The Pullbuoy Podcast

For the first time in at least 20 years, we head into the second half of the year having not seen a British Record in the pool. So that set the cogs whirring; which were the oldest British Records in the books? In this special podcast we hear from the holders of those records, Becky Adlington and David Davies who recall their record breaking swims and get expert coaching input from Kevin Renshaw....

It was an eventful week in Sheffield as the places on the British Team for the World Championships were decided, and not just in the pool. There was an almost unprecedented change to the selection policy midway through the meet, but despite that poolside drama, there was much excitement in the water too. Plenty for Steve, Bob and Katie to get their teeth into then, as we review the ups and downs f...

Molly Renshaw recently announced her retirement from competitive swimming after a career, that included two appearances at the Olympic Games, and titles at European and World Short Course Championships. In this episode, Molly opens up about her decision to retire and the emotions that came with it, as well as reflecting on some of the highlights of her swimming career. We delve into her training r...

Imogen Clark, the pullbuoy female swimmer of the year for 2022 , occupies a bit of an unusual niche in British Swimming as a world class performer often locked out of the major meets by the focus on Olympic events. In this podcast she reveals the frustration that entails, but also how her focus has changed in response, while we also discuss a year that she feels was the best of her career. It was...

If you've listed to the pullbuoy podcast at all over the past few years you will have often herd debate about why, for all its success in the pool, GB has been flagging in distance events and isn't currently living up to the standards of the past. In an effort to find out why this is and what is being done about it, Steve and Bob went to he man charged with turning the tanker around - British Swim...

Having reached her mid-twenties and with the disruption of a pandemic throwing everyone’s plans into disarray, Bella Hindley could have been forgiven for thinking her international swimming career had come to a conclusion before it had even started. But she persevered and this year made her senior international debut at the Commonwealth Games for England as well as being selected to race for GB at...

The longest summer of international swimming in living memory came to a close in fine style at the European Championships in Rome. It was a decent showing for GB, including golds for Ben Proud and James Wilby, but the biggest story was of course the 100m freestyle world record from David Popvici. Steve, Katie and Bob reconvene for the final podcast of the season and consider all of the above, plus...

The last few years have been challenging for Lewis Burras with many mental and physical ups and downs as he sought to find his place in the swimming world. After a few false dawns mixed with some very low periods he found a kindred spirit in coach Zoe Baker and from there has kicked on to have an impressive breakthrough season in 2022.  It’s one that has taken him to a new long course British...

It was a tremendously exciting week of racing in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games, which generated a fantastic atmosphere in the sparkly new Sandwell Aquatic centre. It was as usual a display of Australian strength in the pool but the home nations acquitted themselves well. On this review podcast, Steve and Katie consider events in the pool from the dominance of Ben Proud to the extensive meda...

To say that the difference between Hannah Miley's experiences at the Commonwealth Games of 2010 and 2014 is huge is not an understatement. While the former brought with it the challenges of the environment, the latter imposed a whole different set of pressures.  In the final episode of the Commonwealth Games Memories podcast series for 2022, Hannah pulls no punches as she describes dealing wi...

With the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth games looming, Bob, Katie and Steve are joined by Commonwealth Champion Ross Davenport to take a look forward to some of the big stories in the pool. We consider the impact of world championships, the unknowns around who is targeting this competition, the potential for new faces to make their names, and we pick out some swimmers to watch. There's also a quick...

It was a Commonwealth Games like no other when they travelled to the sub-continent for the 2010 edition. While India put on a great spectacle, the cohort of swimmers was beset by an illness that swept through the teams, making it as much a test of resilience as it was speed in the water. Lizzie Simmonds was a medal winning member of Team England that year and recalls a games that presented a compl...

He won three medals in his two appearances for Australia, but the Commonwealth Games were not always plain sailing for Brett Hawke. We pick up the Commonwealth Games memories thread in Manchester to get his memories of the 2002 edition before moving to Melbourne in 2006, as Brett recalls suit malfunctions and health scares that led him to think he was cursed. It’s not all bad memories though with...

