The SwimSwam Podcast

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing the SCM Pro Meet at Virginia, the last stop of the World Cup, and the 5th match of the CSL.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with Kristen Linehan Omli, VP of Competitor Swim, one of the most recognizable equipment brands on pool decks across the United States. Competitor’s history in swimming runs deep. The company has been producing lane lines for decades, going back to 1968, with its products becoming a fixture at major meets, college programs, clubs and aquatic facilities around the country. Linehan brings a swimmer’s perspective to that business. If you know your history, you know the Linehan sisters dominated swimming from the late 1970s through 1999.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast with have Virginia Head Coach Todd DeSorbo and Virginia Associate Head Coach Tyler Fenwick. Virginia is hosting what could be the most talent-dense swim meet of the fall outside of U.S. Short Course Worlds Trials and the World Championships. The UVA Pro Elite SCM Worlds Prep Meet, set for October 15-16 in Charlottesville, will bring together a loaded field of Olympic champions, world champions and world record holders for three fast sessions of short course meters racing. SwimSwam will livestream the meet, with Kevin Cargill on the call. Expected names include Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, Bobby Finke, Leon Marchand, Regan Smith, Hubert Kos, Katharine Berkoff, Simone Manuel, Chris Guiliano and Jordan Crooks, among others.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing the first two stops of the World Cup, Matches 3&4 of the CSL, and generally the insane amount of fast swims we've seen in October so far.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast we have 3-time Pan Pacific Championships gold medalist, Katharine Berkoff. Berkoff is coming off a huge summer, sweeping her individual events at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships with gold in the 50 back and 100 back, then adding another gold as part of Team USA’s 4x100 medley relay. Her 50 back was the headline swim. Berkoff ripped a 26.90, lowering her own American Record. In the 100 back, she touched first in 57.93, beating a stacked field that included Regan Smith, who averaged 57.8 across multiple races in 2026. We unpack those swims and the rapidly changing landscape of women’s backstroke.

The SwimSwam Breakdown is joined today by Elvis Burroughs and Dax Hill, AKA Night Swim, to discuss the first two matches of the College Swimming League.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing the Asian Games so far, UVA's SCM Pro Am Meet in October, and Shaine Casas coaching high school.

Angharad Evans has had a heck of a summer, raking in 7 medals across the Commonwealth Games and European Championships. This included double individual gold (100/200 Breast) at Comm Games in Glasgow and Gold (100 Breast) and Silver (200 Breast) in Paris at Euros. Evans has not had a linear progression up to this point, and we dive into that journey in today's podcast. In 2021, at age 18, Evans came to the USA to train and study at the University of Georgia. Prior to her arrival, Evans hadn't visited UGA and didn't have much of a concept of what her experience there would be like. During her year on the swim team, she didn't make strong connections with the coaches, and the high-yardage program didn't seem to be a good fit. She left the program following her freshman season and stopped swimming altogether, staying in Athens and attending classes. However, without the structure swimming provided, Evans went downhill and ultimately wound up going back to Scotland in December of 2022. After slowly getting back into the water in the winter, training with her home club team through and spring and competing at British trials in April 2023, the breaststroke specialist decided to really give swimming another go. She ended up at the University of Stirling under coach Ben Higson, and it has been a strong fit for Evans ever since. In 2024, Evans qualified for her first Olympics and made the final in Paris in the 100 Breast. Last summer in Singapore, she made the final in the 200 breast at World Champs. After going best times in both the 100 and 200 at British Trials this April, Evans put immense pressure on herself going into a home Commonwealth Games. Even though she was able to get her hand on the wall first in both the 100 and 200, her times were well off her best. She completely changed her mindset heading into Europeans, trying to only focus on her execution rather than the race itself. This paid off, showing better times while she was still able to retain gold status in the 100, as well as earning silver in the 200.

Today, we are previewing the upcoming 2026 Asian Games in Tokyo, which start on Sunday, September 2026.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast we have Virginia Head Coach Todd DeSorbo. DeSorbo sits at the center of the most powerful women’s training group in swimming, led by Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass. We’ve already gone deep with both women. In this conversation, DeSorbo helps swim fans fill in the gaps, getting granular on training, tapering, and more coach-led details. We start with Douglass’ remarkable 2026 progression in the 50 free, going from 24.21 at the Fort Lauderdale Open to 23.59 at the Indy Pro Swim and ultimately 23.19 at the Pan Pacific Championships. DeSorbo breaks down what changed in training, why her 50 free speed appeared before the same breakthrough came in the 100 free, and what happened between Indy and Pan Pacs to unlock another level.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing Worlds medalist Shaine Casas leaving Texas, what Russian sprint star Egor Kornev could have done in the NCAA, and the 2026 ASCA World Clinic in Orlando.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast we have Olympic Champion, World Champion, and 6-time 2026 Pan Pacific Championship medalist Kate Douglass. Douglass built her career on versatility, but the 2026 season complicates—in the best way possible—an already crowded schedule of events. At the Fort Lauderdale Open in May, Douglass won the 50 free in 24.21. Six weeks later at the Indianapolis Pro Swim, she exploded to a 23.59 world record. Nine days after that, Virginia teammate Gretchen Walsh lowered the record to 23.55. Douglass answered at the Pan Pacific Championships, ripping a 23.19 world record in the 50 free, lowering the mark by more than three tenths and suddenly putting the once-unthinkable 22-second barrier into the conversation. And that one swim is the most impressive of an entire generation, according to SwimmingStats.

