The SwimSwam Podcast

Piper Enge is a junior national champion, high school senior, Texas commit, and now world championships finalist. After placing 18th in the 100 breast prelims at the 2024 World Champs in Doha, Enge was determined to make it out of prelims in the 50 breast. The Seattle native discusses how she not only accomplished that goal but made it all the way to the final and gained a lot of confidence through the process.

The George F. Haines International Swim Center closed indefinitely last month, due to safety concerns around the facility. The ISC is home to the Santa Clara Aquamaids, Santa Clara Diving, and the world-famous Santa Clara Swim Club. Third-year SCSC Head Coach, Kevin Zacher, has been on USA Swimming’s National and/or Junior National coaching roster since 2012. He has led Junior National and Junior Select camps, been part of two international USA Swimming staffs, and developed international-level talents like Ryan Hoffer and Taylor Ruck. Kevin is the guest on the SwimSwam podcast to talk about the challenges facing the Santa Clara Swim Club without the use of the ISC. He talks about how they got to this point, what they’re doing to fix it, and how he keeps a level head for himself and his team during this tough time.

Katja Dedekind is a 2x Paralympian, 2x Para world champion, and Para Commonwealth Games champion. Competing in the S13 (visually impaired) classification, Katja has racked up numerous accolades over her career which started when she was just 15. Dedekind discusses having a pro career, choosing swimming over goalball, and why swimmers are adrenaline junkies.

Gretchen Walsh is having a heck of a week in Greensboro. She has become the first woman to swim under 20 seconds in a 50 free (19.95 on a relay), broken NCAA records in the 50 free (20.57) and 100 fly (48.25), and went a best time of 1:40.2 in the 200 free (#3 performer all-time). On her morning off, Gretchen was kind enough to sit down with SwimSwam and analyze her historic swims so far at the 2024 ACC Championships.

At the 2024 World Championships in Doha, Kate Douglass swam a 23.91 50 free, good for silver behind world record holder Sarah Sjostrom. That broke the previous American record held by Simone Manuel. Douglass explains that getting through Sarah Sjostrom to reach the top of the podium is an obstacle that many have tried and few have succeeded. She has been training for the 200 IM and she is the reigning world champion in it, so she feels more confident in focusing on that event (that does overlap with the 50 free at the Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games).

Dan Wiffen won Ireland's first (and second) world championship medals ever last week in Doha, earning double gold in the 800 and 1500 freestyles. Wiffen takes us through his entire process at the meet and after hearing it, you can see how dialed into distance swimming he really is. For example, in the 1500 prelim, after seeing Florian Wellbrock throw down a quick 14:48, Wiffen knew he only had to swim around 14:54 to make the final. Knowing those around him would be sticking with him, Wiffen paced his race accordingly to see if he could lure any swimmers into accidentally swimming too slow to make the final. Greg Paltrinieri, the 2022 world champion in the event, did just that, swimming right next to Wiffen and ultimately placing 9th in the prelim, missing the final.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we look back at the 2024 World Championships in Doha and look ahead to this week's Power 5 conference Championships, including SEC Champs, ACC Champs, and women's Big 10 Champs.

James Guy is finding success after making the move back to Millfield, making his way onto an international 200 free podium last December for the first time since 2016. We caught up with James Guy to discuss his thoughts on the Doha World Champs, looking ahead to Paris, and finding success by training more than he ever has.

In light of Pan Zhanle's surprise 100 Free world record (46.80) at the 2024 World Championships, we spoke with Olympic Champion Nathan Adrian to get his insight. Adrian wasn't surprised that Cesar Cielo's mark stood since 2009 but now we've seen two men break it in just 1.5 years, saying that once athletes see what is possible their bar is automatically set higher, meaning their ceiling is as well.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we bring you a comprehensive preview of the most exciting events at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.

