We sat down with Olympic, World, Pan Pacific, Commonwealth, and basically any other major competition you can think of champion, Emily Seebohm . Emily has obviously had an illustrious career, one that started when she was only a young teenager, being a member of the Aussie national team at 14. Seebohm takes us through many paths of her career, including competing with Energy Standard in the last 2 ISL seasons, major ups and downs she has had throughout her career, and how trying to buy a bicycle...
Dec 24, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 375
Chris Ritter , the founder and CEO of Ritter Sports Performance and SURGE Strength, is my go-to for dryland training. With holiday training coming up fast (aka Hell Week), Chris shares his insights and provides some FREE education assets for swimming coaches. Holiday training is always crucial, perhaps more so after the 2020 pandemic year. The work done, the base built, will determine whether or not swimmers hit their personal best times next spring and summer. Get ahead of the curve and arm you...
Dec 23, 2020•51 min•Ep. 374
We sat down with SEC champion Danny Kovac , who was back at Mizzou this semester throwing down some impressive times at their invite. We talked about Kovac's swimming, particularly how he balances it with his outside of swim life with activities like farming and socializing. What I didn't think I'd hear was about one day how last year, after NCAAs, Kovac decided to casually run a marathon. And did so that day. Or how, during his time at home in Colorado during the COVID-19 shutdown, he planned o...
Dec 23, 2020•49 min•Ep. 373
We sat down with Olympic champion and now Lawyer Katie Meili . Meili took us through much of her swim journey, from summer league and high school swimming through college swimming at Columbia and into her pro career, where she really started to have a presence on the international stage. Meili also addresses something we in the swimming community don't always consider: life after swimming. She emphasized the importance of knowing yourself outside of just swimming and starting to formulate a plan...
Dec 22, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 372
We sat down with NCAA All-American and USA national champion Shaine Casas . Casas has made headlines a lot since returning to racing in October, mostly for his historical swims. He started off by dropping a 1:36.54 200 Back in October (#4 all-time performer) and followed that up with a 1:39 200 fly (in a dual meet) , 1:38.95 200 IM (#3 performer all-time) , 43.87 100 back (#3 all-time performer at the time, now #4) , and 46.33 100 IM (#1 all-time) . He also posted a 1:36.6 200 back from a B-fina...
Dec 21, 2020•36 min•Ep. 371
We sat down with NCAA All-American from Cal and 5-time Asian Games medalist Camille Cheng . Cheng is currently back in Hong Kong training for the 2021 Olympic Games, but didn't necessarily always think that would be the case. She takes us through the journey of swimming at Cal, having a great experience in her 4 years there (2011-2015) culminating in an NCAA team title. She stuck around for another year and went to the 2016 Olympic Games, where she didn't perform how she wanted to. Cheng thought...
Dec 20, 2020•38 min•Ep. 370
We sat down with Veronica Burchill , a 20-time All-American for the University of Georgia and recent ISL champion with the Cali Condors. Burchill talks us through her decision to move from Athens, GA to Knoxville, TN to train with the University of Tennessee's postgrad group. She also tells us stories from her days at Carmel swim club & high school, the University of Georgia, and the ISL bubble with the Cali Condors. Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify Click here to listen and subs...
Dec 19, 2020•55 min•Ep. 369
We sat down with Penny Oleksiak, the Canadian Olympic champion who is gearing up for another run at the Games in 2021. Oleksiak was put in a unique position few find themselves in: being a full-on celebrity at age 16. Penny opens up about dealing with this pressure in and out of the pool over the last quad and explains how relating to Michael Phelps about this position has been helpful. Penny also acknowledges why she chose not to participate in ISL this season after having been a member of Ener...
Dec 18, 2020•46 min•Ep. 368
We sat down with ISL Final champion in the 400 free Tom Dean , who really hit his stride at the end of the season this year in Budapest. Dean describes his struggles at the beginning of the ISL season and how he and his coach were able to work through the 6-week training camp to end on a high note. Dean also divulges what practice has been like lately with his training partner James Guy and gives us an example of the work they've been putting in the bank for trials and the 2021 Olympics. Click h...
Dec 17, 2020•41 min•Ep. 367
We sat down with Canadian national-teamer, NCAA All-American for Minnesota, and now Swammer Mackenzie Padington , who announced her retirement recently via Instagram . Padington takes us through her reasons for leaving the sport she's been in since age 4, including injury and being unhappy with her current training environment. Padington explains there was an event that happened unrelated to the swim team in Minnesota that left her wanting to leave . She ended up returning to Victoria and traini...
