Jordan Crooks finished 13th overall with a time of 48.10 seconds, after competing in the 100-metre freestyle semi-final at the Olympics.
“Not exactly what I wanted but things happen,” Crooks, 22, said after his race. “[I] gave it my best, it just wasn’t enough to make it to the final. I know I could be faster but it didn’t happen on this day,” he added, noting that the last 50m of the race needed to be cleaner.
His time was .16 seconds off qualifying for the finals tomorrow at the Paris La Defense Arena.
Crooks had noted after his heat, where he posted a time of 48.01 seconds, that he needed to be a little more aggressive off the wall at the 50m mark and fight for the finish in his coming races.
Though his valiant effort came up short in the French capital, hope remains for Cayman landing a podium place at the Olympics.
Olympics: Jordan Crooks fifth fastest swimmer heading into 100m free semis
Crooks – Cayman’s fastest swimmer of all time – has proven that he is the best when the pressure is on against the world’s elite. His result in the winter of 2022 is the most notable example, where he bested many of those he is competing against in Paris, to win gold at the FINA Short Course World Championships.
“It’s my first time here [at the Olympics] but I did try to set out to do the best I can in the events I came here to swim,” Crooks added.
“Ultimately, a final is the goal… but we still have more swims to do, so [I’m] just going to focus on those.”
He will look to the 50m free sprint heat, slated for Thursday, 1 Aug. – a race that he is more favoured in.
At the 2023 long course World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, he made the 50m final but came up only 0.15 seconds shy of a bronze medal.
But even if Crooks doesn’t medal at this Olympics, he has already cemented his place among the world’s best athletes and carries the proud support of his country.
Cayman at the Olympics: How and where to watch
Thursday
Men’s 50m freestyle – heats: 4am on USA, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
Men’s 50m freestyle semi-finals: 1:44pm on NBC, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
Women’s dinghy race: From 1:35am on EuroSport.
Friday
Men’s 50m freestyle final (medal event): 1:30pm on NBC, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
- CBC, Eurosport and BBC are also carrying similar coverage for those that have access. If you know of any other channels to access Cayman athletes at the Olympics from Cayman let us know by emailing [email protected].
- Further updates on Team Cayman schedule to follow later in the week.
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Just watched Jordan’s fantastic performance in his 50meter semi-final which he won!. He stands 4th fastest for the final with a good chance of a medal. The BBC commentators were very impressed revealing that the Cayman Islands had never won a swimming medal.