19-Year-Old Nikita Sheremet had just about as good a sprint season as one can have. After becoming an NCAA All-American for Louisville in the 50 free as a freshman, Sheremet came into this summer's European Champs as one of the premier sprinters in the psych sheets. However, many didn't see what would come next. After clocking a PB of 216 earlier in the season, Sheremet dropped a 21.5 in prelims of the 50 free at Europeans. In semis that night, Sheremet furthered his PB with a 21.3. But in finals, the Ukrainian dropped the hammer, clocking a 21.1 to win his first European title and etching his name in history as the #7 performer all-time. To top it all off, he got to share the podium with a former Louisville cardinal, Andrej Barna of Serbia, who tied for silver. Listen to Sheremet as he explains what has gone so right for him this year and his reaction to making his mark on sprinting.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing Tomoyuki Matsushita's medley magnificence, the recently announced 2026-27 USA National Team, and the SCM qualifier, Jose Finkel Trophy. In actuality, we spent 30 minutes debating who will be the top-4 male and female swimmers in the World going into 2027. Let us know your list!

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with 8-time Olympic medalist Regan Smith after a 2026 season that has been fast, revealing and, at times, frustrating. At the Pan Pacific Championships, Regan came away with gold in the 200 backstroke, silver in the 50 and 100 back, and a fourth-place in the 200 IM. But the results don’t tell the whole story. In both of her signature backstroke events, Regan was faster in prelims than in the final. She went 57.86 in the 100 back prelim before finishing second in 58.11, then dropped a 2:04.13 in the 200 back prelim before winning the final in 2:05.57. For one of the most consistent swimmers in the world, that morning-to-night disconnect stands out. We dig into what happened at Pan Pacs and what Regan learned from it. And Regan is her on own harshest critic. In this podcast she's thinking through her season, noting her frustration that she trained repeated 8k color sets ahead of the Fort Lauderdale Open and ripped a 57.4 100m back--but tapers for Pan Pacs and doesn't get under 58 at night in the finals. Through that lens, we look back at 2026 and the bigger picture. Regan has been remarkably consistent in the 100 back, repeatedly racing in the 57-second range while carrying a heavy training load. In the 200 back, she is once again approaching the 2:03.35 lifetime best she set as a 17-year-old in 2019. And the most interesting developments happened outside Regan’s traditional events. She set lifetime bests this year in the 200 freestyle (1:56.9) and 400 IM (4:35.7), while also producing elite times of 55.94 in the 100 fly and 2:04.73 in the 200 fly. We ask about her expanding event range and how it figures into her training and schedule under coach Bob Bowman.

Lani Pallister had perhaps one of the most successful summers in history in terms of medals won. She went to the Commonwealth Games and was dominant, winning the 400-800-1500 Free and helping Team AUS to gold in the 4x200. She also earned silver in the 200 free behind her teammate, Mollie O'Callaghan. After her time in Glasgow, Pallister kept her momentum going in Irvine. On Night 1, she shocked Summer McIntosh by winning the 200 free, then finished 2nd in the 1500 Free to Katie Ledecky later in the same session. She went on to beat Ledecky in the 400 free and help Team AUS to another gold in the 4x200 free relay, but Pallister saved the best for last. On the final night of competition, in the final women's race, Pallister dove into the pool against Ledecky in the 800 free and came out on top. Pallister led the race wire-to-wire and touched the wall first in 8:06.10 to Ledecky's 8:07.26, marking the first time in Ledecky's career that she had lost the race at an international competition. Pallister ended her summer with 8 golds and 2 silvers from Comm Games and Pan Pacs combined, making history in multiple ways and asserting herself as arguably the best female distance swimmer in the world. SwimSwam was excited to have her back on the podcast in what ended up being a very fun, and perhaps a bit scattered, conversation. In this 80+ minute episode, we discuss her historic summer, along with many, many... many other topics.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast we have Head Varsity Coach at The Bolles School Jake Gibbons. This is Jake’s second time on the podcast. We skip most of the biography this time, digging into what intelligence Jake has gathered developing high-level swimmers inside one of the most storied programs in the sport. We start with the rapidly changing landscape of college swimming and recruiting. Jake supports Bolles talent in navigating the college process, giving him a ground-level view of how roster limits, the transfer portal, recruiting, and the changing economics of college sports are impacting high school swimmers. We talk about what college coaches are actually looking for now and what swimmers and parents should be thinking about before choosing a program. From there, we go global. Bolles has always had a strong international footprint, and Jake has spent time studying how young swimmers are developed around the world. At Bolles, Jake is also wrestling with a challenge familiar to every program: how do you continue evolving without losing what made the program successful? We talk about building team depth while simultaneously developing top-end athletes, including Ethan Bathala, who became Jake’s first swimmer to make the USA Swimming National Junior Team. Then we get into training. Jake’s philosophy continues to evolve, and he is increasingly putting speed at the center. Instead of viewing speed as something added after building an aerobic foundation, Jake looks at aerobic development, skills, power and recovery as tools that ultimately support swimming fast. Finally, we talk about swim parents. Youth sports is becoming increasingly transactional, with recruiting, rankings, scholarships and outcomes dominating the conversation. Jake offers some perspective on what parents should protect along the way and why optimizing every decision around swimming success can sometimes destroy the very experiences that make the sport valuable.

