The SwimSwam Podcast

We sat down with 3x Olympic champion Rebecca Soni, the breaststroke legend who won back-to-back Olympic titles in the 200 breast. After seeing 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby take the title in the women's 100 breast, Soni compared Jacoby's reaction to what Soni felt when winning her first 200 breast title in 2008. Soni emphasizes that exceeding your expectations as an athlete at the top level is a very rare thing and something to be appreciated and enjoyed.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Olympic and world champion Ricky Berens to get his perspective on the 2020 Olympic 200 free final and what he see's for the 4x200 free with USA. Berens breaks down the subtleties of what it takes to swim a great 200 free and where the world is at in that progression. While chances are grim, he explains why USA still has a chance to win gold tonight against Britain, Russia, and the rest of the field.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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SWIMSWAM’S TOP 5 SWIMS OF THE 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 3 

#5 – M 200 Free: Rising star and 16-year-old David Popovici drops a huge 1:44.68 in his first Olympic final, just missing a medal at 4th place and breaking the European Jr record

#4 – M 200 Free: The British are coming, with Tom Dean and Duncan Scott taking 1-2 in the 200 free, both dropping 1:44.2's to top the rest of the field by nearly half a second

#3 – W 100 Breast: 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby keeps her momentum rolling from Olympic Trials, getting her hand on the wall first to hit Gold, while defending champ Lilly King earns Bronze behind her

#2 – M 100 Back: Evgeny Rylov breaks a European record en route to gold (51.98) and a 1-2 Russian finish as his countryman Kliment Kilosnikov finishes right behind him at 52.0 for silver

#1 – W 100 back: This highly anticipated showdown did not disappoint, and once again Australia took control as Kaylee McKeown moved ahead of the field with 15m to go and touched first at 57.47, the #2 performance ever and just .02 behind her own world record

BELLY FLOP OF THE DAY: Men's 200 Fly

It was disappointing to see 14 men go 1:55 or slower in the semis, with #2 being 1:54.9. With Kristof Milak going the easiest looking 1:52 that has ever been swum, we would have thought the rest of the world might have been able to catch up a bit. But the real belly flop was Chad le Clos' 31.8 final 50, which was not only entertaining (and painful) to watch, but surprisingly effective, with the fly-and-die swim netting him the 3rd seed. le Clos could easily turn that belly flop into a medal today.

HOT TOPIC OF THE DAY: Will USA Vets Show Up?

We've seen USA youngsters firing in Tokyo just as we did in Omaha, and I'm not saying that the Vets aren't swimming well. They just aren't getting their hands on the wall like we're used to seeing them do and it worries me as an American. But as Mel notes, it's early in the meet, and USA is used to being in situations like this and staying resilient through the latter half of big meets like this.

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Gold Medal Mel Stewart sat down with sports icon Jason Lezak, the man who anchored the most exciting race in Olympic swimming history, the 2008 men's 4x100 free relay. Lezak unpacks Team USA's gold medal performance last night, detailing Dressel's leadoff, the exchanges and Zach Apple's monster anchor swim.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Olympic champion and USA sprinting legend, Nathan Adrian to get his wisdom through 2 days of the Olympic Games. The most interesting thing he said: we should start a petition that top seed gets to choose what lane they swim in at night. Why? Adrian prefers the outside lane for his events, especially a 100 free because that way competitors can't ride your wave as much. Adrian noted that on the lead-off of the 400 free relay, everyone knows US star Caeleb Dressel will be out fast and they gravitate to him like a magnet, trying to benefit from the wake he creates.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 2. 

#5 - W 100 Back: Regan Smith breaks the 100 back Olympic record (4th time it went down in less than 24 hours) with 58.76 to take the top seed heading into the final tomorrow night

#4 - M 4x100 Free Relay: USA Men defend their gold in the 400 free relay, putting on a dominant performance of 3:08.97 and winning by over 1 second

#3 - W 100 Fly: Maggie MacNeil, after winning 100 fly gold at world champs in 2019, backs it up with an Olympic title, swimming the #2 time ever in 55.59

#2 - M 100 Breast: Adam Peaty defends his Olympic title in the 100 breast, swimming the #5 time all-time at 57.37 and dominating the field as per usual for him

#1 - W 400 Free: Ariarne Titmus vs. Katie Ledecky round 1 did not disappoint as we saw the two titans battle it out for 400 free gold, where Titmus ultimately got her hand on the wall first, touching at 3:56.69, the #2 time ever, while Ledecky finished at 3:57.36, the #3 time ever

Belly Flop of the Day: Russia Men's 4x100 Free Relay

Coming into the meet, our editor-in-chief Braden Keith had picked them to take gold, and just about everyone else knew they were looming as a title contender. After a shaky prelims, we saw Russia put together an even shakier finals performance, back-ended by a 48.1 from relay-stalwart Vlad Morozov and a 48.4 anchor from Kliment Kolesnikov, coming off of a 52.2 swim in the 100 back semi less than an hour before.

