MSV Olympic Review: Top 3 Women’s Races

Obviously, this is a subjective ranking, but I like ranking things sometimes, so here we go. As a full fledged swim nerd, I watched and enjoyed every single event. How can you not when you are looking at the best in the world each and every time?

What makes a top race for me? First, I love a battle in which the outcome is anybody’s guess. Give me three or four people with a solid shot and I’m glued to the edge of my seat. Second, I like the “out of nowhere” type swims. When a name you have never really of heard of puts it all together at just the right time to claim glory. Third, I like the “what did I just see?” swims. The one’s where the result really didn’t seem humanly possible in my mind until I saw it in that moment.

So….with that, let’s hand out the medals

Bronze: 800 Freestyle

I would have loved to see Summer McIntosh in this race, but it was awesome without her. For over a decade this race was wondering when the rest of the field would disappear from the screen as Katie Ledecky would add distance each 50. This year, Ariane Titus sat on Katie’s shoulder for the first half. That was long enough to start thinking, what if? Every 50 you expected Ledecky to be done with this hanging around stuff and just pull away, but it stayed pretty close. Paige Madden also made it a fun race to watch as she closed hard the last 200 to make a push for second.

Silver: 100 Free

I went into this event thinking there were a few different scenarios that could play out. Gretchen Walsh is always good, Tori Huske was having a great meet, and never rule out Siobhán Haughey. Sarah Sjostrom is obviously a legend and the world record holder, but she is 30 and wasn’t even planning on swimming this event. Great race and so good when you see a legend show they can still get it done on the biggest stage. You knew Sjostrom would have the speed, but the 100 seemed like a little bot of a stretch. Nope….nailed it,

Gold: 4 x 100 Medley Relay

The US had a solid meet for the most part, but the overall vibe for me was we left some on the table. You have to realize that US swimming has set an exceptionally high bar for itself over the years, so a tall task to be blown away by the the team’s end to end performance. The 4 x 100 Med was the moment that felt the best for me. They had a little extra edginess in how they swam from start to finish. It was the type of swim you like to see kick off a meet to set the tone. It’s how we ended and better to do it there then not at all. Was worth a “Stand on the couch and scream”