Games On For Olympic Stroke 50s At LA '28; 40 Years After Freestyle Dash Joined Pool Party At Seoul '88
The fastest sprint breaststroke swimmer all-time, Britain's Adam Peaty welcomed news that confirmed he will train and race on to LA2028. "Huge, huge, huge news, I'll be there," Peaty posted within minutes of hearing the news.
It's Games on for the 50m dash events for backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, when the six news events - three for each sex - will join the Olympic program 40 years after the 50m freestyle was added for the Seoul 1988 Games.
In a case of third time lucky, the latest World Aquatics (prev. FINA) request for the 50m additions was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board after the Olympic Programme Commission had given the green light las week.
Swimming will now feature 41 medal events at the Olympic Games for the first time, an increase from the 35 medal events at Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020 and almost in line with the World Championships program of 42, which includes the non-Olympic mixed 4x100 freestyle.
In Tokyo four years ago, the swimming program grew by three events with the introduction of the women's 1500m free, the men's 800m free and the Mixed medley relay. That move created sex equality in the Olympic event schedule in the pool for the first time since 1896.
It also caused an imbalance: albeit across a much wider distance spectrum, freestylers now had six solo targets and five relays (two and a half for men and women) as potential targets, discounting the solo medley events, while specialists on other strokes had two solos (now to be three) and one and a half medley relays (men, women and mixed, with two men and two women in each quartet).
Among those celebrating the news was Britain's Adam Peaty:
Craig Lord
On the day of the announcement, among big names showing their dash skills were Olympic 200m free champion David Popovici, with a 21.83 Romanian record at Nationals in Otopeni; and Olympic 200m back champion Hubert Kós, who took down the Hungarian 50 back mark twice on the opening day of Nationals in Kaposvá. In heats, he clocked 24.63 o shave 0.13 off the standard set in December 2018 by Richard Bohus, before raking the crown in 24.62.
That marked the second of Kós' day-1 titles in Kaposvá: he lowered his career high 200IM of 1:56.99, a World junior record in 2021, to 1:56.40 for his 10th career national title.
More on that and other meets in the Vortex:
Craig Lord
And more on the dash story story below...