She's the most decorated English female athlete at the Commonwealth Games so it's no surprise that they hold special memories for Karen Pickering.  Across four Games appearances from 1990 to 2002 she won 13 medals including four golds, including five at the 1994 edition alone. In this Commonwealth Games Memories edition of the pullbuoy podcast we journey with Karen from her first Games in Auc...

As the 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Games looms large, this is the first in a podcast series recalling Games past and travelling from 1982 to 2014 to get the recollections of the swimmers who competed in those Games. First up it's Andy Jameson who recalls his time at the 1982 and 1986 instalments in Brisbane and Edinburgh respectively, the latter of which brought him four medals, including gol...

It was an up and down week for Britain at the World Championships in Budapest with a slow start finally turning into a creditable haul of 5 medals including a world title for Ben Proud and a hat trick of bronze medals for Tom Dean. Steve and Bob are on hand to discuss the British performance in the pool. --------------------- Review, subscribe, share on Anchor, Apple, Google, Spotify or wherever y...

For the 100th episode of the pullbuoy podcast we hand the reins over to Bob who caught up with six of the GB team heading to the world championships and their coach Dave McNulty.  As well as hearing from Dave, In this bumper episode you’ll get the thoughts of Tom Dean, Freya Anderson, James Guy, Matt Richards, Brodie Williams and Jacob Peters as they look forward to a full summer of racing, s...

It was on then off then on again, but the World Championships of 2022 are now upon us, kicking off a busy summer of racing for Britain's swimmers. Before they can think about the Commonwealth Games or Europeans though, there is the small matter of facing the world's best in Budapest.  Steve, Bob and Katie are on hand to look forward to an exciting competition and run the rule over Britain's c...

With the announcement of the England team for Birmingham 2022 came the culmination of one of the most remarkable swimming come backs as Adam Barrett was selected for his second Commonwealth Games, 8 years after the first and five years after he stepped away from elite swimming.  In this episode of the pullbuoy podcast, Bob and Steve chat to Adam about that comeback and how he went from swimmi...

It was almost a return to business as usual at the British Championships in Sheffield with full fields and crowds in the stands. In the pool there were a number of standout performances as the swimmers jostled to secure selection not only for the forthcoming World Championships but also the Commonwealth Games teams for England, Scotland and Wales. In this first podcast for 2022 Bob and Steve cast...

The Roar have made it to the 2021 ISL grand final which takes place this coming week. We tracked down two London Legends in Alia Atkinson and Guilherme Guido to get their views on a tough match with Energy just gone and to look forward to the final.  Can the Roar win, what will be the key tactic and how is the team feeling as they prepare to give "one more for the Roar"? We cover all that and...

It went to the final skins races, but the London Roar secured an opening victory in the ISL playoffs, holding off a late charge from Cali Condors to take the win that moves them one step closer to a grand final appearance Joining us to look back on the drama in Eindhoven are Freya Anderson and Tom Dean as we explore events in the water and we get the “Roar Material” with the important questions ab...

It was a tough opening match of the playoffs for the London Roar as they came up just short against an inspired LA Current. The result went all the way to the final skins race, but a series of tight finishes swayed the result towards the American team. Roar co-captain Sydney Pickrem and backstroke ace Kira Toussaint join this week’s London Roar podcast to look back at that match and talk about how...

The ISL regular season is done and dusted, and having let the Roar team disperse back to their home bases, we caught up with Head Coach Steve Tigg to talk tactics, team spirit and a near miss against Energy and to look forward to the playoffs next month. We also find out who might be joining the Pride in Eindhoven as the team prepares to race to the grand final.  Then we catch up with one of...

It was a close run thing as the Roar pushed Energy Standard to the wire in their third match of this year’s ISL. Second place secured a spot in the playoffs though, and Steve and Katie are joined by Roar stalwarts Emma McKeon and Kyle Chalmers to review an exciting match and look forward to what comes next week, with another chance to have a go at Energy. We’ll also introduce two more of 2021’s Ro...