In just 12 months from July 2021 to July 2022, Zac Stubblety-Cook became Olympic Champion, World Champion, Commonwealth Games Champion, and world record-holder in the 200 Breast. One year later, he settled for silver at the 2023 World Champs and saw his world record get broken in that same race by Qin Haiyang. Stubblety-Cook sat down with SwimSwam and spoke about struggling to find motivation after achieving every possible goal he had. The Aussie is now in the full swing of Olympic training with a new fire heading into the Aussie Trials and Paris. And at the end of the podcast, we discuss one of his other passions: coffee.

Bella Sims' star is rising fast on her march toward the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. The Olympic silver medalist and World Championships gold medalist takes us behind of the scenes of her new partnership with Speedo, the world's most renowned brand in the sport of swimming. (Speedo has been a SwimSwam partner since 2013.)

This past weekend saw many of the fastest times EVER swum outside of a championship meet (and a couple times that were just the fastest ever, period). Between the Stanford/ASU and Cal/ASU duals on the men's side and the UVA/NC State/UNC Triple Dual on the women's side, they made for an insanely fast January weekend. So here's some food for thought: Who will have the better NCAAs: Leon Marchand or Gretchen Walsh? Are the ASU men still the favorite to win the NCAA Championships? Should NCAA swim meets be allowed to end in a tie?

The leadup to the US Olympic Trials has many ripple effects nationwide. Some student-athletes in the NCAA take Olympic redshirt seasons, many athletes switch training bases, and numerous college and high school programs start training and racing more in a 50-meter pool, the format that the Olympics are held in. We asked the 2024 Olympic swimming head coaches, Todd DeSorbo and Anthony Nesty, how they prepare their athletes for this unique event that comes just once every 4 years.

22-year-old Paralympic medalist Ahalya Lettenberger is Speedo's newest athlete. We got to sit down with the recent Rice University grad and discuss her journey through swimming, from the beginning when she was a child through her now budding pro career with Speedo. Ahalya has big plans for the future as she looks not only toward the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris but also working on two master's degrees in the United Kingdom starting this fall.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we recap the Knoxville Pro Swim and major NCAA dual meets and discuss the best moment from Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte's epic duals.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Knoxville Pro Swim, French record-holder Mewen Tomac committing to Cal for 2024-25, and the projected scores for the men's and women's 2024 NCAA Championships.

Emma Vu is the social media manager for swimsuit brand Arena as well as a club swim coach in her home of Portland, Oregon. Vu swam in college at the University of La Verne and grew up swimming for much of her youth. She was also on the Alaskan Airlines flight on Friday evening that had a door-sized hole ripped out of it while in the air and had to make an emergency landing. Vu recounts the event on the plane as well as how swimming played a role throughout her whole experience that weekend.

What would it be like to host a swim practice not for the athletes you normally coach (who probably range from ages 6-18), but for their parents? SwimSwam sat down with Dory Halbe of Nation's Capitol Swim Club who, before the pandemic, would host an annual Parent swim practice. This not only allowed the parents of the NCAP athletes to see what their athlete is going through on a day-to-day basis (or at least give them an idea), but it was also a great bonding opportunity for many of them.

Since finishing her swimming career at Princeton, Elaina Gu has embraced fitness on dry land. After living abroad in Africa and exploring different types of weight lifting, Gu decided to compete in bodybuilding. She started an Instagram to showcase her progress, which caught the attention of a WWE scout, who encouraged Elaina to participate in their last tryout of 2023.

Tasmania's Maximillion Giuliani has been on a hot streak in 2023, making a name for himself as one of Australia's best 200 freestyles in history. We spoke to the 19-year-old about his big move to the Mainland and how it's allowed him to make drops from 1:50 down to 1:44 in just one year.