This is a GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast. Joining us today is Van Mathias, one of the most fascinating comeback stories in American swimming. Mathias' path to becoming the American Record holder in both breaststroke sprints was anything but conventional. At Indiana, Mathias was primarily a butterfly and IM swimmer before breaking through in the 100 breaststroke, finishing second at the 2023 NCAA Championships in 50.60. Then he essentially disappeared for two years and eventually returned to Indiana as the program's director of swimming operations. In the summer of 2025, Mathias decided to race again. After roughly eight weeks of training, he won the 50 breaststroke at U.S. Summer Championships in 26.76 and finished second in the 100 breast in 59.74, putting himself back on the U.S. National Team. Over the next year, Mathias dropped his 50 breast from 26.76 to 26.57, then 26.39 and finally an American Record 26.30. In the 100 breast, he went from 59.74 to 59.45, then 58.19 before breaking Michael Andrew's American Record with a 58.01. At the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships, Mathias proved he could perform on the big stage. He won gold in the 100 breast in 58.02, took silver in the 50 breast in 26.42 and silver in the 50 butterfly in a personal-best 22.84. He also earned gold as part of both U.S. medley relays, including the world-record-setting mixed 4×100 medley. Beyond his breaststroke American Records, he's now been 21.62 in the 50 free and 22.84 in the 50 fly, which raises the question: Was Van Mathias training for the wrong events—or training the wrong way—for most of his swimming career?

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we have Gretchen Walsh, fresh off her haul of seven medals at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships: five golds and two silvers. And Pan Pacs was arguably her weakest overall competition of the year. In 2026, Gretchen made the choice to travel and race fast everywhere: Beijing, Rome, Fort Lauderdale, U.S. Nationals and Pan Pacs. She noted that she took for granted all the racing she did as an NCAA star, and she wanted that experience back. The results were impressive, but Gretchen is candid that she was not satisfied with her times at Pan Pacs. She talks through that frustration and explains how she evaluates a meet where the medal count says one thing but her own expectations say something else.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing how likely it is to see Leon Marchand competing in freestyle at LA28, US Pro's finding new training bases, and the return of the International Swimming League.

2024 Olympian and recent Pan Pacs silver medalist in the 200 Breast Josh Matheny has announced he's leaving Indiana University in search of a new training home. In June, after having a rough first season as a pro swimmer and not performing how he'd hoped at the Pro Swim in Indianapolis, Matheny decided he needed a change. He asked USA Swimming National Team Director Greg Meehan if he could train at the Olympic Training Center until Pan Pacs, to which Meehan agreed. After discussing this change with Indiana coach Ray Looze as well, Matheny spent his last 6 weeks of summer preparing for Pan Pacs in Colorado Springs. In Irvine at Pan Pacs, Matheny neared his best time in the 100 breast, 59.2, making the final and ultimately finishing 4th, and set a PB in the 200 Breast at 2:08.2, earning silver. In the coming weeks, Matheny will talk with numerous teams throughout the country and hopes to find a good training fit for the next two years in the lead up to LA2028.

Hungary's Hubi Kos had a triple-crown performance in Paris at the European Championships. Winning the 200 Back and 200 IM individually, Kos also swam on Hungary's winning 4x100 free relay. Kos' Hungarian teammate, fellow superstar swimmer Kristof Milak, anchored that relay in a historically fast split, 46.2. Before the meet, Kos had publicly voiced his frustrations about Milak sitting out of the relays in the past. Kos wanted to earn a medal for Hungary in a relay badly and knew that Milak would be key to that success. However, to Kos' surprise, Milak ended up swimming on Hungary's free relay, netting not just a medal, but gold. Kos reflects on what winning a relay gold means to him and the historic times he posted in both the 200 Back and 200 IM.

Jack Alexy joins this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast to break down his Pan Pacific Championships performance and where those swims place him in a very elite, very crowded global sprint field. Alexy won the 100 freestyle in a Pan Pac Championship Record of 47.14, took silver in the 50 free in 21.42, and delivered a pair of sub-47 relay anchors for Team USA. He split 46.78 on the winning 4x100 freestyle relay and 46.97 on the winning 4x100 medley relay. And, of course, Alexy owns the 100 free American Record at 46.81, set at the 2025 World Championships. But the international competition has only gotten faster.

2x Olympic medalist Carson Foster returned to the SwimSwam Podcast to debrief the recent Pan Pacific Championships and the 2025-26 season. At Pan Pacs, Foster hauled in 3 silver medals, taking 2nd in the 200 Fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM. He was notably left off of USA's 4x200 free relay, a relay he's been a big part of for Team USA for the last 4 years. He isn't shy about his desire to be on the relay, but also defends Team USA's decision. Foster also speaks on tapering with Bob Bowman and what the mood of the Texas Pro Group was like when not everyone was having the meet they had hoped for in Irvine.

Sam Short had a historic summer that saw him break numerous barriers and top the podium nearly every time he got in the pool. At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Short swept the 400-800-1500 freestyles and led off Australia's winning 4x200 free relay. Two weeks later, at the Pan Pacific Championships, he swept the same three events, breaking Ian Thorpe's 400 free meet record from 1999 and Grant Hackett's Australian record in the 1500 from 2001.  Today, Short sits down with SwimSwam to reflect on his remarkable consistency throughout the season and dissect his best races. We also speak about Johannes Liebmann's newly minted 14:26 world record in the 1500 and which world record Short would break if he could pick one.

Join as we go IN DEPTH and discuss everything European and Pan Pacific Championships.

Join as we go through the psych sheets event-by-event and preview the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships that start this Wednesday, August 12, in Irvine, California

Join us as we compare the 2026 US National Championships and Commonwealth Games in detail.

Join us as we discuss the stars to watch in the upcoming US National Championships, including Anna Moesch, Ilya Kharun, Isabelle Stadden, and Caeleb Dressel.

