Jordan Crooks makes history by becoming Cayman’s first Olympic swimming finalist

Jordan Crooks continues to make history.

This time, he’s done it in front of the world.

Crooks became the first Cayman Islands swimmer ever to qualify for an Olympics Final on Thursday, 1 Aug. by clocking a time of 21.54 seconds in the Semifinals of the Men’s 50-meter Freestyle at the 2024 Summer Games, in Paris.

“I’ve gotten to the Final like I wanted so hopefully we can rest, recover and feel better for tomorrow,” Crooks said after the race.

He won the first of two Semifinals races by four one-hundredths of a second, edging United States star and Olympic record holder Caeleb Dressel in the process. Crooks now turns his attention to the Olympic Final while the Cayman Islands celebrates his historic performance.

“It means a lot,” he said. “I’m grateful for all the support so far through the meet, so thank you to everybody at home who’s been doing an awesome job supporting and hopefully I can make everyone proud tomorrow.”

Crooks’ performance in Paris has been nothing short of extraordinary. First, he became just the third Cayman Islands swimmer ever to advance to an Olympics Semifinal by qualifying earlier this week in the 100 Free. When he advanced to the 50 Free semis earlier today, he joined Brett Fraser as the only two Caymanian swimmers to advance to the Semifinals in multiple events at the Olympics. But it was his performance Thursday evening in front of a packed Paris La Defense Arena that set him apart from the rest as he now becomes the only Caymanian swimmer ever to advance to the Finals in the Olympics.

“Just the best 50 I can put together,” Crooks said of his expectations for Friday’s Finals. “Not a specific time or anything in mind, just the best race I can put together tomorrow and hopefully it works out.”

While Crooks swam in lane seven in the Heats round, he swam in lane four for the Semifinals, right in the middle of some of the best swimmers in the world.

“The outside lanes might have a little bit more wash,” he said. “Inside lane a lot of times has cleaner water, but great things can happen from any lane.”

And that they did.

Crooks once again was powerful out of the blocks and led the race from start to finish.

The Final is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Cayman Islands time and Crooks knows he’ll be walking out on the deck with all of the Cayman Islands behind him.

“Thank you. Thank you for all of the support,” he said. “It means a lot and I’m just very grateful to be able to represent Cayman.”

Paris 2024 takes place 26 July – 11 August. Paris is the main host city with events held at 16 other cities throughout France and one in Tahiti.

Cayman Islands Schedule of events

Men’s 50-meter Freestyle Final 2 August

Women’s Dinghy Races 3 & 4 2 August

Men’s 100 meters Preliminary Round 3 August

Men’s 100-meters Round 1 3 August

Women’s Dinghy Races 5 & 6 3 August

Men’s 100 meters Semi-Final 4 August

Men’s 100 meters Final 4 August

Women’s Dinghy Races 7 & 8 4 August

Women’s Dinghy Races 9 & 10 5 August

Women’s Dinghy Medal Race 6 August

Closing Ceremony 11 August