This led the team to finish 7th overall, nearly 2 seconds outside of the medals.

Hot Topic of the Day: Titmus vs. Ledecky

Titmus took round 1 of this Clash of the Titans, but what does this say about both swimmers moving into the rest of the meet? We know Ledecky is firing, and it seemed like she played into Titmus' hand in the 400 free strategically. In the 200, Ledecky could make it interesting but it seems like Titmus has too much speed to catch.

Meaning it all comes down to the 800 free.

We say Ledecky swims her own race at the end of the meet, learning from her 400 and staying away from Titmus early on so she has no wave to ride, successfully defending her last 2 Olympic titles i in the event.

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We sat down with Carson Foster, the 19-year-old who just put up the #1 time in the world in the 400 IM from Austin, Texas. Foster breaks down what went right in his swim, what didn't go so right in his finals swim at the 2021 Olympic Trials, and what he thought when watching the 400 IM Olympic final. Foster gives a lot of insight into what the men in that 400 IM final went through to get to the top 8 and why the times may not have accurately portrayed the effort being put out.   Foster also provides insight into the work he's been doing since coming back to Austin from the Olympic Trials, including 10x100 (suited) on 1:10 best average, where he held 57s, the time he would want to come home in at the end of a 400 IM. Foster says getting the feeling of that '400 IM pain' on numbers 5,6,7,8 gave him confidence heading into the sectional meet this weekend.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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This is 12 minutes. The full hour drops next week.    Tom Dolan is a 400 IM beast, winning this race in 1996 and 2000. In 2000 Tom broke the World Record dropping a 4:11.76. Think about that! That was 21 years ago in a tiny, non-compression suit. Tom has high 400 IM swimming IQ, and he shares it here, breaking down the Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland gold and sliver medal Olympic performances.  Daiya Seto is figures prominently, as does Caron Foster who dropped a 4:08.4 on Friday night at the Speedo Sectional Meet in Austin, Texas, 24 hours ahead of the Olympic final, a time that would've won the gold. There are a lot of layers to this analysis, and we air them out entirely next week. This 12 minutes is a big teaser.   For those who don't know what's going on with Tom Dolan post Olympics. He's been a force in the learn-to-swim industry with his Tom Dolan Swim Schools. Recently he's merged with Big Blue Swim School becoming their President of East Coast Operations. This is not a small swim business. Big Blue Swim School is a powerhouse with 130 franchises.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 1. 

#5: Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland going 1-2 for the USA, Kalisz winning his first-ever gold and bringing home the US's first gold of the Games

#4: We take Adam Peaty going fast for granted sometimes, but let's take a moment to appreciate that through prelims and semis, he's dropped 2 Top-10 times of all-time with 57.5/57.6

#3: Yui Ohashi takes gold for the home country of Japan, winning the 400 IM at her home Olympic Games in 4:32.0

#2: Tunisia's surprise Olympic champion in 18-year-old Ahmed Hafnaoui, who won the 400 free with a gutsy swim out of lane 8

#1: We've got to give it up for the Australian women's 4x100 free relay, which not only won gold by over 3 seconds but smashed their own world record in the process

Belly Flop of the Day: Daiya Seto

With the top 6 finishers all dipping under the 4:10 mark in today’s men’s 400m IM heats, reigning world champion Daiya Seto found himself out of the final in 9th place. Putting up a strong race through the beginning of the freestyle leg, the man let himself get passed by several swimmers to shockingly wind up sitting on the sidelines for the final.

“I thought I’d finish in 8th place but I misread the time needed to advance,” he said. “At the end, I misread the freestyle pace. It’s a shame because I’m in good shape.

Hot Topic of the Day: Men's 400 IM Times

The first swimming medal of these 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was earned by American Chase Kalisz in the men’s 400m IM. The silver medalist from Rio clocked a time of 4:09.42 to lead teammate Jay Litherland and Aussie Brendon Smith who finished in the silver and bronze medal positions, respectively.

Yes, Kalisz won by nearly a second. However, the entire field was on the sluggish side, at least compared to historic data.

