Heartbreak in the City of Love.
After Tuesday’s prelims and semifinals races, rising senior Matt Fallon has placed 10th in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2024 Paris Olympics — failing to advance to Wednesday’s final.
With his American-record-setting time from this past June, Fallon was third seed heading into this morning’s prelims, behind current world-record holder Qin Haiyang of China and former world record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia. Notably, Fallon took bronze behind the two history-makers at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
In the prelims, Fallon swam in the second heat, which was absent of the strongest competitors, and he kept pace with his field throughout. Through the first 100 meters, Fallon was second behind Japan’s Yu Hanaguruma, coming in at a time of 1:03.37. At the 150m mark, Fallon closed the gap by splitting a 33.19, clocking in at 1:36.56 — two hundredths of a second off Hanaguruma.
Known for his back-half speed, Fallon was unable to fully kindle that magic in the morning session to chase down Hanaguruma. Fallon finished second in his heat with a time of 2:10.49 and a position of 11th overall after the prelims. Notably, this Tuesday, it was revealed that two of Fallon’s suitemates in the Olympic Village tested positive for COVID-19. To make the final, he would need to place in the top eight amongst a tight field of competitors, which was no small task.
In the second heat of semifinals, Fallon raced some familiar faces — one being Leon Marchand. The hometown hero has been a longtime rival of Fallon’s. The Frenchman beat Fallon in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2022 and 2024 editions of NCAA Championships. However, Fallon has been catching up to him in this event. This past June, Fallon bested Marchland in the 200-meter breaststroke at TYR Pro Swim Series.
Haiyang was also in the second heat. After sweeping all of the breaststroke events at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Haiyang was a big favorite for both breaststroke events in Paris. However, the world-record holder has not been having the best meet after a seventh-place finish in the 100m breaststroke and extensive drug testing in the aftermath of the recently revealed doping scandal before the 2020 Tokyo Games.
With the drama outside of the pool, it’s only fitting that there was some drama in the water.
Fallon started the race in the usual Fallon fashion — a bit behind in the first half, but still with the pack. Initially, there was no worry as his specialty is his incredible second half of the race. In many high-stakes meets, Fallon has been seventh at the 100m mark but has rallied into podium position or first at the final wall.
However, at the 100m mark in this race, Fallon didn’t pick up his stroke tempo as he usually does — the first sign of trouble. He stayed towards the back of the field, while Marchand continued to dominate the heat, touching first before the final 50 meters.
Fallon caught a second wind and made some ground in the final 15 meters to tie Haiyang for fifth in the heat with a time of 2:09.96. However, it sadly wasn’t enough to qualify for finals. The two placed tenth overall and missed finals by heartbreaking 0.07 seconds. Marchand touched first in heat and took first seed for finals in a time of 2:08.11.
The race and time is quite unusual for Fallon. In the semifinals of this event at the 2024 Olympic Swimming Trials in June, he swam to a 2:07.39 — which would have placed him in top seed into tomorrow’s final. Even his semifinals performance at the 2023 World Aquatics Championship — time of 2:07.90 — would have also easily topped the field.
Fallon’s performance continues a trend of record holders not performing their best at the Paris Games. Fellow American teammates and world-record holders Regan Smith and Gretchen Walsh finished second in their signature events, while world-record holder in the 100m breaststroke Adam Peaty tied for silver in Sunday’s finals.
Additionally, times across the board in Paris have been slower than expected. It seems that the shallowness of the pool has had an impact, especially in high-resistance strokes like breaststroke.
Although it was not the end that Fallon wanted, his season will be remembered for its tremendous success across the Ivy League, NCAA Championships, and Olympic Trials. Being the first Penn swimmer to make Team USA in its illustrious history, Fallon went on to break multiple records, including an American record. Tuesday’s results highlight that anything can happen in sports — this time, it just wasn’t meant to be.
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