifier in Paris in 1:05.00 ahead of Tang, the Asian record-holder and 2024 rankings leader, who clocked 1:05.63 and Mona McSharry, 0.19 outside her Irish record in 1:05.74, the second-fastest time of her career.
The trio were the only women inside 1:06 with Suzuki Satomi (1:06.04) fourth through ahead of King – with Rio 2016 gold and Tokyo bronze among her silverware – who went 1:06.10.
At 19, Benedetta Pilato has featured on the global podium since she won 50 breast silver aged 14 at the 2019 worlds in Gwangju.
Since then she has accumulated world and European titles but Sunday morning was only her second Olympic swim, three years after she was DQd in the Tokyo prelims with Arianna Castiglioni and Martina Carraro swimming the breaststroke legs on the women’s medley relay.
She safely navigated the prelims in 1:06.19 ahead of Anastasia Gorbenko (1:06.22) with Meilutyte, the London 2012 champion, placing 10th in 1:06.34, less than five months after ankle surgery.
Macarena Ceballos of Argentina clinched the 16th and final spot in 1:06.89.
Smith led the prelims three years ago in Tokyo in 1:04.82 – an Olympic record – as she led five women inside 1:06 with Anna Elendt rounding out the qualifiers then in 1:06.96.
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