The SwimSwam Podcast

Day 1 of the 2021 Olympic Trials Wave I saw a lot of swimmers take advantage of their second swims. 10 swimmers achieved Wave II cuts tonight, up from just 2 in prelims. We go through and give you some of my highlight swims from the first finals session, many of which were from 18-unders. Stay tuned every morning for a recap of the night before and new swimmers to watch for at Wave II. SWIMSWAM PO...

SwimSwam sat down with International Swimming League ( ISL ) CEO Konstantin Koudriaev and ISL Technical Director Apostolos Tsagkarakis to unpack and demystify the upcoming ISL draft. This is a historic moment in our sport, the first professional draft in swimming history. Looking ahead keep these dates on your calendar; June 22nd, 29th, and 30th. June 22nd is Round I of the draft when ISL team coa...

Tritonwear.com is largest data company in swimming, working swimmers, coaches, club team and national governing bodies around the world. Dr. Megan Holtzman is their Chief Scientist, the right person to help us breakdown why data matters in swimming , and how their 30+ data points per lap will make you swimming faster. SWIMSWAM PODCAST  LINKS Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify Click here...

The University of Iowa has announced the hiring of Nathan Mundt as the program’s new head women’s swimming & diving coach. He takes over the program after the departure of 17-year head coach  Marc Long , who declined the opportunity to continue as just the women’s head coach next season when the men’s program was cut. The 2021-2022 season will be Mundt’s first as Hawkeye head coach and it will be...

Michael Andrew turned a lot of heads at the Indy Pro Swim, dropping: 58.6 - 100m breast 50.8 - 100m fly 1:56.8 - 200m IM I was surprised. Frankly, I didn't see Michael as the favorite in two events heading into U.S. Olympic Trials.  I think, like a lot of swimming fans, I was lulled into a bit of a sleep after after his 2020 ISL season.  I expected a little more from him last fall and winter. Now,...

We sat down to talk with Matt Bowe , the once elite Loughborough swimmer who is now the associate head coach at Ohio State. We go through the transition from athlete to coach and moving to the USA smack dab in the middle of it. Bowe also gets into what makes the USA different from the rest of the world in terms of having a sporting culture that starts at a very young age. Bowe compares the USA to...

On April 6th,  Andre Brasil  and the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) announced that the Cologne Regional Court has ruled in favor of the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to reclassify Brasil as ineligible. This effectively ends Brasil’s 14-year-long Paralympic career. “We call this change in ranking one of the saddest episodes in the history of global paralympics,” the CPB wrote...

Olympic hopeful Carson Foster turned heads in Austin, Texas dropping a 4:11 best time in the 400 meters IM three weeks out from the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials. Carson has made big gains since NCAA championships, and he shared that his training has gone better than expected. He was a kid back in 2016, but he did get vital U.S. Olympic Trials experience. That matters. Olympic Trials in Omaha is a pres...

We sat down with Dan Flack , the head coach of Baylor Swim Club and Baylor high school. We talk for over an hour, meaning we cover a lot of ground. Among our topics covered is Flack leading Baylor girls and boys to state titles (TN) during a pandemic and talking through what a virtual state championship looked like. Flack also discusses being on staff at multiple colleges while also coaching for t...

Garrett McCaffrey sat down with Herbie Behm , the assistant coach at Arizona State. Behm talks about how the year went for Arizona State after head coach Bob Bowman made the decision to red-shirt the entire team. Behm said for the most part it went quite smoothly, getting a long block to focus on both long course and putting good work in during training heading into Olympic Trials. SWIMSWAM PODCAS...

The Virginia Gators of Roanoke, Virginia, have announced that they have hired  Ned Skinner  as the new head coach. Skinner succeeds team founder and longtime head coach Doug Fonder at the helm of the program. Skinner comes to the Gators after two years as the head coach of Hollins University, a women’s only Division 3 program, but is primarily known for leading the Virginia Tech Hokies for 20 year...

After taking over the Auburn program in April ,  Ryan Wochomurka  has quickly begun rebuilding his coaching staff. After hiring  Abbie Houck   as an assistant coach last week,  the Auburn program has now brought in Vlad Polyakov to serve as the team’s associate head coach. Polyakov will join the Auburn program after having spent the last eight years at Louisville, where he has served as an assista...

While swims fans have been treated to some fast swimming this past week at the European Championships, top-notch US swimmers have been looking sharp three weeks out from the USA’s Olympic Trials. Case in point: tonight, former Texas Longhorn Madisyn Cox came up big with a 2:08.51 in the 200 IM. That time makes her the fastest women in the world so far in 2021, ahead of the 2:08.73 Australian Kayle...

