Tuesday's swimming action was full of high drama. The first final of the day took place at around 21:00 following the exciting semi-finals with the women's 100m backstroke. It was a duel between world record holder Regan Smith of the USA, who had recently set the world record in the trials. And Kaylee McKeown of Australia, who had previously held the record. 

They have exchanged the record several times. The competition was fierce, with Smith leading for the first 80 metres, but McKeown's finish was incredible. She measured the distance perfectly. She reclaimed her Olympic title and improved on the time she set for the same distance at Tokyo 2020. McKeown finished in 57.33, a new Olympic record. Smith (57.66) took silver and Katherine Berkoff took bronze.

The second final of the day was the men's 800m freestyle. The stage was set for a showdown. Ireland's Daniel Wiffen, a long-distance swimming sensation, was one of the favourites. Australia and the USA were also in contention. This relatively new event has only been contested twice at the Olympic Games. 

After a successful career break, American Bobby Finke was looking to defend his title. With Paltrinieri leading the race, Finke bided his time in third place. In the final 100m, Wiffen surged ahead and broke the Olympic record with a time of 7:38.19. Finke took silver in 7:38.75 and Paltrinieri took bronze in 7:39.38, having set a blistering pace from the start but unable to maintain it against two of the best swimmers of the moment.

The last final of the day was the men's 4x200m freestyle relay. Great Britain and France were the favourites to break the world record held by the USA. Germany set a competitive pace early on. Great Britain quickly took the lead and swam under the world record time. 

Great Britain, the USA and Australia then led the race. They were all fighting for the medals. The final leg was spectacular, with Great Britain retaining Olympic gold with a time of 6:59.43, just shy of the world record of 6:58.55. The USA (7:00.58) took silver and Australia (7:01.28) bronze.

Tuesday's swimming action also featured remarkable semi-final performances, particularly from local hero Leon Marchand, who faced the daunting task of competing in four events in one day. Marchand won the 200m butterfly semi-final in 1:53.05, just an hour before the medal final. It is only swimmers of his calibre who can pull off such a feat. 

The other 200m butterfly semi-final was won by Hungary's Kristof Milak, who is back in top form for Paris 2024 after taking a year off after the 2022 World Championships. Milak, the world record holder, won his semi-final in 1:52.07, a second faster than Marchand, to save energy for their showdown on Wednesday 31 July.

Bernadette Haughey held off Australia's Shayna Jack and world champion Marrit Steenbergen in the women's 100m freestyle semi-final, always a highly anticipated event. In the other semi-final, Mollie O'Callaghan (52.75) took on China's Yang Junxuan and Swedish veteran Sarah Sjöström. Five swimmers battled to the finish. O'Callaghan came out on top, setting up a duel with Haughey on Wednesday.

Stubblety-Cook dominated the men's 200m breaststroke semi-finals with a time of 2:08.07. The other semi-final featured France's Marchand, who had just enough time to recover from his earlier 200m butterfly. Marchand flew through the water and quickly took the lead in both heats. He won in 2:08.11. Spectacular.