On the fourth night of swimming finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, famous backstrokers Regan Smith and Kaylee McKeown compete in a huge women’s 100m back final. This adds to the already heated rivalry between the US and Australia.
On Tuesday, there were a lot of rounds. Bobby Finke, the hero of Tokyo, is aiming to defend his gold medal, and Leon Marchand, the French superstar, is getting ready for a busy night.
You can watch the activity in Paris on NBC, NBCOlympics.com, Peacock, and other channels starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.
100-meter backstroke final for Women
Regan Smith of Team USA and Kaylee McKeown of Australia will compete in the women’s 100m backstroke in the first final on Tuesday. This is one of the most anticipated matches of the Paris swimming event.
They have 15 of the fastest times in the history of the event. In the last four years, they’ve each set two world records. Smith currently holds the record after swimming 57.13 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in June. Smith has never been more sure of himself than he is now that McKeown is the defending Olympic winner from Tokyo and the 2023 world champion.
Kylie Masse of Canada (who used to hold the world record) and Katherine Berkoff of Team USA are the third and fourth fastest women in history, respectively.
At these games, La Defense Arena has not yet seen a world record fall. This is the race that was made to be the first.
800 m freestyle for Men
In the men’s 800m free final, American distance star Bobby Finke will try to defend his Tokyo gold medal against a strong group of competitors.
But the two men who beat Finke at the 2023 World Championships will not be in the race. Ahmed Hafnaoui from Tunisia is not participating in Paris, and Sam Short from Australia had the ninth-best time in the preliminary races and missed making it to the final by one spot.
It means that Finke will have to deal with tough competition from Daniel Wiffen of Ireland, who set the pace in the preliminary rounds, and Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy, who won silver in Tokyo and holds the European record.
4 x 200 m freestyle relay for Men
The US broke its four-game winning streak in this event in Tokyo by coming in fourth and not getting a single prize. That probably won’t happen in Paris, but Great Britain is expected to be able to defend its Tokyo gold.
The Brits are led by Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott, who came in second and fourth in the men’s 200m freestyle final on Monday.
The U.S. did well, though, with a third-place win from 21-year-old Luke Hobson. He will probably work with Chris Guiliano, Drew Kibler, and Kieran Smith to try to get Team USA back on the podium.