Dec 17, 2020•38 min•Ep. 366
We sat down with world champion and freestyle legend James Magnussen . Mel and I geek out over James not because he's a great swimmer, but because he's a great swimmer that we happened to run into at a music festival in 2016. James was taking a vacation in the US and happened to end up in Austin at the time. Mel spotted him from 50 yards away through a crowd of people, and James was kind enough to take a picture with us. We spend way too long talking about that, but there is a positive that came...
Dec 16, 2020•37 min•Ep. 365
We sat down with Michigan All-American and DC Trident star Tommy Cope. Tommy takes us through his ISL season, which he almost opted not to go for, as well as this past summer which he spent in Cape Girardeau, Missouri at an engineering internship. Cope said his training during this summer was much different than a normal summer at Michigan. While he would try to swim regularly (6-7 times a week), it was usually only for 1-1.5 hours at a time. However, he was also lifting more, cycling, and playi...
Dec 16, 2020•45 min•Ep. 364
We sat down with Sydney Pickrem , a Canadian medalist and member of the ISL franchise London Roar. Pickrem just made the move to Toronto to train with the elite Canadian group based there and was in a mandatory 14-day isolation when we spoke. She gave us her perspective on ISL Season 2 , making the move to Toronto, and the new Canadian Olympic Trial format that was released last week. Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts Click here to...
Dec 15, 2020•37 min•Ep. 363
We sat down with Nic Fink , the breaststroke for the Cali Condors who had a slow start to his ISL season as he was dealing with a double wrist injury. Fink takes us through the grueling "rehab" of having to swim while wearing soft casts on both hands as well as getting back into the swing of racing once he was cleared to compete and the casts came off. It seemed like all worked out in the end, however, as in the ISL Finale, Fink broke American records in both the 100 and 200 breast as well as ma...
Dec 14, 2020•47 min•Ep. 362
We sat down with Zach Mertins, the assistant coach (and main sprint coach) at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. Zach and I swam together in high school, which was Zach's first main swimming experience. Since then, he went on to swim at DII Ouachita Baptist University and eventually ended up pursuing coaching. From the outside looking in, it seems like Zach has hit his coaching stride at Drury, not only leading Karol Ostrowski to 19.09 and 41.50 at their mid-season meet ( breaking the DI...
Dec 13, 2020•51 min•Ep. 361
We sat down with Penn State coaches Matt Hurst and Steve Barnes to talk about what the swim and dive teams have looked like during quarantine. One interesting thing they brought up was that the team had been hosting a book club for quite a while and recently they split it between the men's and women's teams. The women read Untamed by Glennon Doyle, while the men "read" (watched) Netflix's The Last Dance. Both coaches describe what they personally gained from the experience as well as what they t...
Dec 12, 2020•35 min•Ep. 360
We sat down with world champion and ISL star Marco Koch , who is coming off of the Budapest bubble with the New York Breakers. Marco is such a relaxed guy when you talk with him, but you wouldn't know it by his swimming. In ISL, he finished as the top performer in the 200 breast (2:00.58), registering multiple 2:00 swims. Koch talks about his longevity in the sport (he's 30, won his first Euro championship at 20), training by himself, and what a normal "hard" workout is on Tuesdays for him. Clic...
Dec 11, 2020•44 min•Ep. 359
To celebrate the 20th birthday of its Fastskin material, swimwear brand Speedo set up a spectacle to answer just that question. World record-holder Caeleb Dressel suited up in a 2008-era Speedo Fastskin LZR racer bodysuit to take on a 50 short course meter freestyle. Dressel gets real about going 20.4 3 different times in the supersuit. He breaks down how the suit changes your body position and what changes he had to make. Dressel reveals that the week before, coach Gregg Troy did not take it ea...
Dec 10, 2020•22 min•Ep. 358
I sat down with NCAA and ISL champion Marcin Cieslak , who is swimming the best he ever has at the age of 28. Marcin stepped away from the sport after the 2016 Olympics, wanting to pursue other things such as his work in Poland and his company, Phlex. However, he came back to the water 2+ years later and started exploring with different methods of training than the distance-heavy background he had known all of his career. Marcin has now found the sweet spot for himself, going numerous best times...
Dec 10, 2020•36 min•Ep. 356
5-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin dropped in on the SwimSwam Podcast to share her new 10-session (5 hour) course, Relentless Spirit . The timing is perfect considering pool space is becoming more and more limited, and Missy's a pro communicating her swimming experience and all the wisdom she has learned. Relentless Spirit is comprehension, covering GOAL SETTING, CONFIDENCE, NUTRITION, OVERCOMING FAILURE, BALANCE, MOBILITY & STRETCHING, TECHNIQUE, ending with an OPEN Q&A. Relent...
