The 2024 Summer Olympics are over a week into action, with fans around the world watching the planet’s best athletes in a wide variety of sports compete for a gold medal.
Garnering much of the attention in the U.S. so far in the Olympics has been swimming, with Katie Ledecky headlining Team USA with an incredible, record-setting performance.
Those tuning into swimming at the Paris Games may have noticed some swimmers wearing two caps while in the pool – and there’s a reason behind it.
With razor-thin margins in races that come down to minute differences in finish times, swimmers are doing everything they can to get an upper hand on the competition.
While swim caps are standard gear for competitive swimmers, some swimmers are stacking a second cap on their heads in an effort to move through the water with as little drag as possible.
Though the favorable aerodynamics are a large reason behind the caps, swimmers also don the headwear to both keeper longer hair out of their faces and to help stabilize their goggles.
Those looking to catch up with the latest in swimming at the Paris Olympics can be found here.