In a twist of events, The women’s 100 backstroke final at the 2021 European Championships had to be re-swum due to an error with the timing system. In the re-swim, Dawson got the job done again, this time in 58.49. Though she loses her official PB of 58.18 and that Championship Record, she still owns the record and keeps her European gold medal. Dawson was notably much more conservative on the fir...

Hugo Gonzalez continued to perform unbelievably in Budapest, closing in a scintillating 27.76 to win the men’s 200 IM in a time of 1:56.76. Gonzalez demolishes his Spanish Record (1:58.03) by well over a second in 1:56.76, and falls just a tenth shy of the nine-year-old Championship Record. The 22-year-old now ranks fifth in the 2020-21 world rankings. This came after claiming silver in the men's...

Heading into day 3 of the European Championships, Kliment Kolesnikov had already won 2 gold medals in the 4x100 free relay (Russia) and 50 back (world record, 23.80). He swam 52.2 in the prelims of the 100 back, seeding him first by over 1 second. In finals, he swam the 100 free, touching first in 47.37, a new meet record. 15 minutes later he was back in the pool for the semi-final of the 100 back...

THE WATER IS MY SKY dives deep into the world of elite competitive swimming through the lives of three swimmers- Tom Wilkens , Connor Jaeger , and Taylor Garcia - swept up in the hunt for a shot at Olympic glory. As they endure heartbreaking setbacks and soaring triumphs, each swimmer grapples with the underlying meaning behind their pursuit, revealing the true spirit of ordinary individuals chasi...

We sat down with Jack Alexy , the top-20 recruit and Cal-commit that just put on a show at the 2021 YMCA Festival . Alexy broke down his performances at the YMCA Festival and how his training has been affected in the last year. He also explained that he and teammate Matt Fallon are training in Florida in the lead-up to the 2021 Olympic Trials. SWIMSWAM PODCAST  LINKS Click here to listen and subsc...

Natalie Hinds dropped best times in both the 100 fly (58.6) and 100 free (54.2) at the Atlanta Classic this weekend and is feeling good about Olympic Trials. This is the 3rd year of Hinds' comeback, having left the sport after Olympic Trials in 2016 and coming back in the fall of 2018. 

Ryan Murphy took the 100 and 200 backstrokes easily this weekend in Atlanta, logging times of 52.9 and 1:56.1, a good spot for him heading into taper. A seasoned veteran in the sport, Murphy discusses why he likes taper, even when it can come with more extreme highs and lows than the normal season. SWIMSWAM PODCAST  LINKS Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify Click here to listen and subsc...

Michael Andrew  followed up his prelim PB in a big way, setting a new U.S. Open Record in the men’s 100 breaststroke in 58.67, just .03 shy of the American Record set by  Kevin Cordes  in 2017 (58.64). The previous U.S. Open Record was set by Cordes at the 2017 U.S. World Trials in 58.74. Andrew’s swim is also another Pro Swim Series Record after he lowered it down to 58.82 in the prelims. The pre...

Mark Spitz , the greatest Olympian of all-time from 1972 to 2008, has been gracious with his time on the SwimSwam Podcast.  Ahead of the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo he has shared many stories, his wisdom, and his humor.  Our younger Olympic fans probably know his name and understand he's important, but they may not know the context of his career and how central he has been to swimming's success ov...

All-American  Sarah Thompson  is returning for a fifth year with the Missouri Tigers next season ,  per a release from the school . Thompson, a versatile sprinter, has been an invaluable member of the Mizzou roster the last couple of seasons. She recently placed third at the 2021 NCAA Championships in the 50 free, hitting a lifetime best and Mizzou team record of 21.42, and she chipped in a 10th-p...

Anthony Ervin , the oldest individual Olympic gold medalist in swimming history, is savoring his last run-up to U.S. Olympic Trials.  At 40 years old, his experience is unique, and, personally, very meaningful. He laughed at my 50m free prediction game video, but he appreciated that I forecasted him under 22 seconds. Anthony isn't sure he'll be under 22 seconds at U.S. Olympic Trials, but he did s...

We sat down with Sierra Schmidt , the Michigan All-American who recently moved to Scottsdale , where her parents just bought a house, to train with her father in the lead-up to Olympic Trials. Schmidt eloquently explains that she's excited to continue her career as a pro, sharing that she believes she's not done learning the lessons the sport has to teach her. SWIMSWAM PODCAST  LINKS Click here to...