2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
Another finals session, another story of redemption for Torri Huske.
A day after recording Team USA’s fastest split on the women’s 4×100 medley relay, Huske won gold in the 100 butterfly by 0.04 seconds, upsetting her American teammate and world record holder Gretchen Walsh. And in many ways, this race felt like a long time coming for Huske.
Let’s turn the clock back to 2021, back to the Tokyo Olympics. Huske had just graduated high school and was fresh off setting an American record in the 100 fly, and she came into the Olympics as a gold medal contender and the world’s No.1 ranked swimmer. In the race, she turned at the 50 in second place, and looked like she was about to win a medal before she faltered in the last few meters. In the end, she took fourth place, missing the podium by 0.01 of a second. Her final time of 55.73 was just 0.14 seconds off of the gold-medal winning time, and yet she wouldn’t even get a medal.
This time around, it was the complete opposite scenario. Huske was in third at the halfway mark, but closed in on Walsh to beat her in the final seconds of her race. Her pacing was the total antithesis of how she swam early on in her career, when she struggled to close races.
But this race wasn’t just a full-circle moment for Huske. It was a testament to her perseverance and her confidence in her own choices, even when that path didn’t seem like the more popular option.
When Huske first got to Stanford in 2021 to train under Greg Meehan, the school was beginning a mass exodus. Within just a few weeks of her being on campus, Katie Ledecky left for Florida. Mid-way through 2022, Regan Smith cut her NCAA career short to go to Arizona State and Stanford alum Simone Manuel joined her in Tempe shortly after. Claire Curzan did what Smith did in 2023, transferring to Virginia after a season as a Cardinal. That same year, Taylor Ruck decided not to stay at Stanford after graduation, joining the ASU squad as well.
Huske committed to Stanford back in 2020 when it was still the premier training destination for female swimmers — four years later, she was the only superstar remaining in Palo Alto.
But Huske refused to be the last domino to fall, staying at Stanford even when everyone else left. She even made the decision to stay at the university even when she took a gap year and redshirted the 2023-24 NCAA season, which was another major choice she made when many of her Olympic teammates chose to stay in college swimming during the leadup to Paris.
“These changes haven’t been scary, because I feel like Greg [Meehan] has been communicating a lot and I’ve be communicating what I need from him,” Huske told SwimSwam in 2023 regarding staying at Stanford despite a mass exodus. “I have a lot of faith in our program and the people there, so I’m not really concerned about that aspect.”
Sure, many of Huske’s training partners found success after leaving Stanford, and maybe a change of scenery was what they needed. But in a time where it felt like she was going against the current, Huske knew what was best for herself and stuck with it, and it ultimately paid off. And now, she’s an Olympic champion, on top of the world.
Other Highlights:
The United States’ Nic Fink tied two-time Olympic champ Adam Peaty for silver in the 100 breast (59.05), winning his first-ever Olympic medal.
Another first-time Olympic medal winner was the United States’ Carson Foster, who placed third in the 400 IM (4:08.66).
Canada’s Maggie MacNeil, the Tokyo Olympic champion in the 100 fly, ended up finishing fifth overall in the event in Paris (56.44).
The United States’ Claire Weinstein qualified for the 200 free final with a best time (1:55.24), while her teammate Erin Gemmell just missed out with a 9th place finish in the semi-finals. Lilly King also qualified for her third Olympic final in the 100 breast.
North American Medal Table:
COUNTRY
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
United States
2
3
2
Canada
1
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Publish date : 2024-07-28 17:57:59
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