By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

FINA Champions Swim Series 2019 #2 – Budapest

• May 11-12, 2019
• Budapest, Hungary
• Duna Arena
• Start Time: 8 pm Local / 2 pm ET
• Entry List

Natalie Coughlin will be featured as a commentator for the second of three stops of the FINA Champions Swim Series, set to take place this weekend in Budapest, Hungary. The news was announced Wednesday in a press release from NBC Sports.

The 12-time Olympic medalist will work in the analyst position alongside Olympic Channel play-by-play announcer Patrick Kinas.

At the first stop in Guangzhou, China, Missy Franklin notably made her debut as a broadcaster in the same role.

Coughlin has had various broadcasting roles dating back to 2017 with NBC.

The event will be featured live on the Olympic Channel app and OlympicChannel.com, along with the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com, at 2 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The meet uniquely features four swimmers per event in a timed final format, with a large sum of prize money on the line.

In terms of Americans competing, Michael Andrew, Anthony Ervin, Dana Vollmerand Molly Hannis all return after competing in Guangzhou, while Matt Grevers, Justin Ress, Jacob Pebley, Kevin Cordes, Josh Prenot, Chase Kalisz and Katie Meili will contest the series for the first time.

Full entries for the meet are available here.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Natalie Coughlin To Commentate Second Stop of FINA Champions Series

By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

The Danish Swimming Union is under heavy criticism after a Danish Radio (DR) documentary reported on mid-2000s policies of weighing athletes publicly at the country’s national training center. The documentary also alleged that coaches degraded and bullied athletes during that time, tying the coaching behavior to athlete eating disorders.

The Documentary

The DR report is titled “Swimming Stars – Under the Surface.” You can find a written overview of the documentary, in Danish, here. The documentary reports that the mistreatment of athletes began in 2003, when Denmark hired Australian coach Mark Regan as its national team head coach. The report says that Regan “threw chairs into the swimming pool, spoke degradingly to the swimmers and introduced public weighings, where the swimmers were weighed in front of each other,” in a rough translation of the original Danish.

The report says that another coach, Jens Frederiksen, brought the behavior to the attention of the Danish Swimming Union in 2004, but never received a response. Then the team’s dietitian called a meeting with Regan and another official to recommend that the public weighings stop and be replaced by voluntary weighings in private. The DR report says the officials agreed to the new guidelines, but then continued the weighings anyway, with 23 swimmers confirming to DR that the weighings continued into 2005.

The documentary says the methods even continued after Regan stepped down as national team coach, with his successor Paul Wildeboer continuing the public weighing until at least 2012. The story also says junior coach Michael Hinge called a 14-year-old junior star fat in front of others.

Regan declined an interview with DR, but said he didn’t do anything wrong, claiming that he was a “hard coach” and that “sometimes you should tell the swimmers things that they do not want to hear.” Wildeboer died in 2014, and Hinge declined to comment to Danish Radio.

The documentary says that future world champ and Olympic medalist Jeanette Ottesen left the national training center at age 17 with an eating disorder and depression, and also shared the stories of Kathrine Jorgensen, a top swimmer who developed anxiety, depression and bulimia and tried to overdose on pain medication in 2008, and Sidse Kehlet, a junior standout who developed bulimia, depression and medication abuse and was told by a doctor to stop swimming at 18 to recover from those conditions.

The Danish Swimming Union said it was not aware that the public weighings continued after the federation’s policies changed, and condemned the behavior.

“It makes me really sad when I hear these stories,” said Danish Swimming Union director Pia Holmen Christensen in a follow-up DR story. “And it is not in order.

“If we had known about this, or had I become aware of it, then of course we would have put an end to it,” Christensen said later in the story. “So if what you say is right… It’s not [expletive deleted] okay.”

Danish Swimming Union chairman Lars Jorgensen also gave a speech at the Danish Sports Federation annual meeting addressing the issue. He says Team Denmark officials from the time say that the new guidelines were followed from 2005 to 2008, but also reflects that the guidelines “were not good enough to protect and promote the well-being of all national swimmers.” You can read his full speech here.

DR Apology For Out of Context Quote

The Danish Swimming Union did object to a quote from Holmen used in the documentary. The swimming federation complained that the quote was taken out of context, and Danish Radio ultimately agreed, responding with a public apology:

“In the Evening Show on Tuesday, April 23, as a part of a panel debate on DR’s documentary ‘Swimming stars – below the surface’, a brief clip was brought with the Danish Swimming Union director, Pia Holmen. The clip was brought after a talk with the swimmer Jeanette Ottesen and the former swimmer, Kathrine Jørgensen about the former coach Mark Regan‘s personal behavior as coach. Afterwards, the Evening Show brought the clip with the director of the Danish Swimming Union, where she stated that she did not know about it.

The clip with Pia Holmen was an answer to a question from DR’s journalist, who was not about Mark Regan‘s behavior, and the use of Pia Holmen’s response thus created an erroneous picture of what the Danish Swimming Union leadership knew about Mark Regan‘s behavior and how to respond to it. behavior. We are sorry.”

