Feminine Breakout Swimmer of the Yr: Veteran Paige Madden Discovered One thing Particular to Land on Olympic Podium
For those who have been watching the Paris Olympics and couldn’t fairly consider what you have been witnessing Paige Madden do, that’s OK. She actually didn’t totally grasp it both.
The work was actually there, the soul-searching of priorities and ingenious occasion choice after her Olympic debut in Tokyo, and the uncommon step of heading abroad to coach at Loughborough College.
However for a long-course 200/400 freestyle specialist to go from a finest time within the 800 freed from 8:27 in 2023 to eight:13 on the Olympics on the age of 25 … a lot of that’s unbelievable.
“For those who informed me {that a} yr in the past, I’d have mentioned you’re loopy,” Madden mentioned, bronze medal round her neck in Paris. “However perhaps a month in the past, it was kind of behind my thoughts, simply primarily based off of my coaching, but it surely nonetheless feels so surreal. It’s been three years, particularly this final yr. I feel it simply hasn’t proven till tonight.”
These contrasts outline Madden’s breakout 2024. She wasn’t new to the worldwide stage however carried out there like by no means earlier than. Her emergence wasn’t unexpected given her pedigree, but it surely nonetheless astounded in the absolute best approach.
Becoming Madden into the American feminine panorama because the calendar flipped to 2024 was a problem. She had received a silver medal on the Tokyo Olympics within the 800 free relay whereas ending seventh within the 400 free. The previous occasion is a locus of huge turnover in an Olympic cycle, a slew of promising younger skills pushing onerous for spots. The 400 free and nearly another occasion a distance specialist may select was inherently partitioned into one spot for Katie Ledecky and one spot for not Katie Ledecky.
To develop her slim path to Paris, Madden ventured out of her consolation zone. After a sterling profession on the College of Virginia, it took her to the UK earlier than relocating to Arizona State then Texas. It additionally took her towards the 800 free, boldness that paid off in Indianapolis.
Madden certified for Paris by ending third at Olympic Trials within the 200 free, then second in each the 400 free and 800 free, with finest instances in all. She’d proven her promise within the 800 by profitable gold on the Pan Am Video games the earlier fall, although the time of 8:27.99 was a far cry from she’d summon the subsequent summer season.
In Paris, Madden secured a silver medal within the 800 free relay and finaled within the 400 free, ending sixth towards a stacked subject the place Ledecky solely eked out bronze. It meant she was taking part in with home cash when the 800 free arrived.
About that 800: Madden went 8:39.27 at Olympic Trials in 2021. She improved to eight:32.46 by 2023, then a finest time of 8:27.64 in January on the TYR Professional Swim Sequence. What got here subsequent was a quantum leap – 8:20.71 in Indy to complete second to Ledecky, then 8:18.48 to make the Olympic ultimate in Paris and eight:13.00 to take house bronze and turn out to be the fourth-fastest performer all-time.
“I imply, I by no means thought I used to be going to go sooner than what I did in Tokyo,” Madden mentioned as soon as her Paris program was accomplished. Her pleasure at being improper shone brighter than the bronze glinting on her lanyard.