In this GMM takeover the SwimSwam podcast we have Chris Plumb, Head Coach and CEO of Carmel Swim Club and Chris Webb, Director GAINswim. Our podcast topics are dryland and the 2026 GAINswim Annual Clinic, but we start with the genesis of the Plumb-Webb relationship, diving into their deep history. It extends back to 2006 when Plumb took over as head coach of Carmel.  Plumb and Webb were in their late 20s, trying to figure out how to build a top club in the country. That drive set them on an adventure around the United States and the world, seeking out the best practices, systems and dryland education.

Join us as we discuss the stars to watch in the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, starting this Friday, July 24.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with 10-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Jr. to discuss his new venture, Anchor Line Sports, a sports data company that supports betting in the Olympic ecosystem. Earlier today, SwimSwam published the news that Anchor Line Sports had entered into an exclusive partnership with ALT Sports Data, positioning the company to provide betting data, analytics, and market infrastructure for Olympic-category sports, beginning with swimming.

Ohio State Director of Swimming & Diving Bill Dorenkott joins this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast for a recruiting conversation built for swimmers, swim parents and club coaches trying to understand what college coaches value.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing how Bob Bowman's Texas pros swam at the Austin Sectionals, Mollie O'Callaghan announcing a stress fracture in her back, and Shayna Jack retiring after this summer.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing how many world records Summer McIntosh can break at Pan Pacs, Kaylee McKeown pulling out of major meets, and recapping the European Jr Champs.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we are going deep on one of the biggest questions in the sport: college recruiting. What do college coaches actually look for? What matters beyond the time on the board? How should swimmers handle the jump from club swimming to a major NCAA program? And what should parents understand before, during, and after the commitment post?

SwimSwam breaks down Summer McIntosh's revolutionary 2:01.65 200 Fly World Record from Montreal last night.

SwimSwam sat down with Hannah Saiz, the first-year head coach for Youngstown State University. Saiz was an NCAA DIII National Champion, Olympic Trials finalist, and member of the US National Team before her coaching career. She's coached DIII, DI, high school, and now is in her first foray as a DI head coach. She gives great insight into being yourself during recruiting, balancing student-athlete life, and why excellence isn't the norm.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the insanity that occurred at the Sette Colli Trophy, Leon Marchand's swims at French Trials so far, and the IOC announcing a $10k per athlete grant.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Pro Swim in Indianapolis, Chinese Nationals, and the new *new* NCAA Championship meet format.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Australian and Russian Trials, Cal Poly's new $45M Football Facility, and preview the Indy Pro Swim.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with Mike Orn, Olympic medalist, NCAA champion, and CEO of Malmsten Inc., the U.S. division of Malmsten AB. Mike was an NCAA champion in the 200 freestyle, going 1:36.02 in 1983, and later won Olympic hardware as part of Sweden’s 4x100 freestyle relay at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Now, more than four decades later, he is preparing for a very different kind of return to LA.  This time, Mike won’t be racing between the lane lines. He’ll be helping put them in. Malmsten is the official lane supplier for World Aquatics, European Aquatics, and PanAm Aquatics, which means its lane lines sit in the water for many of the biggest meets on earth. That includes the road to LA 2028, where Mike returns to the Olympic stage 44 years after his medal-winning moment (this time helping install Malmsten lane lines in the Olympic pool at SoFi Stadium).

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the ongoing Australian and Russian Trials Meets, the Longhorn Invite, and last week's many episodes of the SwimSwam Podcast.

Greece's Apostolos Siskos is on a roll right now. At the 2026 Acropolis Open in May, Siskos dropped the #1 time in the world (1:54.12) in the 200 back this year so far and broke an 11-year-old Greek record in the 200 fly (1:56.13). We sat down with the 20-year-old and talked about his approach to racing, training on his own, and his decision to forego coming to Harvard to stay and train in Greece.

Jack Kelly has been making waves in the pool since graduating from Brown University last year. The 3x NCAA finalist in the breaststroke events decided he would give pro swimming a go and moved to Austin to train with Bob Bowman. Since making the move, Kelly has progressed immensely, not only going best times in all 3 breaststroke distances, but showing a ton of consistency throughout the last year. He broke the 1:00 barrier for the first time in December, but has since dipped under it on 6 different occasions. He's also been under the 27-second barrier in the 50 breast twice and the 2:10 barrier once in the 200. He's qualified to swim all 3 events at the European championships in August. Kelly discusses what it's been like training with Bowman, racing in the Ivy League, and being a lifelong New York Knicks fan.

Olympic gold medalist Hunter Armstrong left the inaugural Enhanced Games with $375,000 in prize money after two podium finishes, but the bigger story may be what happened before, during, and after the meet. Armstrong, who competed as a clean, non-enhanced athlete, won the men’s 50 backstroke in 24.21 while racing in a polyurethane “super suit.” The swim earned him $250,000, though it was about half a second off his American record of 23.71. He returned in the 100 freestyle, finishing 2nd in 48.0 behind Kristian Gkolomeev, who won in 46.6. Armstrong’s lifetime best is 47.59. The runner-up finish added another $125,000, bringing Armstrong’s total Enhanced Games payday to $375,000.

NCAA Champion Anna Moesch turned heads last weekend when, at the AP Swim International, she clocked a 51.94 100 Freestyle. This was not only a new American record, but it was the first time a woman had dipped under the 52-second barrier since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021) when Emma McKeon won gold in 51.96. This made Moesch the #2 performer all-time in the event at the time, a position she has since ceded to Marrit Steenbergen, who went 51.86 just days later in Canet, France. Moesch came on the SwimSwam Podcast and revealed what her last year has looked like. Last summer, Moesch missed qualifying for the US National team by one place and subsequently told her coach, Todd DeSorbo, that she never wanted that to happen again. Moesch has been putting a much bigger emphasis on threshold and middle distance training this year, even going into longer IM groups once or twice per week, in favor of just focusing on sprint training. This appears to have shown up in the back half of her races, specifically in her 51.9 100 free, where she came home in 26.7.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Marrit Steenbergen and other star athletes from Canet and Barcelona, the IOC president saying she doesn't believe in paying athletes, and Caeleb Dressel training with Virginia.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast we have Vern Gambetta, founder of GAIN (the Gambetta Athletic Improvement Network) and Chris Webb, Director of GAINswim. Vern Gambetta is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of functional sports training, a movement that helped shift athletic development away from isolated machine-based strength work and toward training the whole athlete.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss last night's Enhanced Games, the Pro Swim stop at Sacramento, and international meets in London and Monaco.