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Who will win among the international swim stars at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo? I took this question to SwimSwam International Reporter Retta Race, and she delivers. I'm onboard with 99% of her Olympic Previews except for one. Spoiler Alert! It involves Team USA rocket Caeleb Dressel and the blue ribbon race.  Retta delivers here, and you can catch her as a pundit on the BBC if you live across the pond. She'll be providing coverage for them as well.  Thanks to Retta for coming on the SwimSwam Podcast! She'll be back to unpack her predictions next week...

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Olympic champion Kaitlin Sandeno to get her expertise on what life is like leading up to and during the Olympic Games. Sandeno gives us the rundown on adjusting to life in the Olympic Village, managing nerves before your races, and keeping your pre-race emotions in check. She also gives us the lowdown on doing the 400 IM-400 Free back-to-back on the first 2 days of competition and what it's like to be one of the first racers of the Games.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with SwimSwam Co-founders Braden Keith and Mel Stewart to bring you a comprehensive preview of the biggest races to watch in the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games. In days 6-8 of competition is the climax of the Games, with races such as:

• Women's 50/100 Free: We see a lot of usual suspects in the women's sprints, be it Cate Campbell, Sarah Sjostrom, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Penny Oleksiak, and Abbey Weitzeil. We won't see defending gold medalist Simone in the 100 free, but she will be swimming the 50
• Men's 200 IM: Can Daddy Daiya or Chase Kalisz come down from the 400 IM to challenge Michael Andrew's speed in the 200?
• Mixed 4x100 Medley Relay: Making it's Olympic debut, we will see how different countries strategize to try to get their hand on the wall with 2 women and 2 men each

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Music: Otis McDonald
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Today we have special guests on the SwimSwam Podcast. We are talking with the company, Malmsten, which is a family that has been a pillar of strength in swimming going back to 1974. Malmsten retains an interesting and unique place in swimming history. They are the story behind a famous pair of goggles, and Malmsten has been the standard bearer as the official RACING LANE LINES going back the 1976 Olympic Games. Malmsten has been the Official FINA Supplier of competition equipment for both the competition pools and warm-up pools for all World Championships as well as the Olympic Games.

On this podcast we host the founders Tommy and Margareta Malmsten, and their son, Chief Operating Officer Christian Malmsten.  We also talk with two Olympic swimmers on the team, the Head of Exports Eva Marie, and the CEO and President of Malmsten INC., Mike Orn, who is leading the company’s service in North America.

Go here to see Malmsten’s HQ.

Malmsten is a SwimSwam partner.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with newly signed Speedo athlete and 2021 Olympian Zach Apple. Apple talks us through both the process of signing a deal with Speedo and making the 2021 US Olympic Team in Omaha. He proceeds to give us the full scoop on Olympic training camp, including some suited swims he threw down just last week in practice.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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P2Life has been a SwimSwam partner since 2013.

P2Life Founder Tim Shead has lead a fascinating life.  He was intimately involved in formation of USA Swimming, coached at the international level for the United States, owns 48 Masters World Records, and is a 2014 Masters Swimming Hall of Fame inductee.

SwimSwam has had a partnership with P2Life for many, many years for a few keys reasons. We respect Tim's swimming roots and passion for the sport, and that he's formulated P2Life for swimmers. Most importantly we are keenly aware that in the age of athletes testing positive for banned substances, P2Life has an independent 3rd party company - BCSG - test every batch of products they make.

In the SwimSwam Podcast we learn more about Tim's history and how he developed and formulated P2Life.  We talk nutrition, recovery and their vital impact on athletic performance.  We'll definitely have Tim back on the podcast.  In the meantime, for curious minds, go to their website for more details here P2Life.com.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with SwimSwam Co-founders Braden Keith and Mel Stewart to bring you a comprehensive preview of the biggest races to watch in the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games. In days 4 and 5 of competition, the Games really pick up, with races such as:

• Women's 200 Free: Ariarne Titmus vs. Katie Ledecky Round 2 plus Olympic champs Allison Schmitt and Federica Pellegrini
• Men's 4x200 Free Relay: Brits look very strong, but judging from 2019 Russia, Australia, Italy and the USA are all in it
• Men's 100 Free: Caeleb Dressel vs. Kyle Chalmers with a quick rising 16yo David Popovici plus Kliment Kolesnikov, Zach Apple and more in the mix
• Women's 4x200 Free Relay: Can the USA get back their title from Australia after a narrow loss in 2019?

