Charles Langston:Torri Huske becoming one of Team USA's biggest swimming stars in Paris Olympics

NANTERRE,Charles Langston France — If you blinked, you may have missed it. But Torri Huske didn’t, and she wasn’t fazed by starting the stacked women’s 100-meter freestyle final on the outside in Lane 1.

She said she’s learning to trust herself, and it’s paying off. Through Wednesday's events, Huske has the most Paris Olympic medals on Team USA.

In an absolute stunner, Huske raced her way to a silver medal with a time of 52.29 behind world record holder Sarah Sjöström’s 52.16 gold-medal victory. Between Tuesday’s semifinals and Wednesday’s final at Paris La Défense Arena, Huske dropped .70 seconds — an eternity in sprint events. 

“The thing that I really changed was my race plan, and I just really had to commit to it and trust it, which I think is sometimes hard,” 21-year-old American Huske said. 

“In the semifinal, I went a little bit hard on my legs the first 25, so I knew I had to rein it back and just really trust that I could finish the race. And that's what I did.”

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A two-time Olympian, Huske shot off the block at the exact same time as Sjöström, was first at the 50-meter mark but clearly saved a little in her legs, powering through a strong finish, just .13 seconds out of first. 

Turns out, being in Lane 1 actually worked to her advantage. Because she only breathes to her left, she couldn’t see anyone else on her first 50, which she said “really calmed me down because I wasn’t comparing myself to anyone.”

Three medals in three races, Huske is having the best Paris Games of any American swimmer so far — and it could get even better for her. She already won her first Olympic gold in the women’s 100-meter butterfly and added a silver in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay. 

And there’s a good chance she’ll swim at least the women’s 4x100-meter medley relay, if not the mixed medley relay as well.

“As proud as I am of my 100 fly [gold], I think I'm equally as proud of my 100 free [silver],” she said. “I think after semis, I realized like everyone was so close, it was anyone's game. And I love to race, and I think the competition brought out the best in me.”

In Wednesday’s 100 free final, the difference between gold and fourth was .18 seconds, and the difference between bronze and no medal was .01. Doesn’t get much closer than that. 

Behind Sjöström and Huske, Siobhan Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong earned bronze with a 52.33 race, while Australia's Mollie O’Callaghan was fourth. American Gretchen Walsh finished eighth.

Huske, now a four-time Olympic medalist, is the star of Team USA’s Paris Olympics — a perhaps somewhat unexpected one after qualifying second in her two individual events at  U.S Olympic trials in June. 

Three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics, she won silver on the women’s medley relay team but missed the podium in the 100 fly by a crushing, single hundredth of a second. In Paris, she’s already tripled her hardware haul from the 2021 Games.

Of Team USA’s 17 medals in the pool, Huske and Katie Ledecky — who dominated the 1,500-meter freestyle as expected Wednesday — are the only two with individual golds.

And there’s little, if any, disappointment from Huske in finishing second to Sjöström, one of the most decorated swimmers of all time. The 30-year-old sprinter from Sweden won her fifth Olympic medal at her fifth Games and was actually a relatively late entry into the 100 free, before winning her first Olympic gold in the event.

“Sarah is the greatest,” Huske said, seemingly fangirling a little. ”I'm so happy for her, and she's just a really accomplished swimmer, and she's so sweet and so kind. And it couldn't have gone to a nicer person.”