Isabelle Stadden had been a child protege in the pool, representing the USA on the international stage multiple times over, accruing numerous accolades well before she even reached college. Attending Cal Berkeley, Stadden continued to rake in awards and honors, becoming an NCAA All-American many times over during her 5 seasons with the Golden Bears. Weeks after completing her undergraduate degree, Stadden competed at the 2025 US World Trials. In what was supposed to be a springboard for her pro career, Stadden had what she says was one of the worst meets of her life. Her performances in Indianapolis were lackluster and resulted in her first time missing the USA National Team in 7 seasons. After that, Stadden took a long time away from the pool. 6 months removed from her last competition, the Minnesota native decided to give it one more go around, this time doing it for herself rather than feeling the external pressures of performing for a team or to satisfy others' expectations. She moved to arguably the top women's program in the country, the University of Virginia, to train under the 2024 Olympic women's head coach, Todd DeSorbo. Just 4 months into training in Charlottesvillle, she went a 2:05.9 in the 200 back in early March, dropping over a second off of her previous PB of 2:07.28 set in May of 2021. 7 weeks later at the Ft Lauderdale Open, Stadden struck gold again, touching in 2:04.37, becoming the #4 performer in history and #1 in the world this year. Listen to Stadden as she shares her perspective on returning to her sport refreshed, reenergized, and ready for more, looking towards the end of the summer and beyond.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the Sacramento Pro Swim, Kristof Milak racing at Mare Nostrum, and the inaugural Enhanced Games on Sunday.

12-time Olympic swimming medalist Ryan Lochte is making his coaching debut as an assistant coach at Missouri State, joining Dave Collins’ staff for the 2026–27 season. It is a measured move. Lochte is not jumping straight into a head coaching position. He admits he has a lot to learn. For Ryan, coaching is not some far-flung idea. His father, Steve Lochte, coached for 44 years, and both Steve and Ryan’s mother, Ileana “Ike” Lochte, coached him when he was young. Swimming was not just what Ryan did, it was the language of the house. In this GMM Podcast, Lochte talks about why he is taking this path slowly, why the assistant role matters, and how he hopes to develop into a head coach over time. He also reflects on the influence of longtime Florida coach Gregg Troy, whose program was built on honest work and the kind of discipline that leaves no room for shortcuts. Lochte says he wants to channel that influence now, not as a copy of Coach Troy, but as someone shaped by it.

The fourth installment of the FISU America Games is set for this summer, July 24-26, in Lima, Peru, and Team USA has assembled a highly competitive team to take to South America. Among the USA's 44-strong roster are NCAA scorers, All-Americans, and former international roster members. Led by FGCU's Dave Rollins (Head Coach) and Oakland's Molly Hebzynski (Team Lead), Team USA will look to lead the medal table at this competition that will provide valuable international experience for athletes and coaches alike.

SwimSwam sat down with Rachel Stratton-Mills, the Director of Swimming & Diving at Northwestern and the new President of the CSCAA Board of Directors. Northwestern had a promising season this year, especially on the men's side, which saw them place 4th at the B1G conference champs and score a relay at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2008. Stratton-Mills discusses the development of her team as their 3rd-year leader and is hopeful that there's much more to come. On the CSCAA side of things, the new president sheds light on the reasons changes were made this year to the NCAA Championship format and why specific changes were implemented, such as eliminating B-Finals and adding a new diving format for finals. Stratton-Mills recognizes that not all these changes were hits, but also talks us through how the new CSCAA NCAA DI Working Group of coaches is moving forward with more meaningful change to the NCAA Championships format.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Ryan Lochte starting his collegiate coaching career at Missouri State, Bob Bowman's Pro Group getting numerous additions, and what Van Mathias' ceiling is for this summer.

Ice swimming is a strange outpost on the edge of our sport. It’s real, growing, and intense, but still outside the formal World Aquatics structure. In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with Chris Ballard, author of THE PLUNGE: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water. The book drops June 9th from Simon & Schuster.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Ft. Lauderdale Open, Chase Kreitler resigning from Pitt, and movement in the NCAA

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the potential change to the NCAA format, big moves in the transfer portal, and the Ft Lauderdale Open.

Yesterday, Mitch Dalton was announced as the new head coach for Brown University women's swimming and diving. Dalton has spent the last 6 seasons at Texas, where he will leave as the associate head coach for the women's team. During his tenure with the Longhorns, they finished in the top-3 at the NCAA Championships every season. We spoke with Dalton about his move and his vision as a first-time head coach in the NCAA.

This past weekend, Olympic champion Matt King swam a lifetime best in the 100m Free, touching at 47.7. Then he posted a screenshot to his Instagram story of a text that was sent about him...