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Music: Otis McDonald
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The title above is for swim fans here on SwimSwam.com. If you want to play the prediction game, see my predictions below.   The title probably should be How Does Olympic Swimmer Michael Andrew Handle Media Pressure?

In the aftermath of USA Swimming’s press conference last week with 2021 Team USA Olympian Michael Andrew, I asked him to come on the SwimSwam podcast. If you missed it, see his press conference here. He went viral because of his response about why he wasn’t vaccinated. (For the record, I am vaccinated, and I recommend it. I trust the science. I also strive to respect others' opinion on this topic despite my personal feelings.) At any rate, I didn’t ask Michael to come on the pod to debate or defend himself. I did want to know how he has handled the media pressure.

For anyone in swimming, you know Michael’s been a lightening rod since he was ten years old, back when he started his ambush on nearly every National Age Group Record in the sport.

Michael unpacks his long journey and how he’s handled criticism over the years, from his choice to train exclusively USRPT to turning pro at the tender age of 14. Michael also opens about his decision to not participate in Season III of the International Swimming League (ISL), which partly includes more insight about the Michael Andrew Swim Academy. Finally he deconstructs his Olympic Trials performance and looks ahead to the Olympics and Team USA’s challenges in the men’s relays.

For curious mind, see the Michael Andrew Swim Academy here.

MICHAEL ANDREW - OLYMPIC GAMES PREDICTIONS:

200 IM? Michael wins gold in the 200 IM with another 1:55 low. However,  Michael swims faster in the semi, just dipping under 1:55 for a new PB.

100 breast? I’d like to see a 57 plus. I think he makes the podium, winning a bronze.

50 free? 21.3 and he’s bronze or just off the podium. (I see a fast 50m free final. Dressel dips under 21 seconds, 20.86, and he pulls two more swimmers along each posting 21.1 and 21.2.)

Mixed Medley Relay? Michael Andrew nets gold swimming in the prelim. Team USA switches the lineup in the final, going with King in the breast and Dressel in the Fly.

Medley relay? I don’t know. I think the U.K. wins, which SwimSwam Editor-in-Chief Braden backed up, and which I’ve already stated in our Olympic Games podcast preview (which drops Friday). SwimSwam Head of Production Coleman Hodges disagrees. He thinks Team USA wins back the gold after the 2019 World Championship loss.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with SwimSwam Co-founders Braden Keith and Mel Stewart to bring you a comprehensive preview of the biggest races to watch in the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games. In the first 3 days of competition, we'll see barn-burners like the women's 400 free, men's 100 back, women's 100 back, and both 4x100 free relays, where the Australian women and USA men looked prime to defend their 2016 titles.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Greg Mescall, the head of digital content for USA Water Polo. For those in our audience who are less informed about the happenings and current status of USA Water Polo (cough, me) heading into the 2021 Olympics, Greg is here to help. He gives us a verbal players guide on medal favorites, how the tournament works, and USA men's and women's chances at topping the podium.   Toward the end of the podcast, we talk about Greg's personal sporting experience, not only traveling with the water polo team but also calling for NBC, ESPN, and more in a variety of sports, both summer and winter. Greg has some great insights into what can be gained from saying yes to opportunities like this, big or small, especially if you're a sports fan or want to become more well versed in athletics.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Liam Custer, our #3 ranked recruit in the boys' high school class of 2022. Custer made big news last week when he announced his verbal commitment to Stanford in conjunction with our #2 recruit, Josh Zuchowski. Custer explains what went into that decision and why he and Josh wanted to commit at the same time. Custer also goes into detail about training during the COVID pandemic and the improvements he's made in the last year, which are substantial ones on paper.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Gabe Castaño, the Penn State grad who recently tied the Olympic 'A' cut in the 50 free with a 22.01 at the Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo, California. Castaño describes his Olympic qualification in detail, from going to the Mare Nostrum tour and racing for 10 days in Europe (and not achieving the A standard) to going to California as a last chance effort and racing the 50 5 times over the course of the weekend, only to tie the A cut in his time trial (50 #5) on the last day of the Olympic qualification period.   Castaño also takes us through his humble beginnings in swimming, as he was a late bloomer who didn't start swimming seriously until high school but went on to become an NCAA All-American for Penn State.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Josh Zuchowski, the #2 ranked recruit in the class of 2022. Zuchowski just verbally committed to Stanford along with #3 in their class, Liam Custer. Josh explains what went into this decision and his reaction to the SwimSwam commentor's reactions. We also get deep in the weeds on Zuchowski's swimming background, including what it has meant to have his father as his coach since he was 11.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Ron Aitken, the head coach of the Sandpipers of Nevada, the club team that has 4 current or former swimmers on the 2021 Olympic team. Aitken goes into full detail on what his 3 distance girls have been doing at the Olympic Training Camp (which he got to attend and coach at) in Hawaii. This includes a 1500 for time on a Saturday afternoon (2nd practice of the day) after hitting 70k during the week.