Gabrielle Rose racked up a lot of accolades before retiring at age 22: 11-12 national age group record holder, 22x NCAA All-American for Stanford, and 2x Olympian for Brazil in 1996 and USA in 2000. Then after hanging up her suit for less than a year, she returned to the pool and ignited her pro career while training under Dave Salo. This netted her 2x LCM world titles and 3x SCM world silver medals along the way to the 2004 Olympic Trials, where she just missed the team after being diagnosed with mono just weeks before. Two decades later, Rose has qualified for another Olympic Trials at age 46 and is once again training with Dave Salo (as well as her primary coach, Scott Hubbard). Rose explains training and recovering as an older athlete, goal setting, and why she is still racing 20 years after her last experience at Olympic Trials.

World Champion Claire Weinstein has had a monster year, from winning her first national title (200 free) to training trips in California, Florida, and Colorado, to competing in Japan, Germany, Greece, and Portugal. All at the tender age of 16. Most recently, Weinstein threw down a trio of best times (scy) at the Huntington Beach Sectionals, including 1:43.7 200 free, 4:29.3 500 free, and 9:17 1000 free.

Thomas Heilman (16yo) and Maximus Williamson (17yo) are the top-2 swimming recruits in the class of 2025. They both just had monster performances at the Winter Jr Championships, where Heilman broke 15-16 National Age Group records in the 200 free, 200 IM, and 200 Fly while Williamson broke 17-18 NAGs in the 200 free and 200 IM. We discussed all of their swims from the Jr Championships as well as how they both ended up choosing Virginia for their continued swimming and education.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the distance revolution, Australia and China's speed in the long course pool, and how we should be timing practice swims.

Lynne's kind of famous in our sport as the Founder and CEO of Smack Swim. Lynne's been an ad partner with SwimSwam forever, so we talk a lot about swim businesses, but I always knew there was more to her story. Today I got it in this podcast. Lynne grew up swimming, swam in college, then launched a hard-driving career on Wall Street, but something was missing. Lynne wanted to do what she loved, and she missed and loved swimming. So, she started an aquatic team dealer company and ran it for years. Lynne learned the aquatic retail market as a team dealer, and she wanted to do more--to be creative. That's when the idea came to design a goggle strap that would be the most comfortable strap you could wear. Anyone who swims hours on end, week in and week out, understands this. Lynne got a patent on her design and Smack Swim Strap born. Now she's taken the innovation to swimsuits with her Smack Swim Strap (see below). I love entrepreneurs, especially entrepreneurs that focus their energies in swimming. I hope you enjoy this conversation, and if you have a great swim business idea, maybe this talk will inspire you to act on it.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Short Course European Championships, both East and West Winter Jr Championships, and the US Open that occurred last week.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we recap the first week of mid-season invites, preview the *stacked* US Open this weekend, and discuss how the 2024 World Championships in Doha are shaping up.

Michael Bohl is the head coach at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. He's led Kaylee McKeown, Emma McKeon, and Stephanie Rice (among many, many others) to immense Olympic success. SwimSwam sat down with 'Bohly' and had a long conversation a out his coaching style, philosophy, and mindset heading into an Olympic season.

If you've been around athletics at all, then you've probably encountered sports parents. They can be supportive, they can be intense, and sometimes they can even be problematic. Culture coach JP Nerbun has spent years developing what he calls the"Sports Parent Solution". Listen in as he gives us a look at what this solution looks like and how he aims to bridge the gap between coaches and sports parents. JP Nerbun's newest book, The Sports Parent Solution, is available here: https://www.tocculture.com/thesportsparentsolution

4-time Olympic medalist Ryan Murphy said, “Speedo’s latest LZR Intent 2.0 suit feels super quick and looks great! I feel comfortable when wearing the suit, it allows me to feel lighter and ride higher on the water when swimming. The legacy of Speedo Fastskin speaks for itself, and I have no doubt many new records will be broken in 2024 and beyond.” The new era of speed has arrived with Fastskin LZR Pure Valor. Quick. Agile. Adaptable. Equipped with Lamoral Space Tech coating, it repels water like no other. The featherweight feel and meticulously layered fabric offers unmatched flexibility. Reinforced leg seams give you balanced compression for maximum power in every stroke. Swim to win in the new Fastskin LZR Pure Valor, the next generation of fast.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the upcoming Mid-Season Meet Week Madness as well as discuss last week's news in swimming.