2024 Olympian David Johnston recently announced his transfer from Texas to the University of Florida. The NCAA Champion explained there were 3 big reasons why he chose to leave Austin for Gainesville. One was plain and simple: the money. Johnston acknowledges that he didn't plan to be competing in the NCAA this long and sees why some would call it unfair. However, with the rules being what they are and new NIL opportunities sprouting up, Johnston wanted to go somewhere that could offer him income that could potentially supplement his future as he strives to qualify for the 2028 USA Olympic team, and it just so happened that UF was that place. In this conversation, Johnston is exceedingly honest about the fact that he is doing what is best for his career with this move, not only in the short term but moving toward LA28. In Gainesville, he will be training with arguably the best distance group in the world, swimming alongside Katie Ledecky, Bobby Finke, Ahmed Jaouadi, and Ahmed Hafnaoui, to name a few. He also opens up about dealing with the shoulder injury that sidelined him for the entire 2025-26 NCAA season.

Join Coleman Hodges as he goes event-by-event to preview the 2026 Men's DI NCAA Championships this week in Atlanta.

Join Coleman Hodges as he goes event-by-event to preview the 2026 Women's DI NCAA Championships this week in Atlanta.

Olivia Smoliga raced a LCM competition for the first time since the 2024 US Olympic Trials this past weekend in Westmont. Smoliga, 31, raced the 50 back (28.4) and 50 free (24.9), where she made the A-Final in both and placed 3rd in the latter. She also time trialed the 50 fly (26.9). The 2x Olympian gives her perspective on why she decided to return to racing, saying she feels like a whole new person now compared to when she was last competing. Smoliga hasn't been completely away from the pool, however. In the interim, she started In Depth Swim Academy, where she's been able to share what she's learned in and out of the pool with young swimmers across the country.

Today on the GMM podcast we have Dan Meinholz, CEO of A3 Performance. For more than a decade A3 has been one of SwimSwam’s most consistent partners, and we’re especially grateful for their backing of our coverage of the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. That kind of long-term support helps us keep doing what we do. But Dan’s connection to the sport runs a lot deeper than a business relationship. He’s deeply chlorinated. Dan grew up in the sport, built his career as a team dealer working directly with swim clubs, and eventually made the leap to launching his own performance swimwear company, A3 Performance. Along the way, he’s stayed deeply embedded in the swimming community.

Mercersburg Academy had a big weekend at the 2026 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships, winning the boys title and coming within striking distance of a combined team sweep after the girls finished 15.5 points short of the title. On the GMM Podcast, Head Coach Matt Hurst  breaks down the meet, his team's performance, and the culture that makes Mercersburg a consistent powerhouse in prep school swimming.

Coming into the B1G Championships, Indiana's Josh Bey was seeded at 3:42.61. Through prelims, he dropped a 3:36.92 PB. Then in finals, he cut another 2 seconds to touch at 3:34.90, touching .3 ahead of Michigan's Lorne Wigginton for the win. When SwimSwam sat down with Bey to discuss his monumental drop, he revealed an interesting development that occurred this season. At the beginning of the season, the 400 IM group had been doing a lot of over-distance training. When the group sat down with their coach, Luke Ryan, and asked to incorporate more race-specific work, Ryan agreed. This seemed to be a pivotal change, as Indiana had 5 scoring swimmers in the 400 IM, notably two freshmen in the A-final.

The 2026 NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships will very look different. The CSCAA’s proposed format changes have stirred debate across the sport, and veteran coach Brian Schrader has stepped forward publicly to say he does not support them.

Last week, 16-year-old phenom Luka Mijatovic turned heads with his historic performances at his CA sectionals. After clocking a 3:40 400 IM, he decimated his own 15-16 NAG in the 500 free with a 4:05.76, becoming the 3rd fastest performer in history. He followed that up with an American record in the 1000 free (8:32.83) to become the fastest ever in the event.

In this GMM podcast episode, Hunter Armstrong opens up about the year after Paris, and it’s not the story most people expect. Fresh off Olympic gold and silver in 2024, Hunter assumed momentum would carry him forward. Instead, he lost his top sponsor. The financial runway tightened. Training didn’t get cheaper. And 2025 became a grind. At this point in swimming history, Olympic gold does not equal financial security. Now Hunter’s made a decision that’s making headlines on SwimSwam. Hunter will compete at the upcoming Enhanced Games, but he’s doing it clean. To be clear, Hunter will not being be geared-up using performance-enhancing drugs. He is remaining in the drug testing pool, and he’s betting on transparency, compliance, and the letter of the rules. Prize money from the Enhanced Games could help fund his training through the LA 2028 Olympic cycle. That’s Hunter’s calculus, but here’s the tension. Hunter does not have absolute clarity on how World Aquatics will interpret its bylaws. He’s read them. He believes participation without doping keeps him eligible. Yet the federation could view participation itself as grounds for sanction.

SwimSwam sat down with Nic Askew, the head coach for Howard University's swimming and diving teams (as well as tennis), who is coming off a historic performance at the NEC Conference Champs. Not only did the Howard men's swimming defend their team title from last year, but the women joined the party this year, winning their first conference championship in program history. As the coach of the only HBCU to field a Division I Swimming & Diving program, Askew knows how to put things in perspective. He knows that to win a team title, it takes a team effort. He wasn't shy about the fact that neither group had the top-end firepower in the pool of past teams. However, Askew emphasizes more than just performing for the clock. He tells his staff and athletes they have one job daily: making the team better. That can happen with effort during dryland, positive attitudes during practice, and helping teammates with their studies. Everyone plays a role when it comes to team success, no matter what times you're swimming at the end of the season. If you have an opportunity to score in a 400 IM B-Final, that is just as valuable to the team's performance as scoring in an A-Final of a 50 or 100 free. With this philosophy in mind, Askew got buy-in from his whole team, making sure everyone felt a part of something bigger than themselves. With both the men's and women's team races coming down to the final session, the belief in the team was what pushed both of these groups over the finish line first.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing last week's SEC, ACC, and Women's Big 10 Championships as well as previewing the Big 12 and Men's Big 10 Championships.