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The 2021 Olympic team visited with the media on Thursday from their training camp in Hawaii to chat about the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Regan Smith, Katie Ledecky, and Lilly King discuss topics such as being a teenager on the Olympic team, growing together as Team USA, and not having McDonald's in the Olympic village.

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The 2021 Olympic team visited with the media on Thursday from their training camp in Hawaii to chat about the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Team captains Simone Manuel, Allison Schmitt, Caeleb Dressel, and Ryan Murphy addressed topics such as leading Team USA, this team being such a young team (11 teenagers) and no fans in the stands in Tokyo.

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The 2021 Olympic team visited with the media on Thursday from their training camp in Hawaii to chat about the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Olympic head coaches Dave Durden and Greg Meehan discuss how training camp has gone thus far, what they've seen from certain athletes that looks promising, and much more.

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The 2021 Olympic team visited with the media on Thursday from their training camp in Hawaii to chat about the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Michael Andrew and Chase Kalisz discuss topics such as navigating through the COVID-19 protocols, embracing the pain of the 400 IM, and the 4x100 mixed medley relay.

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We sat down with Olympic icons and RISE Athlete Co-Founders Caroline Burckle and Rebecca Soni to speak about mental wellness vs. mental fortitude, especially as it relates to the US Olympic Trials and Olympic Games. Burckle and Soni both speak candidly about their experiences at both competitions and how, although they did have outlets to express their emotions in one way or another during their swimming careers, they wish there had been more of a conversation about mental wellness 10 years ago. Through RISE, Burckle and Soni are providing current athletes with mentors that will have the conversations relating to mental health and emotional awareness that the 2 Olympians missed out on.   You can visit RISE Athletes here.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with newly minted 2021 Olympian Lydia Jacoby to discuss the 2021 Olympic Trials in Omaha and how training camp is currently going in Hawaii. Jacoby takes us through her first Trials and how she navigated the extreme high of making an Olympic team and dealing with the pressure of trying to swim her own race. She reveals that her mindset heading into the meet was focused on performance, knowing that if she didn't make the team this go-around, she would still have a long career ahead of her.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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Olympic superstar Dara Torres drops in on this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast.   Dara is the first swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008), and the oldest swimmer to make an Olympic Team, which she did at the age of 41. On the Olympic stage Dara earned twelve medals — four gold, four bronze, four silver — tying her with teammates Jenny Thompson and Natalie Coughlin for the most Olympic medals won by a woman.

In this podcast Dara unpacks the recent women's sprint events at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and her connection to the newly named U.S. Olympic Team Captain, Simone Manuel.  Dara also explains her new position as the Chief Wellness Officer for www.canibrands.com  (pronounced Can-Eye-Brands), a CBD company.

Dive deeper Dara Torres at her website here.

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CONTENT WARNING: We do discuss sensitive topics, including suicide, in this video/podcast and there is brief profanity. If you're having suicidal thoughts, please call the national suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit their website at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org

We sat down with 2x Olympian Tom Shields, fresh off of his 2nd Olympic qualification in the 100 fly in Omaha. Shields dives in with us, talking for nearly an hour about his whole quad and how he's navigated the last 5 years. He mentions that for a normal person, a year or two may not seem like that long, but for someone who lives in quads, it can be a lifetime. Shields has been through many ups and downs since 2016, including the 2020 ISL season (the best season of his career) as well as a suicide attempt in late 2018, all of which he talks about in detail.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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In this Gold Medal Minute takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast with 3-time Olympic Champion Ryan Murphy, we cover a lot of topics.

Unpacking 2017-2021

2017 World Champs - Murphy was off because he achieved everything he wanted at the 2016 Olympics. In '17, he lost a bit of focus. He was still fast, but at the top, he learned that year that he has to be fully engaged.

2018 Pan Pacs - when Murphy hit his 200 back PB (1:53.57), he rested a full six weeks.  Murphy has big man strength. He knows he needs 5-6 weeks of taper.

2019 World Champs - Murphy said he felt great, was ready to race, but he simply had a bad meet against great competitors.

