Canadian hopes to help jump-start podium push with first-day swim at 2024 Summer Olympic Games
Finlay Knox is fired up for the first day of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Why so quick to jump into the pool at Paris La Defense Arena?
Because it could mean an early medal — a big one for the Okotoks swimmer and Canada’s pool crew.
Especially for the men.
“For me to swim first day, it’s awesome,” said Knox, who is anxious to get out of the blocks in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay with Calgary’s Yuri Kisil and Torontonians Josh Liendo and Javier Acevedo.
“First-day swim competitions are definitely the most nerve-wracking,” continued Knox. “It’s kind of that first swim to really set the pace of the competition. It gives you an idea of where your body’s at and how fast you’re swimming.”
Knox knows he’s a threat to go fast enough for a medal or two at these Olympics.
It’s just not something he wants to talk about.
But based on recent history, it’s there for the former Okotoks Mavericks talent.
He grabbed gold in the 200m individual medley at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, followed by gold for his big breakthrough moment in the same event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
That last result — which made him the first Canadian man in 17 years to win gold in swimming at the worlds and the first world champ in that event since 1978 — came just five months back against the who’s-who of planet in the 200m IM, making for quite the bright shiny object in his immediate Olympic future.
“You give it your everything in the water, and whatever the outcome is you can walk away with a smile on your face,” said Knox, 23. “So no outcome goals and no time goals necessarily for me. But I need to approach my race how I plan to swim it. It’s how do you execute the race and the things you can control. And whatever is the outcome is what it will be.
“In the grand scheme of things, the Olympics are no different than any other meet,” continued Knox. “You’re just making sure that you keep your head on your shoulders and you go in there with huge amounts of confidence without under-estimating anything. You’re just being smart with the approach and making sure that you’re realistic with your goals.”
With the first-day freestyle relay — heats on Saturday (3 a.m. MT) and final later on the same day (1:44 p.m. MT) — a medal may not be realistic for Knox, Kisil, Liendo and Acevedo, after the foursome finished 11th at the worlds.
But swim magic has been a thing for Canadians in the Olympic pool lately, and just last year, the men finished fifth at worlds in that 4x100m race, with Knox, Liendo and Acevedo all on the squad.
Regardless, the first-day relay is solid prep for Knox’s target threat of the 200m IM next Thursday — with heats (3 a.m. MT) and semifinals (1:35 p.m. MT) — and Friday with the final (12:43 p.m. MT).
“Especially for me being able to kind of just get in there and swim fast, that relay will be a good setup before the 200 IM,” said Knox, who was 17th in the 200 IM three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics. “So I’ll swim the relay and then I have a few days to kind of switch my mind to the medley so I can then hit off that day in prelims with a bang.”
Knox is also scheduled to swim the breaststroke leg in the 4x100m medley relay on the final day of swimming, Aug. 3 — with heats (3 a.m. MT) — and Aug. 4 with the final (11:06 a.m. MT).
Canada finished fourth in that race at the worlds this winter after winning bronze at the 2023 Pan Am Games, meaning another medal is in the mix for the local in at the pool in Nanterre, just outside Paris.
“We just got to take it race by race,” Knox said. “You make sure you have a good solid morning swim to put us through into the semifinals. The competition is quite deep, so it’s going to be a very, very tough swim in the semifinal to make a final swim, and we’re going to give everything we have in that semifinal. If we make it through and make the final, that’s the last step — and that’s when you have the most fun.”
Knox already knows it’ll be more fun in Paris than it was during his first Olympic experience in Tokyo …
For two reasons.
The first is that he loves to swim in front of a crowd — something that COVID took away from the Games in 2021.
And the second is that he’s matured — both mentally and physically — in the last three years.
“I was 20 years old in Tokyo,” Knox said. “It was my first national team. We had just come off the COVID year, so a year out from the games, we had four months of no swimming. Then I broke my hand in January of 2021, and I was competing on a broken hand at the Olympic Games.”
But just the experience of being at those Games helped him measurably.
Now 23, he has emerged as one to watch for Canada. After all, he holds national mark — of 1:57.26 — in the men’s 200m IM and is ready to show off in Paris.
“Three years ago, obviously at the time, I was maybe a little bit disappointed and had a lot higher expectations,” added Knox of his 17th-place IM finish in Tokyo. “But three years on looking back at all the things, it was a very, very good swim for my first ever national team.
“So I’ve definitely got a good, good headspace going in and looking forward to what’s to come.”