Today’s conversation is one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. It’s rooted in a feature story that stopped me in my tracks when I first read it in our upcoming Swimsuit issue of SwimSwam Magazine (dropping March 29th). The piece is titled “What Remains When the Stopwatch Stops,” written beautifully by Anya Pelshaw. Anya's an exceptional talent, and she captured something rare in her interview. It's not just the résumé of a great coach, it's the architecture of a life built on belief. Today on the GMM podcast we have University of Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the upcoming SEC, ACC, and Women's Big Ten Championships.

We wanted to catch up because Regan is one of the most fun conversations in the sport. She’s transparent for someone living inside the elite bubble. You can ask her about most anything, and she doesn’t default to clichés. That’s why we’re calling this episode What Does Regan Smith Think?

2x Olympic medalist Ilya Kharun announced earlier this week that he would be switching his sporting citizenship from Canada to the USA.

Carsten Vissering was an absolute force during his time in the pool. Breaking national high school and age records as a teenager, he went on to swim for the University of Southern California in college. As a Trojan, Vissering won an NCAA title in 2018 as a part of the 200 medley relay and 2 Pac-12 Titles. Once Vissering walked away from swimming, though, he wasn't done with elite sport. After aquatic retirement, Vissering still wanted to compete and ended up stumbling into bobsledding in 2022. He made the US national team and worked his way up the ranks until, earlier this month, he qualified for the 2026 US Olympic team. Vissering will compete next month in Milan Cortina dawning the Red, White, and Blue. SwimSwam sat down with the now winter athlete to discuss what training, competition, and the mental side of bobsledding is all about. Vissering details the nuances and hardships of the sport. He also tells his personal side of the story, sharing his drive to still compete, the will to learn and grow in a new sport, and the balance it takes to be a full-time athlete and work at a Big Four consulting firm.

Marrit Steenbergen had a heck of a 2025 season. At the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, she touched first in the 100 free, defending her world title from 2024. Then, to end the year, she won 6 gold medals in Lublin at the SC European Championships, where she also set 5 European records. Steenbergen joins us to discuss her big year and her new training style that has brought her success so far. While she's in the water 8-9x per week during much of the season, she's started the last two seasons by only swimming 3 days per week (5x within those three days) and focusing on building strength outside the pool.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we review the Pro Swim Series in Austin, USA Swimming's financial situation, and the future of the Enhanced Games.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the upcoming Pro Swim Series in Austin and make our wild predictions for the 2026 year of Swimming.

Hannah Bellard turned heads last weekend when she topped the 200 fly field at the Indiana-Michigan dual meet. The reigning Big Ten Champion in the event, Bellard touched in 1:50.72, a Michigan school and Big Ten Conference record and the top time in the country by over a second, not to mention a huge PB for the junior.  When we sat down with Bellard to discuss the swim and her season, we got an interesting piece of insight. In the spring of 2025, the rising junior felt like she was just going through the motions with her swimming. This was after winning a Big Ten Title in the 200 fly and becoming an NCAA All-American in the same event. After talking with her coaches, they decided it was best if Bellard take a month off and not compete in the summer. After coming back in the fall, the now junior felt refreshed and reenergized by her sport. After seeing this swim in January, it certainly seems like that break is continuing to pay dividends for the Michigan Wolverine.

Cody Miller signing onto to the Enhanced Games was a curveball, but not wholly unexpected, which is partly why we asked Miller to come on the podcast. For the record: SwimSwam has no commercial or financial affiliation with the Enhanced Games. We are covering it journalistically. That will make some people uncomfortable. But discomfort isn’t a disqualifier, especially when the moment is this consequential.

In this GMM Podcast, we sit down with Jake Gibbons, a talented young coach at one of the most powerful prep programs in swimming history, The Bolles School. Jake’s connection to Bolles is personal. He swam for the Bolles Sharks from 2013 to 2015, absorbing the culture, the expectations, and the weight of a program that has produced Olympic champions and global stars. From there, his path wasn’t linear. He detoured briefly through Yale before landing at Texas A&M, where his career sharpened into leadership as much as performance. At A&M, Jake captained the team, earned multiple CSCAA Scholar All-American honors, and etched his name into the Aggie record books with a 9:05.38 in the 1000-yard freestyle. He was also awarded the Texas A&M Distinguished Letterman Award, the school’s highest recognition for athletics, scholarship, and leadership.

There’s a certain quiet confidence that comes from longevity. You don’t need to thump your chest when the résumé does the talking. This GMM podcast brings together Thad Schultz, one of the most experienced coaches in swimming, and Erkhes Enkhtur, a rising international talent rewriting Mongolian swimming history books from the lanes of SPIRE Academy.

Recently, at the Katie Ledecky Invite, a swim meet hosted by Nation's Capital Swim Club and named for their most notable alumna, history was made. Katie Ledecky herself participated in the last night of competition, swimming in the 1,650 freestyle. The 14x Olympic medalist wowed her hometown crowd as she threw down a monstrous 14:59.62, breaking her own American and US Open records in the event and making her the first woman in history to dip under the 15-minute barrier. This swim not only rippled across the entire current swimming landscape, but it will undoubtedly inspire swimmers for years to come. SwimSwam spoke with two young girls, Milly Birch and Emma Stein, who were at the venue during this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Milly, 14, swam in the lane next to Katie during the 1,650 while Emma, 11, was on deck watching with her friends. Listen to how Katie Ledecky is not only breaking down barriers for herself, but showing many more that they can do the same.