2021 Olympic Trials - Murphy was rested 3 weeks. He felt confident and in control--exactly where he needed to be. Of course Murphy won the 100 back (52.33) and 200 back (1:54.4).

Who Does Murphy Fear? 

Murphy said he fears no one, but he does respect his competitors, and he unpacks them in this podcast.

Raising Talent

I thought Shaine Casas would make the Olympic Team, and he got close, netting 3rd in the 100m backstroke (52.76) at U.S. Olympic Trials.  Murphy said he followed Shaine's success, and that new talent like Shaine gave him a sense of urgency in training this past year.

ISL

Murphy talks about his post Olympic plans.  At this point in time, he has been retained by LA Current's General Manager Lenny Krayzelburg for Season 3.

2021 OLYMPIC GAMES PREDICTIONS

100 back? I see a repeat of the 2016 Olympics. Ryan Murphy dips under 52 seconds, edging China's Jiayu Xu for the gold.  Russian Evgeny Rylov takes the bronze. (And, yes, this is shot in the dark. I could see Jiayu, Rylov, Kolesnikov and/or Murphy make a mistake and missing the podium. It's going to be a tight race. Would be interesting if upstart Hunter Armstrong makes the podium.)

200 back? Evgeny Rylov wins. Rylov's 1:52.9 to 1:53 low. With 3 more weeks of rest Murphy tops his PB, 1:53.4 for silver. The UK's Luke Greenbank makes the podium with a 1:54 low.

4x100 Medley Relay?  I want to see Team USA earn gold. Getting past the U.K squad will be tough. For Team USA I think Michael Andrew has to put down a 57+  in the 100 breast, and Zach Apple has to split 46.8 on the anchor. (Apple was a 46.8 split at 2019 World Champs.) I'm leaving it there, because it's not about what I think. It's all about what you think. I really want to know your thoughts on the 4x100 medley Olympic final...

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We sat down with SwimSwam Editor-in-Cheif Braden Keith and SwimSwam senior writer Jared Anderson to take a deep dive into the 2021 ISL draft. We talk about what went well about the presentation, what didn't go so well, and what we'd like to see changed moving forward. We also break down what teams 'won' the draft and how much it might matter heading into season 3 of the International Swimming League.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with 2021 Olympic head coach for the US men's team, Dave Durden. Durden is also the head coach of men's swimming at University of California and he took us through what he thought of the bears' showing at Olympic Trials. Dave is methodical and has been through this process many times, so I really enjoyed getting his perspective on how he moves through a process like Olympic Trials, going home for 1 week, then leaving again for the Olympic Games.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with SwimSwam's Junior Swimmer of the Meet from the 2021 US Olympic Trials, Matt Fallon. Fallon had my personal favorite swim of the meet in the 200 breast semis, where he touched 8th at the 100 wall and then came home in 1:05.2, running down the entire field to touch first overall and break the 17-18 national age-group record at 2:08.91. Fallon breaks down his mindset during the meet and takes us through all of his races in Omaha.

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We sat down with the head coach of the University of Virginia, and now Olympic assistant coach, Todd DeSorbo. DeSorbo wanted to make clear out of the gate that his athletes put him on the team and not the other way around. But no matter how you look at it, UVA swimmers were on a roll at the 2021 Olympic Trials as 4 athletes that train in Charlottesville made the US Olympic team and many more registered lifetime bests. DeSorbo breaks down the Olympic-qualifying performances of Paige Madden, Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass, and Catie DeLoof as well as what he's looking forward to in Tokyo.

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We sat down with Olympic medalist, DC Trident GM and on-deck host for the 2021 Olympic Trials, Kaitlin Sandeno. Anyone who has ever encountered Kaitlin knows that she is an energizing personality who is easy to be around and can get a party started. This is exactly what she was doing every night in Omaha for the first 3 weeks of June. Sandeno breaks down exactly what her day-to-day entailed during Wave I and II trials as well as what to expect from her DC Trident in season 3 of the ISL, including thoughts on her newest assistant coach, Olympic champion Cullen Jones.

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Courtesy of Speedo, a SwimSwam partner.

Today, Speedo USA unveiled its U.S. Federation Suit which will be worn by superstar swimmers Caeleb Dressel, Hali Flickinger, Jamal Hill, Becca Meyers, Ryan Murphy, Andrew Seliskar and Abbey Weitzeil during a huge summer of swimming.