Dec 09, 2020•28 min•Ep. 357
We sat down with newly minted Olympian Arno Kamminga , who was kind enough to talk with us after his qualification meet. Arno spoke candidly about experiencing loss, starting with losing his mother at the tender age of 15. Arno used swimming as a way to cope with the loss, but also started getting more serious about it. He then failed to qualify for any international meet, try as he may, be it Jr or Sr, until the 2017 World Championships. Arno also gives an interesting bit of trivia in the middl...
Dec 09, 2020•48 min•Ep. 355
We sat down with Olivia Bray , the freshman at Texas who had a record-breaking weekend, going 50.37 in the 100 fly to register the fastest time in school history. Bray opened up about her quarantine period before arriving in Austin, including checking herself into eating disorder treatment. Prior to seeking help, Bray said she could count on one hand how many foods she could comfortably eat, too afraid to approach the rest. Through treatment and now working with the nutritionist at UT, Bray says...
Dec 08, 2020•30 min•Ep. 353
Speedo International 's Head of Research and Development (R&D), Rob Blenkinsopp, gets granular about Speedo tech. It has been 20 years since Speedo released their FASTSKIN TECH , and, really, that development started back in 1992. Rob walks us through the years, explaining why and what Speedo cooks up in their R&D department. Rob's not thinking about 2021. He's done that. The work is already over. His sights are set on 2024 to 2028, and Rob dreams of the suit Speedo will release in the d...
Dec 07, 2020•36 min•Ep. 354
We sat down with Brandon Fischer , a national team member of the USA who first made the national team just last year, at the age of 30. Fischer takes us through his swimming journey, describing how the pool was a sanctuary for him away from the bullying that came at school. Fischer emphasizes that this built him up to where he is today, saying that this made his resolve stronger to follow the path he thought he could take. This included pursuing a career in engineering after getting an art degre...
Dec 06, 2020•51 min•Ep. 351
Olympic and World Champion and ISL swim star Caeleb Dressel is taking on the SPEEDO SUB-20 CHALLENGE in the 50 short course meter freestyle. He already owns the World Record, dropped in the International Swimming League Grand Finale: 20.16 . This time Caeleb's blazing a 50 scm free in a Speedo Fastskin 2008 LZR. This is all to celebrate the 20 YEARS OF SPEEDO FASTSKIN TECH. WHEN TO WATCH: December 10th, 9pm Pacific Standard Time (PST) WHERE TO WATCH: Speedo International's Youtube Channel On Spe...
Dec 05, 2020•14 min•Ep. 352
We sat down with Trey Freeman , who has recently returned to competition for Florida. Freeman takes us through his last couple of years, which have been largely spent recovering from a knee injury sustained his freshman season. Freeman describes the difficulties, largely mental, that come with trying to get back to a place you had previously been after being derailed in a manner like this. Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts Click he...
Dec 04, 2020•34 min•Ep. 350
We sat down with Torrey Hart , former SwimSwam writer and now full-time sports journalist at Front Office Sports. Torrey wrote a massive piece breaking down the business side of ISL at the conclusion of Season 2 , and if you haven't read it yet, DO SO NOW! Then we can really have a conversation. We break down how the ISL ran things in their first 2 seasons, including their inability to pay all of their debts right away . We talk through both sides of the coin as well as moving forward, what the ...
Dec 03, 2020•36 min•Ep. 349
We sat down with Olympic medalist George Bovell to talk about his career in swimming and what he's learned since. Bovell indulged me with some stories of his swimming days, including the explanation of "the Hammer of Justice" and how it won him an Olympic bronze. But more importantly, Bovell dives deeper into the human side of swimming (and living). Bovell explains he's traveled all across the world trying to learn the secrets to existence and divulges where people are making common mistakes in ...
Dec 02, 2020•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 348
Olympic swimming icon Tracy Caulkins (married Tracy Stockwell) won 48 U.S. National titles and broke 63 American Records (setting American Records in all 4 strokes). She was on course to medal in 7 events at the 1980 Olympic Games (which were boycotted by President Carter). Of course Tracy finally achieved her Olympic moment 4 years later at the LA Games, taking home 3 gold medals. Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts Click here to li...
Dec 01, 2020•44 min•Ep. 347
We sat down with Clyde Lewis , a world champion and commonwealth games champion who is still on the rise for team Australia. Clyde Gives a very interesting perspective, one we don't see too often in swimming: he emphasizes celebrating your personal successes rather than what place you get in a race. Clyde has gotten 3rd at a trials meet, 4th at a world championships, and was 1st seed heading into a worlds final but then didn't medal. And in every case, Clyde celebrated as someone does who won th...
Nov 30, 2020•53 min•Ep. 346