Arizona State has been having a heck of a season so far and it's barely November. In dual meets against Georgia and NC State, where both teams were wearing technical racing suits, ASU's men came away with decisive wins while their women showed a lot of promise. The ASU pro group also raced during these dual meets, one notable race coming in the form of Regan Smith breaking the American record in the 200y fly. ASU head coach Bob Bowman and associate head coach Herbie Behm sat down with SwimSwam to discuss completely changing the training group structure after the departure of Rachel Stratton-Mills to Northwestern and how that has affected the team culture.

As a swimmer, Dr. Jack Brown was a 10x NCAA All-American, Pac-10 Champion, and Olympic Trials finalist. He also struggled with pre-race anxiety throughout his career. As a coach and sports psychologist, he's spent the last several years creating a system to help athletes of all ages develop a healthy relationship with their goals. This system is laid out in Dr. Brown's book, the Six Questions. In today's discussion, Dr. Brown lays out how he made this system, how he's seen it work for the teams he's worked with, and UNC's outlook for the 2023-24 swim season. Learn more about Dr. Brown and the Six Questions here: https://www.docbrownperformance.com/

This morning, we discuss the highly touted UVA v UT dual, the ASU and Marek Petrusewicz 25 Battles, and China changing the date of their Olympic Trials.

Joining the SwimSwam podcast today we have Eva Fabian, an American-Israeli Open Open World Champion, and we have Yakov Toumarkin, an Israeli Olympian and backstroke specialist. We ask them to join us in the aftermath of the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel October 7th. Eva and Yakov are on the ground in Israel and have a unique point of view and context to share. In this conversation today, I share my opinions. They are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SwimSwam or other SwimSwam contributors.

This morning on the SwimSwam breakdown, we discuss Virginia's MASSIVE men's Class of 2025, the conclusion of the World Cup circuit, and Regan Smith's new American record

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Caeleb Dressel's in-season swims, the World Cup stop in Athens, and the upcoming Pan American Games.

Today on the SwimSwam Podcast, 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte updates SwimSwam on the 2024 International Age Group Championships. He's joined by Olympic Coach Mark Schubert and ISCA CEO Doug Fonder. The International Age Group Championships has partnered with Panam Aquatics, the governing body for multiple swimming-based disciplines across of the Americas.

Riley Spitser was an All-Conference swimmer and multiple school record-holder at San Jose State University as well as a 2016 US Olympic Trials qualifier. After her four years of NCAA swimming, she didn't feel like she was done swimming, so she trained with a few other recent grads and a group of high schoolers at a local club team while working part-time jobs, making ends meet while chasing her athletic dreams. After a year of this, Spitser felt ready to move on from her lifelong pursuit of sport. Over time, she found other outlets to pursue in the creative field, namely singing and music. Her 2nd single, "A Shadowy Place" (Riley Rex on Spotify) was written during a time of anxiety and uncertainty. The track is out now with an accompanying Alice in Wodnerland-inspired video, filmed with the help of Riley's brother Jack (who happens to be SwimSwam's chief photographer).

Nic Askew and Howard University made history last year when they hosted Battle of the Burr, the dual meet with crosstown rival Georgetown that sold out (2,000 tickets sold) and was coined 'the Party with a Purpose'. Howard is back this year to host "Battle of the Burr II", with DJs, fanfare, and guest coaches including Olympic medalists Cullen Jones and Maritza Correia. Askew discusses what the Battle of the Burr means to his team, noting the level of excitement and competition that the event produces. He also delves into the team's first conference championship title last year and how he has guided the team moving into this season.