The U.S. Federation Suit colorway will adorn both of Speedo’s cutting-edge tech race suits, Fastskin LZR Pure Intent or Fastskin LZR Pure Valor, designed by combining 20 years of performance learnings with innovative technologies and fabrics, creating the perfect suit for every type of competitive aquatics athlete.

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Brent Nowicki, the new FINA Executive Director is young, only 42 years old.  He grew up an age group swimmer, a breaststroker, in the United States and played DI lacrosse at Fairfield University before receiving his Juris Doctor degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

When SwimSwam captured this interview Brent had only been on the job eight days.  Despite his youthful age, Brent is stepping into the chief executive position with respectable experience across many international federations.  He's the former Managing Counsel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).  I asked around, and leaders I trust in swimming felt he could've gone down a few different career paths. They felt we're lucky to have him.  I hope they are correct.

Off camera the message from Brent was clear. Under his leadership swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming will experience more transparency, engagement, and communication from FINA, our international governing body. From my experience with FINA that would be a 180 degree turn from the policy of the former executive director, Cornel Marculescu of Romania, who held the position for 35 years.

We obviously captured the interview at U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha. While Brent's first aquatic trip as ED was to the United States, that was simply because of timing. U.S. Trials was the first big event to see elites and governance in action since he assumed the position. Brent will be on the road a lot this year, seeing aquatic sports federations around world.

The interview came together last minute thanks Dale Neuburger, former FINA Vice President, now FINA Treasurer.  I've known Dale for many years. He is a tough leader. He lets you know where he stands, and he lets you always know where you stand with him.  To Dale's credit, he headed the search committee that landed Brent, and it's seem clear Dale's mission was to find a youthful, energetic executive.

I didn't grill Brent. He's too new to the gig, but I had to at least ask Dale about the complicated relationship between FINA and the International Swimming League (ISL).  I thought Dale would respond "no comment" for a variety  of reasons, but he didn't flinch, and, in fact, had quite a bit to say. Watch to the end. Dale's forthcoming and clear on the topic.

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We sat down with world champion, Olympic medalist, and now Australian commentator James Magnussen, who was calling the races poolside in Adelaide at the 2021 Australian Olympic Trials. James gives us insight into what he saw from the Aussie team at Trials we all we his biggest USA vs. AUS matchups heading into the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. Magnussen's must-see in Tokyo is Ledecky vs. Titmus, where the two distance juggernauts will go head-to-head in 3 events: 200, 400, and 800 free. We also touch on sprinting aces Caeleb Dressel and Kyle Chalmers going at it in the 100 free as well as current world record-holder Kaylee McKeown racing former fastest-ever in the 100 back, Regan Smith.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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One of USA's newest Olympians from last week's trials was Hunter Armstrong, the 20-year-old Ohio native who swims for Ohio State. Armstrong is a self-titled "late bloomer" and until high school would often be last in practice, getting beat by male and female teammates alike. Armstrong talks about his journey through this stage and eventually reaching the next level, his motivation being getting to go to a training trip with his team in Florida (Video from 2019 Summer Jr Nationals).

Since then, Armstrong's star has continued to rise, swimming well for West Virginia his freshman season, then transferring to Ohio State to be closer to home and having continued success during the NCAA season his sophomore year (2020-2021). During long course season of this year, he went to the pro swim in Indianapolis and dropped a 53.7 100m back, a PR by 1 second. Armstrong came into the 2021 US Olympic trials with a ton of momentum and it paid off, making the 2021 Olympic team by touching 2nd in the 100 back with a huge personal best of 52.4.

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We sat down with newly named Olympic coach Peter Andrew, father of Michael Andrew who also just made his first Olympic team. Peter walks us through the process of tapering Michael for Trials and how they decided on his event lineup in Omaha. He also talks about what went well in training for them in the months leading up to Trials and what they expect heading into the Tokyo Olympic Games.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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Day 6 was short and sweet, seeing a few new Olympians and quite a few doubles. Annie Lazor made her first Olympic team after taking a break from the sport in 2016-17 as did Natalie Hinds. Michael Andrew, Chase Kalisz, Ryan Murphy, and Lilly King all added their second events for their lineups. And newbies Bryce Mefford and Erika Brown added their names for the Tokyo roster. Oh, and Caeleb Dressel broke a US Open record, as he does.

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https://youtu.be/EDwkJz1KCNs

Night 5 continued to bring surprises in Omaha, both elating and devastating. We saw 2 US Open records from Hali Flickinger (200 fly) and Caeleb Dressel (100 free) as well as Michael Andrew become the #3 American all-time in the 200 IM. We also saw Nic Fink qualify for his first Olympic team after narrowly missing out in the 100 breast as he took a dominating win in the 200 at 2:07.55.

