Swimming at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games:

Six of the men who contested the Olympic final were amongst the 10 fastest of all time. The man at the top of the list was Atlanta silver medalist Tom Malchow of the USA who had broken the world record at the US Trials but world champion [Denys Sylantyev] and Olympic title holder Denis Pankratov stood between him and Olympic glory. Malchow could not have impressed more in the qualifying rounds as he set new Olympic records in both his swims and was the fastest qualifier for the final by over half a second.

Pankratov gambled on going out fast and hoping to hold on for the last half of the race. At 100 metres he was inside world record race but he faded badly in the closing stages and was overtaken by Malchow. Sylantyev made rapid progress through to win the silver whilst Australia’s Justin Norris from Baltimore – the world would hear much more of him over the next decade