By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
As well all know by know, the 50s of stroke are officially being added to the Olympic Games in 2028. While this decision has the immediate impact of six more events at the Olympics, meaning six more chances for a gold medal, there are some other, very significant things, that will be impacted by this decision.
1. Roster Caps
Immediately the thought of how these events are going to impact roster limits comes to the forefront of many swim fans’ minds. Currently, the Olympics have a 26 athlete per gender cap for each country.
The United States runs into the roster cap conversation frequently, and they actually bumped up against it in the men’s team qualifications last summer, bringing exactly 26 men to Paris.
With the addition of stroke 50s, there are six more potential qualifiers in 2028, which could put countries like the United States in a difficult position when it comes to leaving top finishers off the team due to roster limits.
2. Longer Meets
Prelims, semifinals, and finals of six events will definitely add to the length of the meet, regardless of how short the events are.
The Olympic Games is already a nine day meet, which can make it difficult for athletes who are entered in events on opposite ends of the meet.
The 50 freestyle is historically on the last few days, and typically there is overlap between 50 free swimmers and 50 of stroke swimmers, especially if the roster limit is not increased. This means that even a nine day meet could see a number of athletes competing in events that are a week apart.
If a day is added to the meet to make it 41 events in 10 days, this will impact schedules across the board, including the Olympic Trials Schedule, on top of the added pressure on athlete’s bodies.
World Aquatics makes the meet work with 50s of stroke in just eight days by increasing the number of events per day. This opens the question, however, of if we are making things harder for athletes who are swimming two or three event sessions.
Another option would be to remove semi-finals of the 200s, which we saw at the 2024 SC Worlds. This option has less swimming for the distance oriented swimmers, but it cuts 10 “events” and 20 heats from the meet schedule.
3. National Team Spots
Another potential effect will be the way that governing bodies, like USA Swimming, make selection decisions for future World Championships rosters. In the past, they have prioritized the Olympic events, and the qualifiers from those events. This has led to 50 of stroke winners being left off the World Champs roster, like Michael Andrew in 2023.
USA Swimming told us this afternoon that the decision “doesn’t automatically trigger anything on our end.” They did let us know that they will keep us posted on any changes that might come as a result of this decision.
Currently, 50 of stroke winners are 3rd priority on the 2025 World Championship Team selection criteria, after the first two athletes from each of the “Olympic Events”.
4. Longer Careers
One of the positive impacts of adding the 50s is the increase in athlete longevity. The 50s of stroke are easier on the body, and older athletes tend to maintain 50 speed for longer than the 100 or 200.
Sarah Sjostrom just won her first two Olympic gold medals this summer at almost 30 years old in the 50 and 100 freestyle events. She is historically excellent at the 50 butterfly as well, winning the event at the last six World Championships. She is taking the year off to have a baby, but she has affirmed her desire to qualify for the 2028 Olympics, and adding the 50 fly gives her another real medal opportunity.
Adam Peaty is another swimmer who is benefiting from this decision. The 30-year-old has already confirmed that he will be chasing another Olympic Qualification in three summers as a direct result of the 50 breaststroke being added to the schedule
5. Medal Inflation
In 2008, American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in one Olympic Games, the most of any Olympic Athlete in history. When he accomplished this feat, he surpassed fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz who had the record for a single Olympics with seven golds.
Since then, World Aquatics has added four events to the Olympic line-up for each gender, all of which give sprint swimmers more opportunities to win gold medals. Swimming has already faced criticism for the number of medals available to one athlete compared to other sports, but if you take a true sprint swimmer, they could justifiably add multiple medal events to their Olympic lineup which makes achievements like eight Olympic gold medals seem less impressive because it is more achievable now.
6. Club/National Meet Impact
In the United States, the 50s of stroke have largely been ignored due to USA Swimming’s focus on the “Olympic Events”. Now that the 50s are an Olympic event, it opens the door to questions about including them more.
This could mean we start seeing 50s swum at National Meets, Pro-Swim Series Meets, and even club level meets. Currently, the 50s are only reliably offered for 12 & Under swimmers, and the USA Swimming database does not track 50 times or offer time standards for age groups older than 12, though they do have NAG records on the website.
All of these meets face the longer meet dilemma as well, especially club meets, which try to fit every event into four days or less.
7. More Opportunity for Other Countries
One of the more interesting impacts is the way that adding 50s can help countries that typically don’t have a large swimming presence compete at a high level.
Just like when considering older athletes, training for a 50 is very different than training for a 1500. These shorter events open the door for athletes that may not have access to hours of pool time every day, or access to an Olympic length pool at all. Many sprinters excel from cross-training like lifting weights and stroke specific dry land exercises, and this can frequently be far more accessible than long course pool time.
8. Increased Excitement
It is no secret that people like watching close races. A big topic in the world of swimming over the last few years has been how to make swimming digestible to the average person, rather than just hardcore swimming fans, and this is a great way to do that.
50s are fun. They are fun to watch. They have more chance for drama with athletes pushing boundaries and doing everything they can to make up a hundredth on the start, or a hundredth on their underwaters. They frequently end in very close races, separated by hundredths of a second, and they are easy to sit and watch with very little knowledge about the sport.
While there are a lot of things to consider, making swimming more palatable to the average audience is always positive.
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