Georgetown is gearing up for "Battle of the Burr II", a dual meet with fellow Washington DC college Howard University. HU is the only HBCU in the country that supports a swim and dive team and has been since 2016. Last year, the first edition of Battle of the Burr featured DJs, special guests, and sold 2,000 tickets. Georgetown head coach Jack Leavitt praises Howard head coach Nic Askew's vision, turning a dual meet into a fan-friendly "party with a purpose". This year, Howard will bring in honorary coaches Cullen Jones (Olympic champion) and Maritza Correia (Olympic silver medalist) while Georgetown will have honorary coaches Kyle Williams and Kamal Carter, the CEO and President of "A Long Talk", an anti-racism movement.

Ken Ono is the STEM Advisor and a math professor at the University of Virginia. He has worked with the UVA swim team for a number of years, analyzing the minutiae of stroke technique to optimize performance. This has taken form in an independent study, a course that is cross-listed in Data Science, Math, and Statistics, titled Learning Methods for Elite Swimming Analysis. Jerry Lu, a UVA technical performance consultant who has worked with Ono for years, assists with the analysis of the course. We get the perspective of Ono, Lu, and two of the course's students: world champions and Olympic medalists Kate Douglass and Claire Curzan.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the 2023 Asian Games, if college hazing is a problem, and who will replace Eddie Reese after he retires in 2024.

17-Year-Old Carli Cronk had a historic summer, breaking the record for most medals ever won at a World Deaf Swimming Championships with 15 in the 6-day meet, 12 of them being gold. This major accomplishment followed Cronk's Deaflympic debut, where she won 12 medals, all of them gold. Cronk gives insight into her massive schedule as well as what's next for her: swimming for the University of Notre Dame.

Bret Lundgaard was named the new head coach of Kentucky Swimming and Diving on July 24, 2023. We caught up with the new leader of the wildcats to see how his stint in Lexington has gone so far. Lundgaard has put an emphasis on establishing a base of trust by getting to know the team and not rushing into heavy training too fast. He discusses his coaching staff, the town of Lexington, and holding open tryouts in an attempt to leave no stone unturned.

SwimSwam caught up with 2023 World Champion James Guy, who recently announced his departure from long-time training home Bath National Centre. Guy, not happy with his individual results since the Tokyo Olympics, decided a change in stimuli was what would be best for his career. This has taken him back to his old stomping grounds of Millfield, although the people around him are very different. He will be under the guidance of performance coach Ryan Livingstone and Director of Swimming Euan Dale, whereas at his last stint in Millfield he was training with Jol Finck. Millfield is also the (relatively) new home of Matt Richards, who won gold in the 200 free and teamed with Guy, Tom Dean, and Duncan Scott to win gold in the 800 free relay at the 2023 World Championships. Guy expresses his gratitude for his time at Bath and excitement for what is to come during his time in Millfield. He also gives his perspective on his recent engagement and best friend Adam Peaty's renewed outlook on swimming.

Olympic silver medalist Jay Litherland is busy. Last year he moved to Arizona to train with coach Bob Bowman and the biggest pro swimming group on earth, and he's one third of TRIIIPSS, the rap group with his triplet brothers. In this podcast Jay shares insight into his training, staring down in practice daily what could be most the 400 IM Olympic final next summer. It's intense! And Jay's loving producing music with his brothers, TRIIIPSS, racking up thousands of streams on Spotify. Expect a TRIIIPSS EP to drop soon, end of September or early October.

SwimSwam caught up with Leah Hayes, the versatile high schooler who won 3 gold medals and 5 total at the 2023 World Jr Championships in Netanya, Israel. Hayes describes how she transitioned from World Champ Trials, the in between, and ultimately to World Jrs. The 2022 World Championship bronze medalist admitted she was disappointed in not having qualified for the (senior) world championships team but had also made plans for both scenarios (making the worlds team and making the world jrs team) coming out of the world trials.

SwimSwam sat down with Emma Sticklen, the LEN U23 Champion in the 200 fly. Sticklen got a ton of championship LCM racing in this summer, competing at the US Trials in Indianapolis, the US Pro Championships in Irvine, and the LEN U23 Championships in Dublin. The Texas All-American walks us through what she gained from each competition as well as what has made the training environment so special in Austin this year.