Canadian competitive swimmer, Emma Finlin, approaches the start position moments before the start of the women’s 10-kilometre marathon swimming event during the 2024 Olympic Games, on Aug. 8, in the Seine, Paris, France.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Maybe it was the adrenalin or the caffeine, but after swimming 10-kilometres in the Seine River on Thursday, Canadian marathon swimmer Emma Finlin was remarkably upbeat.
It was her first Olympics, in an endurance event that is as punishing as you will find at these Summer Games. The 19-year-old from Edmonton was the second-youngest swimmer in the race. But even though Finlin got thrown off course by the current on her first lap, which cost her precious time and left her out of contention, she was happy to finish.
Dutch swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal won gold in a time of 2:03:34.2. Australia’s Moesha Johnson took silver in 2:03:39.7. And Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci claimed bronze in 2:03:42.8.
Finlin, a pool swimmer who began open-water swimming a few years ago, placed 23rd, crossing the finish line in 2:22:06.5.
Open-water swimming is a unique sport, where athletes face a multitude of unusual challenges, such as body contact from their competitors, unpredictable weather and encounters with wildlife. The strangest thing that ever happened to Finlin was when she got stung in the face by a jellyfish while swimming at an ocean competition in Japan.
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Marathon swimming in Paris came with its own challenges. Open-water events aren’t typically held in rivers, usually taking place in oceans or lakes. In addition to concerns about the water quality in the Seine, with high bacteria counts leading up to the race, swimmers also battled strong currents.
Hungarian swimmer Bettina Fabian, who placed fifth, said the water in the river was “surprisingly clear,” but added, “we will see in a couple of days” if any swimmers fall ill. Fabian also joked that she had brought pálinka, a strong Hungarian alcohol, with her to Paris as a cure for any bacterial infections. “So I will drink that,” she said.
As a precaution, Finlin opted out of a training swim in the Seine this week to make sure she wasn’t affected by the water before the competition.
Swimmers compete in the river Seine at the start of the women’s 10km marathon swimming event during the 2024 Olympic Games, on Aug. 8 in the Seine.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Not long after crossing the finish line, Finlin chatted about her race, what it was like to swim in the Seine and how she would spend the rest of her day.
You just finished the marathon swim at the Olympics. How does that feel?
Really grateful to just be in there with all those incredible girls. It wasn’t the race I wanted to put in for my first Olympics, but I’m pretty proud of myself for finishing.
How do you feel physically right now?
Pretty exhausted. It doesn’t really hit you until a couple of hours later.
And how do you feel mentally after a race like that?
Definitely there’s a lot of emotions. I was pretty nervous going into the race. So I think it still doesn’t really feel real quite yet. I’m excited to see my family and give them a hug, they’re my biggest supporters.
Just watching it was exhausting.
I underestimated the current for sure. So that was a bit difficult, but I couldn’t control that, so I just tried to keep myself calm.
On the way there [with the current] you kind of flew down, so I could drop my [stroke] rate a bit and kind of relax. But then on the way back you were fighting a pretty heavy current. And the sun was there too, so it was hard to see. So I just did a lot of sighting [where swimmers look for landmarks on land to gauge their position] just to see where I was going. And I mostly just tried to keep calm and keep my rate consistent because I couldn’t control the current coming at me.
Swimmers compete in the river Seine at the start of the women’s 10km marathon swimming event during the 2024 Olympic Games.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Where did you train for swimming in a river?
I just trained at my home pool, and then we did some open-water in Spain at our staging camp before I came here … It was in the ocean. I think all open-water experiences are really great to have. I’m definitely more used to an ocean or a lake, so adding a river is pretty cool.
What was the water quality like in the Seine?
Um, it’s pretty similar to lakes that we’ve swam in before. I really didn’t notice much of a difference. I wasn’t really thinking about what was in it to be honest. It was out of my control … Our doctor was pretty on top of it for this race.
No jelly fish out there, but what was the most unexpected thing you encountered?
I think a tree branch.
What does the rest of today look like for you? How do you recover from a 10-kilometre swim?
Well, I haven’t seen my family in two weeks so I’ll probably hang out with them and then probably nap and roll out just to recover my muscles … You have a lot of adrenalin, and we have caffeine too, so I’m pretty awake right now, but I’m sure I’ll crash.
You slapped the timing gate on the way by [an arch the athletes swim under at the finish line, and often touch on the way by]. You hit it pretty hard.
I honestly couldn’t see the timing gate going into it, so I was just so happy to get there. And the current was going pretty fast, so I didn’t want to miss it. I was definitely happy to finish the race.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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