Kyle Sockwell has long branded himself as the “CEO of Fun,” but anyone who has worked with him behind the scenes knows that label only tells half the story. Sockwell, now the COO of the newly announced College Swimming League (CSL), has built a reputation in aquatic sports for something that’s surprisingly rare in this industry: clarity. Behind the scenes, he’s direct about what he knows and what he doesn’t. Clear about what’s possible and what isn’t. And refreshingly uninterested in spin or “gotcha” communication. That matters when the topic is a massive structural shifts in college swimming. The CSL announcement dropped December 9th and immediately became one of the most discussed developments in our sport. The league named former International Swimming League (ISL) Toronto Titans GM Rob Kent as CEO, with Sockwell operating alongside him as COO. In this GMM podcast, we briefly cover Kyle's start and evolution in sports media, and then we dig into the details surrounding CSL

Head Coach Matt Bowe is in his 3rd year at Michigan, and the results are starting to show. Recently, at the CSCAA Dual Meet Tournament, the UM women placed 2nd and the men were 3rd (out of 4 teams), both breaking school records. Both teams not only won very close matchups that came down to the last relay (women vs Tennessee and men vs Virginia), but the women also handed the Virginia women a rare loss in the 200 medley relay. Bowe came on the SwimSwam podcast to discuss how he has been building culture since arriving in Ann Arbor and what navigating the NCAA landscape has looked like in a post-House settlement world.

SwimSwam's Editor-in-Chief, Braden Keith, sat down with the new CEO of USA Swimming, Kevin Ring, for a candid conversation. Keith asked Ring 10 hard questions about the state of USA Swimming and what he will do to address those issues. Ring answered honestly and with some breaking news peppered in. This includes raising APA rates (athlete salaries) for the first time in over a decade and holding an SCM meet to help select rosters for SCM World Championships.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are previewing the US Open, Short Course European Championships, and the Minnesota Invite.

As a Freshman at Texas, Nate Germonprez was training freestyle and backstroke, focusing on IM but also swimming on the 800 free relay. Flash forward year and a half later, and Germonprez is the #4 performer in history in the 100 breast, only .2 off the NCAA and US Open records. Listen to the junior at Texas as he explains what has changed about his training since the arrival of Bob Bowman and how he has capitalized on his breaststroke ability.

Will Modglin made a statement last weekend at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite. In his first swim, the 50 back leading off the 200 medley relay, he swam 20.00, the fastest 50y back in history. He went onto swim a 43.26 in the 100 back, breaking the American record and coming within .06 of his teammate, Hubi Kos's, NCAA record. Modglin also swam a 50.91 100 Breast, one of four loghorns who broke the 51-second barrier in the event. The funny thing about that: Modglin doesn't train breaststroke. At all. The WUG's gold medalist from this summer gets into this and more in today's episode.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Rylee Erisman reclassifying to 2026 and going to Cal, Audrey Derivaux to Texas, and recap the first week of Mid-Season Meet pandamonium.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the major Mid-Season Meets coming up this week in the NCAA.

Entering his 3rd season with the California Golden Bears, Noah Yanchulis has already experienced many highs of coaching a college team. He's been a part of a conference champion team, chased an NCAA team title, and been a part of a Team USA coaching staff. We spoke with Yanchulis today about his time with the bears and how he's developed his system for coaching the 400 IM/distance groups, which now has up to 24 athletes on any given day, with the massive addition of 20 freshmen (men and women) this fall. This past summer, after Cal put 5 athletes on the world championship roster, Yanchulis was named an assistant coach on Team USA. He discusses the lessons learned coaching overseas in Thailand and Singapore as he helped guide the Red, White, and Blue through sickness during the championships.

Ryan Coughenour has had a full journey leading into his senior year of high school. His grandfather was an Oklahoma state champion in the 1940s and went on to swim at Kansas State University (when they had a swim program) as well as compete at the US Olympic Trials in the 1950s. He has supported Ryan through his swimming career and encouraged him to pursue it in college. During the pandemic, when Ryan was in middle school and just starting to swim seriously, he started buying sneakers online and re-selling them for profit. Well, not for profit at first. But eventually, he learned how to make a profit and ended up making quite an income. Coughenour even convinced his coach to let him out in the middle of practice one day in order to secure a pair of valuable shoes, which he ended up re-selling for a profit of $1,100. Bow in his senior year, Ryan has committed to swim at Florida State. He's coming off a summer that saw him rapidly improve in LCM, going best times nearly every time he dove in the pool and capping his season at Summer JRs. Learning to be a leader on his high school and club team, the breaststroke specialist has a lot to look forward to.

Today we have swimming superstar Summer McIntosh. She talked a little over an hour and nothing was off-limits. Before we hit record, she said, “Go for it. I’m ready to discuss anything.” We caught up during her three-week altitude block at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, where she’s working under new coach, Bob Bowman. And, of course, she recently announced her global partnership with Arena. (see link below). This podcast is loaded. Summer provides insight and backstory across a lot of topics. She certainly breaks through the noise of the internet, allowing us  us peek into the mind of the most dominant female swimmer on the planet in her run-up to LA2028.

We sit down with Texas A&M Director of Swimming and Diving Blaire Anderson, a coaching talent to watch in the coming years as she develops the Aggies in the new era. In just her first year running the combined Aggie program, Anderson has already left a mark, guiding the men’s team to a 5th-place finish at the 2026 SEC Championships and 12th at NCAA Championships, while the women’s squad placed 8th at SECs and 25th at the NCAA Championships.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss phenomenal age group swimming from China's Yu Zidi and USA's Luka Mijatovic and the new Pro Swim Series format.