Episodes
-
20-year-old Erika Fairweather won her first world title in Doha last month, touching first in the 400 free while also winning medals in the 200 and 800 free. The Kiwi swim star reflects on her experience in Doha and tells us about her training environment in New Zealand and how she's approaching the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.
-
Missing episodes?
-
Sporti, in collaboration with Olympic Silver Medalist swimmer, and 2024 Paris hopeful, Emma Weyant, is proud to announce the launch of their Riviera Reverie swim and activewear collection. Inspired by the timeless elegance of the French Riviera, this collection offers an array of training swimsuits, activewear, and swim caps designed to blend performance with style, inspired by one of Emma’s favorite destinations that she has traveled to.
-
As it turns out, Caeleb Dressel’s block malfunction in the 50 free A Final in Westmont was just the beginning of the errors that would occur during this race. When the swimmers finished the race and looked up at the scoreboard, as did the rest oof the venue, the scoreboard was black.
Turns out, the timing system had failed to activate. In that case, Per the USA Swimming Rulebook, backup stopwatches (operated by human timers) determine the finish order and times of the event. The results were announced over the loudspeaker, with Jack Alexy placing 3rd (21.90), Santo Condorelli placing 2nd (21.87) and Caeleb Dressel placing 1st (21.84). This was a surprise to many on deck because, at first glance, it had looked like Alexy had won in a close race with Dressel.
When you go back and look at the finish, it looks plausible (to me) that either Dressel or Alexy could have won, with Condorelli touching right after both of them. It seems that the results from the touchpads may have been different than the results garnered from the stopwatches, but alas, we will never know.
The fun didn’t stop there, however. Swimmers in the A Final were offered a time trial for a chance to improve their time. Times swum in this time trial would not count towards the official results of the race but they would count for official times. This ‘re-swim’ was contested at the conclusion of the A and B finals. Notably, Jack Alexy swam a 21.86, .04 faster than his official result. Caeleb Dressel and Santo Condorelli did not participate in the re-swim.
See USA Swimming’s statement on the matter below:
During the final of the Men’s 50m freestyle, the automatic timing system failed to activate. As outlined in the USA Swimming Rulebook, backup stopwatches determine the finish order and times when a timing system fails. The finish order and times from the final are official. However, swimmers in the final were offered the opportunity to swim the event again as a time trial at the end of the session for a chance to improve their times. Certification of the times swum in the time trial is pending review by World Aquatics (AQUA).
-
At the 2024 Doha World Champs, Claire Curzan became just the 3rd athlete (Qin Haiyang and Kaylee McKeown) to sweep all 3 individual events of one stroke at a LCM world championships. Curzan shares her thoughts on the meet and gives insights into how she's been training at her new home in Charlottesville. The soon-to-be sophomore said she's been doing more aerobic free to build a base for her 200 back and a lot of underwater work, which serves her well in finishing her LCM races.
-
Athlete-coach relationships are an integral part of youth sports and often numerous lives, including the athlete, their parents, and the coach. But where is the line between healthy coaching and unhealthy coaching? When is it "tough coaching" and when is it abuse? SwimSwam sat down with Kathryn McClain, MSW, MBA, Program and Partnerships director at We Ride Together, a nonprofit organization created to cast light upon the endemic issue of sexual abuse in youth and amateur sports. Kathryn discusses the key differences between healthy and unhealthy coaching and how coaches can change their mindset, language, and actions to better serve the athlete in the short and long term.
-
Finlay Knox won his first world title, and Canada men's first since 2007, at the Doha World Championships in the 200 IM. We saw many backstrokers in Doha hitting the lane line during their races and Knox explained that the ceiling wasn't straight, so the competitors swimming backstrokes were not always swimming in a straight line. Knox explains that he got lucky by landing in lane 7 for the final, where a pillar was straight across the ceiling to follow during the backstroke leg of the 200 IM.
-
NC State's men won their 3rd straight ACC title (and 9th in 10 years) last week in Greensboro. Head coach Braden Holloway gives his thoughts on both the men's and women's teams and their performances at the conference championships.
-
NC State’s Owen Lloyd touched the wall in 14:37.04 in the 1,650 free, ostensibly winning the ACC title. In celebration of his victory, Lloyd mounted the lane rope, eventually falling into the lane of his teammate and the runner-up Ross Dant, who was two seconds behind. While Dant, who was stroke-for-stroke with Lloyd for most the race, had finished his swim before Lloyd fell into his lane, some swimmers of the heat had not (Jordan Yanchev in lane 8 was about 50 seconds back). Lloyd was declared disqualified after the completion of the race. “Interfered with another swimmer” was the official declaration on the results as the reason for the disqualification. Dant, who finished in 14:39.34, was declared the winner. Owen Lloyd and Ross Dant joined SwimSwam to give their full perspective on the matter.
-
The Indiana women's swim team upset the 4-time defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes last week to win the Big Ten Championships. The 4-day meet came down to the last event, the 400 free relay, where Indiana touched 2nd and Ohio State touched 3rd, netting Indiana the victory by .5 points. Indiana head coach Ray Looze spoke to SwimSwam and reflected on everything that went into the win, emphasizing that they just wanted a chance to win the meet when it got to the last event.
-
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.
- Show more
