The SwimSwam Podcast
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SwimSwam caught up with 2023 World Champion James Guy https://swimswam.com/bio/james-guy/, who recently announced his departure from long-time training home Bath National Centre https://swimswam.com/olympic-gold-medalist-james-guy-moving-on-from-bath-national-centre-after-seven-years/. 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 https://swimswam.com/tag/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 https://swimswam.com/bio/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 https://swimswam.com/bio/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.
SwimSwam caught up with Kate Douglass, the 2023 world champion in the women's 200 IM who took home a whopping 6 medals from Fukuoka. Douglass is about to start her master's degree in statistics at UVA while gearing up for the 2024 Olympic Trials. Douglass reflects on her huge event lineup in Japan, including taking on the 200 IM Semi-final 10 minutes before anchoring the women's 400 free relay and swimming the 200 breast and 100 free back-to-back through prelims, semis, and finals.
We talked with American Record holder Torri about her preparations, performances, and post-meet reflections from the 2023 World Championships. Although she wasn’t happy with the way she swam at Worlds, she doesn’t believe that one bad meet defines who she is as a swimmer (a sentiment that was also echoed by her coach, Greg Meehan) and is even more motivated headed into the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She believes that Worlds is a learning experience for her, and looks forward to her upcoming Olympic redshirt year. As I said to her on camera, I really appreciate Huske’s willingness to be interviewed about performances that she wasn’t satisfied with—she gave really good insight about a difficult subject. Timestamps: •0:00 Intro •0:36 Nationals and Nationals Prep •3:42 Training Camp •7:52 100 fly/4×100 free relay prelims double •10:08 100 fly final •12:06 Mixed Medley Relay •14:19 Bouncing Back From Difficulties •17:02 50 Fly and Women’s Medley Relay •18:21 Overall Worlds Reflection •20:33 Olympic Redshirt Year •26:41 200 IM •28:35 Mental Game
We sat down with Jack Alexy, the man who won silver medals in the 50 and 100 free individually as well as gold, silver, and bronze as a part of Team USA relays at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Alexy discusses the changes he made this season that led to improvement in his racing, including staying late to workouts to spend more time in the water and changing his mindset toward practice.
Book discusses the achievements of the Kenyon College Swim and Dive Team, what makes them so unique, and delves into the foundational role played by Jim Steen, the coach behind his success.
SwimSwam sat down with Shayna Jack https://swimswam.com/bio/shayna-jack/, the Australian sprint star who was part of 3 world record relays at the 2023 World Championships and split 51+ in a 100 free more than any other competitor at the meet (4). Jack discusses what makes the training environment at St. Peters Western under Dean Boxall https://swimswam.com/tag/dean-boxall/ so electric, the culture Australia has developed in women's sprinting, and her strategy for racing Katie Ledecky https://swimswam.com/bio/katie-ledecky/ and Summer McIntosh in the 200 free.
7-time Olympic gold medalist and Team Speedo https://us.speedo.com/ athlete Caeleb Dressel https://swimswam.com/bio/caeleb-dressel/ talked with SwimSwam for nearly an hour, detailing his journey back to the sport since his abrupt departure from the 2022 World Championships in Budapest. Caeleb’s plain-spoken, funny, and he does channel vulnerability as strength in this interview. Coming off a big Speedo https://us.speedo.com/ international photo shoot with all of his Team Speedo https://us.speedo.com/ peers from allover the world, Caeleb was in good spirits and ready to talk on this topic. This post was possible thanks to SwimSwam partner, Speedo https://us.speedo.com/. We are aware Speedo has a big 2024 reveal coming, which was the reason for the big Speedo International photo shoot, but Speedo has not confirm the dates of the announcement yet.
Thomas Heilman captured fans attention December of 2021 as a 14 year old, breaking 14 National Age Group Records over 11 days at three different swimming meets. 18 months later, and only 16 years, Thomas became the youngest member of Team USA's World Championship squad, making it in two events, 100 and 200 meter butterfly -- breaking Michael Phelps' 2001 200 butterfly National Age Group Record in the process. At 2023 World Championships Heilman shaved more time off his 200 butterfly PB. He made the World Champs final and tied for 4th touching the wall in an astounding 1:53.82 -- the fastest time for any U.S. male under the age of 18.
Hubi Kos of Hungary surprised many when he touched first in the men's 200 backstroke at the 2023 World Championships. The World Jr Record holder in the 200 IM recently moved to Tempe, Arizona in December to train with Bob Bowman at Arizona State, the famed coach of Michael Phelps. Kos describes how training in the training environment that Bowman has created in Tempe helped him get to the top of the podium in Fukuoka, Japan.
