Most Dominant Swims of the 2016 Olympic Games Days 7 and 8

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Daily Dominance is the best way to describe the swimming competition in Rio. Each day brings to light new dominant factors for every race. Below is the round up for days 7-8.

Day Seven

Every night of the Olympics has featured a different Most Dominant Swimmer(s).

The first six days, there have been:

Katinka Hosszu (400 IM – 1.80%)

Adam Peaty (100 Breast – 2.73%)

Lily King (100 Breast – 0.88%)

Team USA (Men’s 4×200 FR – 0.59%)

Kyle Chalmers (100 Free – 0.46%)

Michael Phelps (200 IM – 1.70%)

Notice a name missing? Of course it is-Katie Ledecky, and the seventh night of these Games were her chance to throw down the Most Dominant Swim of the evening. What can be said about her 800m? It was beautiful; it was savage; it was awe-inspiring; it was everything we expect from Katie Ledecky. Her winning time of 8:04.79 won by nearly 12 seconds, or 2.35%. That was, of course, a new World Record, and a staggering 1.92% faster than Rebecca Adlington’s 2008 Olympic and World Record.

Runner-up for Most Dominant Swim of the Night goes to Singapore’s Joseph Schooling for his dominant upset of a legendary field in the 100m Butterfly. By chopping 1.13% off his Asian record, he set a textile world record in 50.39, and dominated the final by 1.13%.

Note: the gold medalist’s margin of victory for the evening:

Women’s 200 Back: Maya DiRado 0.05%

Men’s 50 Free: Anthony Ervin 0.05%

Women’s 800 Free: Katie Ledecky 2.35%

Men’s 100 Fly: Joseph Schooling 1.49%

Day Eight:

On the last day of a dominant American week at the Rio Olympics, the two most dominant swims of the final night were the women’s and men’s medley relays.

The women defeated Australia and Denmark by 0.80%. The women outperformed expectations all week – Kathleen Baker won a surprise silver in the 100 back, Lily King won gold in the 100 breast (and bronze medalist swam an even faster split in the prelims!), Dana Vollmer won bronze in the 100 fly, and Simone Manuel stunned the 100 free final by tying for the gold.

The men defeated a surging Great Britain and Australia by 0.62% in setting a new textile world record of 3:27.95. Featuring a World Record lead-off leg by Ryan Murphy, the team of Cody Miller, Michael Phelps, and Nathan Adrian overcame a certifiably-bonkers breaststroke leg by Great Britain’s Adam Peaty to win. Murphy’s lead-off leg of 51.85 dominated the field by 2.03%, only for Peaty to throw down an absurd 56.59 split, the fastest in the field by exactly 2 seconds or 3.53%.

An honorable mention for dominating one’s personal best goes to Denmark’s Pernille Blume. From a long-shot to gold medalist, Blume dropped her personal best by 1.66%, winning all three rounds of the 50 free.

Note: the gold medalist’s margin of victory for day 8:

Women’s 50 Free: Pernille Blume 0.08%

Men’s 1500 Free: Gregorio Paltrinieri 0.56%

Women’s 4×100 MR: USA 0.80%

Men’s 4×100 MR: USA 0.62%

Overall Olympic Dominance:

To choose a single dominance “winner” from a field of amazing swims over a week of incredible races and World Record breaking victories would not be easy without our dominance formula in play.   The official winner is Peaty’s 100m Breast win.  This race out dominants Katie Ledecky by a slim margin in all categories of time, record, and all-time place.

2.73% vs 2.35% against the field (with Ledecky’s 800)

1.38% vs 0.81% against the existing WR (with Ledecky’s 400)

2.33% vs 1.92% against #2 all-time (with Ledecky’s 800)

Congratulations to all the athletes!

{The Dominance Series is brought to you by SwimSpray and written and compiled by Travis Knop, Aimee Schmitt, and Andrew Chadeayne.}