On the flipside, in the women's 100 free, we saw defending Olympic and world champion Simone Manuel place 9th, missing out on the final. She would later explain in an emotional press conference that she was diagnosed with Overtraining Syndrome in March and her training has been radically different since in order to accommodate this. We also saw Will Licon placed 3rd in the 200 breast by a razor-thin margin for the 2nd trials in a row, leaving him off the team.

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We sat down with SwimSwam's Editor-in-Chief Braden Keith and  SwimSwam senior writer Jared Anderson to break down the biggest races of the 2021 US Olympic Trials. We dive deep into the men's 200 IM, men's 100 free, women's 100 fly and who we think may surprise us in Omaha.

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Music: Otis McDonald
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We sat down with Olympic Icon Maya DiRado to discuss how much of a roller coaster the lead-up to both the Olympic Trials and Olympic Games can be. Maya had one of the most successful Olympic performances of the 2016 Rio Games, taking home individual gold (200 back), silver (400 IM), and bronze (200 IM) while also earning gold on the 4x200 free relay. She recalls some of her best and worse moments in the weeks leading up to both Trials and the Games, from swimming in a Trials final to Olympic training camp workouts.

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Olympic swimming champion Caeleb Dressel  is flesh and bone, and he battles nervousness like everyone else. Dressel shares insights into his experience on the run-up to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and other major qualifying meets. He clearly has made peace with the mental tension learning how to manage it.

Recently Dressel notched fast swims at the Atlanta Classic signaling he is on course for a great U.S. Olympic Trials in June.

Dressel Atlanta Classic Times:

• 50 free  - 21.82
• 100 free - 48.67 - a time trial day 2 - then he dropped a 48.00 on day 3 in the prelims
• 200 free - 1:47.42
• 100 fly - 51.15 - a double, his second swim of night 1 on the heels of the 1:47 200 free

DRESSEL PREDICTIONS FOR U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS, VERSION THREE

Yes, I am playing the Dressel prediction game again for a third time, because it's fun.  See version 3, dialed in slightly more after a lot of hand-wringing (and reviewing more comments from fans):

• 50 free - 21.19
• 100 free - 47.22
• 100 fly - 49.81
• 200 free - prelims only - 1:45.39

But who cares what I think? It is all about  what you think. Give me your best swimming analysis.

Abi Liu is the head coach and owner of PEAK Swimming in Northern California. You may have noticed Abi on deck thanks to her styling kicks. In this sit-down with SwimSwam, Abi talks about her shoe collection and how it’s become a coaching tool.    Abi also discussed all the obstacles of the past year and a half, including dealing with otherness. It’s an honest, informative discussion that we hope you enjoy!

 

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The 2021 Olympic Trials Wave I wrapped up in Omaha on Monday, with a whopping 15 athletes earning new qualifications for Wave II, by placing Top 2 in their event. From the 50 free to the 1500, there were exciting races on both the men's and women's side, with the last race of the meet, the men's 1500, coming down to the final meter.

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Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with 11-time Olympic medalist and International Swimmers' Alliance Manager Matt Biondi. Today marks the launch of the International Swimmers’ Alliance (ISA), an independent organization established by athletes, for athletes that aims to fight for swimmers’ rights and provide them with an independent global voice.

Formed in response to the calls from professional swimmers worldwide for independent representation, the International Swimmers’ Alliance has a goal to improve personal and economic opportunities for all elite swimmers by elevating the sport into the modern era.

Over the last several months, 120 world-class swimmers from 31 different countries have formed the International Swimmers’ Alliance.

The 10-member Board includes 6 currently active competitive swimmers elected by the swimming members. They are:

• Lia Neal (USA)
• Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
• Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED)
• Brent Hayden (CAN)
• Chad Le Clos (RSA)
• Tom Shields (USA)

All swimming members have either a top 20 individual LCM world ranking or are under contract with an ISL team.

Visit the ISA's website here: https://www.internationalswimmersalliance.org/about

SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify
• Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean
• Click here to listen and subscribe on Google
• Click here to listen and subscribe on YouTube
• Click here to listen and subscribe on Listen Notes
• Click here to listen and subscribe on Stitcher
• Click here to listen and subscribe on iHeartRadio
• Click here to listen and subscribe on Amazon
• Click here to listen and subscribe on Pandora

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com