Sam Short won a medal of every color at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, earning gold in the 400 free, silver in the 800 free, and bronze in the 1500 free. SwimSwam sat down with the distance ace to discuss his meet and season.
Three-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Kaylee McKeown sat down for a lengthy conversation after sweeping the 50, 100 and 200 meter backstroke at the 2023 World Championships. Kaylee is a rare type of pro swimmer when it comes to managing media--one to watch and learn from. Graciously she did the interview despite a slight cold, and I thoroughly enjoyed the talk because everything was on the table to discuss. Kaylee's simply so grounded in her confidence and humility, she just spoke plainly across a lot of topics.
We had a full sitdown with Kyle Chalmers https://swimswam.com/bio/kyle-chalmers/, the 2023 world champion in the 100 free, 400 free relay, and mixed 400 free relay.
SwimSwam caught up with Matt Richards, the unexpected world champion in the 200 freestyle in Fukuoka. To be fair, Richards had a sensational season leading up to world champs and looked prime to medal. Richards explains what the X-factors were throughout his season, from switching clubs to race strategy, that all lined up when it mattered most.
Olympic Champion Gold Medal Mel Stewart and Coleman Hodges have an open and honest conversation about the comments Cate Campbell recently made on an Australian morning talk show.
After just one season at Stanford University, NCAA champion Claire Curzan is transferring to the University of Virginia, where she’ll be eligible for the three-time defending champion Cavaliers next fall after an Olympic redshirt year.
At the conclusion of the 2023 World Championships, SwimSwam sat down with Team USA men's co-captain Ryan Murphy https://swimswam.com/bio/ryan-murphy/, who's leaving Fukuoka with 2 golds and 2 silvers. Murphy discusses what it takes to get through an 8-day meet like this as well as how he's been able to maintain his podium status in the 100 and 200 back for the last 7 years.
Join Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart, SwimSwam host Coleman Hodges, and our rotating cast of special guests as we watch and react live to Day 8 of the World Championship finals! Today we are joined by 5x Olympic gold medalist Josh Davis, SMU Women's head coach Ozzie Quevedo, and Auburn Associate head coach Vlad Polyakov.
Join Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart, SwimSwam host Coleman Hodges, and our rotating cast of special guests as we watch and react live to Day 7 of the World Championship finals!
After helping Team USA to a silver medal finish in the 800 free relay, Texas teammates Carson Foster and Luke Hobson gave perspective on their time in Fukuoka. Both athletes swam more races than they ever had at a senior international meet, with Foster swimming 3 individual events plus this relay and Hobson swimming the 200 free individually plus the relay.
Join Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart, SwimSwam host Coleman Hodges, and our rotating cast of special guests as we watch and react live to Day 6 of the World Championship finals! Today we have 5x Olympic gold medalist Josh David and Virginia associate head coach Tyler Fenwick.
We got to sit down with Bella Sims https://swimswam.com/bio/bella-sims/ and Alex Shackell https://swimswam.com/bio/alex-shackell/ after their silver medal performance in the women's 800 free relay tonight. For Shackell, today was her first and last day of competition, swimming prelims and finals of the relay. She was surprised to be put on the anchor but didn't question her coaches decision and made the most of the opportunity. For Sims, this was her 3rd time in 3 years swimming on this relay, but the first time at a major international meet that she had other individual events to focus on.
Join Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart, SwimSwam host Coleman Hodges, and our rotating cast of special guests as we watch and react live to Day 5 of the World Championship finals! Today we have 5x Olympic gold medalist Josh David, new Cal associate head coach Josh Huger, and Virginia associate head coach Tyler Fenwick.
Join Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart, SwimSwam host Coleman Hodges, and our rotating cast of special guests as we watch and react live to Day 4 of the World Championship finals! Today we have five time Olympic gold medalist Josh Davis, UVA associate head of coach Tyler Fenwick, and Will Glass, University of Texas NCAA All-American and volunteer swimming coach.
Join Mel, Coleman, Annie Lazor, David Berkoff, and Josh Davis as we watch and react live to Day 3 Finals of the World Championship!
Join Mel, Coleman, and Josh Davis as we watch and react live to Day 2 of the World Championship finals!
Listen as Mel, Coleman, and our rotating cast of special guests as we watch and react live to the 2023 World Championship finals.
