Tonga’s swimmer Noelani Day, 18, fell short of advancing to the semifinals in the Women’s 50m Freestyle at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Competing in Heat 4 at the U Arena Paris La Defense, Day clocked a time of 28.60, securing 3rd place in her heat but failing to qualify for the next round. With a total of 79 swimmers in the event, her time ranked 51st overall.
This marks Day’s second Olympic appearance; she previously finished seventh in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics with a time of 29.06. The top 16 swimmers from the heats advance to the semifinals. The Olympic record for this event is 23.81, set by Australia’s Emma McKeon at Tokyo.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström, the world record holder, outpaced all competitors with a time of 23.85, just shy of her own world record of 23.61 from Fukuoka last year. Among other Pacific competitors, Georgia-Leigh Vele from PNG swam 27.61 and Samoa’s Kaiya Brown achieved 28.31, both faster than Day’s time but not enough to secure them places in the semi finals.