Minister of Culture Calls For Independent Study

The story has crossed beyond sport governance as well. Denmark’s Minister of Culture, Mette Bock, met with the Danish Swimming Union, Danish Sports Federation and several swimmers to discuss the issue. She ultimately called for an independent third party to undertake an investigation into the allegations.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Danish Swim Federation Under Fire For Mid-2000s Public Weighings

By Gold Medal Mel Stewart on SwimSwam

Michael Andrew shocked us all with his swim in the 200 IM at the the Richmond Pro Swim dropping a 1:57.49. What some may not know is that heading into the meet, he’s been experimenting with the Ketogenic Diet. Eliminating carbs from your diet sounds brutal, but Michael does do things differently. It’ll be interesting to see how the diet works after the summer is over.

Michael swam the 200 IM in Richmond to prep for the event at the FINA Champions Series. In Guangzhou, China, however, it was his 3rd event of the session, and though he still collected $5k in prize money, he turned in a slow 2:04. I’m hoping he can turn it around at the FINA Champions Series in Indianapolis, May 31-June 1st, after getting the Guangzhou experience under his belt.

Predictions.

If Michael focuses on a fast 200 IM in Indy, what do you think he can go? I would love see Michael shave a few tenths, going 1:57.1-2, maybe even a 1:56.9. But who cares what I think… What do you think?

Follow Michael Andrew on Instagram here.  

RECENT EPISODES

This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Michael Andrew Experiments with Ketogenic Diet: GMM presented by SwimOutlet.com

By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

We continue our traditional spring recruiting coverage with our “Way Too Early” ranks of the current high school sophomore class. As top recruits continue to give verbal commitments earlier and earlier, we’re moving up our rankings to help give better context to big recruiting announcements.

Before we run over our traditional ranking methodology, we should head off a few counterarguments at the pass:

• Isn’t this too early to have a good read on talent? Aren’t 16-year-old kids still improving? Maybe. On the other hand, coaches are clearly finding roster spots for kids who verbally commit this early. And if we and our readership want to have the most accurate picture of how the recruiting season is playing out, it’ll be useful to have some sort of ranking – even one still very much in flux – to refer to as big-name swimmers commit.
• But recruiting ranks don’t matter. It’s the fast-dropping swimmers and diamonds in the rough that really have the biggest NCAA impact. Not true. There are always fast-rising swimmers who quickly develop into NCAA stars. But there are far less of them than there are elite high school prospects that become high-impact NCAA swimmers. We all love the Cinderella stories, the unranked recruits who flourish into dominators. But even those rags-to-riches stories aren’t as fleshed out if they don’t have a clearly-defined “rags” setup. These ranks help show us who is most likely to become NCAA standouts… but also contextualize where the eventual breakout stars originally rated compared to peers. If you, your favorite swimmer or your son/daughter isn’t ranked, don’t get mad – see it as the starting point for your/their rise to stardom.
• How accurate can these be with two plus years of development to go before any of these swimmers compete in the NCAA? Who knows? This is as new to us as it is to you. For these ranks, we’re a little less concerned with actual NCAA scoring times than we are in our junior/senior ranks, and probably marginally more interested in “ceilings” – wide event ranges, versatility, etc. But as with any ranking, these are ultimately nothing more than a snapshot in time: what the top of this recruiting class looks like in the moment, with full admission that a lot of these ranks can and will change by the time they finish their senior years.

THE METHODOLOGY

Our goal in these rankings is to reflect what college coaches look for in recruits, based on many years of conversations and coverage.

We focus only on American-based athletes, simply because there is so much uncertainty with international recruits – if they’ll come to the states, when they’ll come to the states and with what graduating class they should be ranked. Projecting international recruits often becomes more a discussion of when they’ll first join a college program and not which program they’ll join.

A few other factors that weigh heavily in our rankings:

• Relay Value – Relay points count double in college swimming, and any program needs a strong stable of quality sprinters to fill out all 5 relays with studs. Obviously, a special distance swimmer can easily rank ahead of a very good 100 freestyler, but college swimming generally values a sprint freestyler over a distance swimmer, all other factors being equal.
• Improvements – Actual times are a the trump card, but any big improvements in quality can make a difference as well. For example, a swimmer who only took up year-round swimming as a junior in high school going the same time as a swimmer whose been swimming year-round since they were 8 will probably get the edge in our rankings. Think Breeja Larson.
• Short Course over Long Course – we recognize that some programs, many programs, put their focus with their high school aged swimmers on long course, especially depending on when the high school championships may fall. That said, college swimming is short course, so a swimmer who is great in short course but struggles in long course will have the advantage over the reverse.
• NCAA scoring ability – NCAAs are the big show for college teams, so we’ve weighted NCAA scoring potential very highly. Swimmers who already have NCAA scoring times wind up mostly filling out the top our of rankings. Since college athletic directors – and by extension coaches – also place high value on conference championships, scoring ability at conference meets is also a factor in our rankings.
• Relative depth in the NCAA and recruiting class – a wealth of elite depth nationwide in one stroke discipline makes a big difference in what times are considered more valuable in that event. Events rise at different rates in the NCAA, but when one event gets extremely deep and fast at the college level, it makes high school prospects in those events a little less valuable, relatively, with lots of other veteran options. In the same way, a recruiting class stacked with swimmers in butterfly, for example, would make each butterflyer a little less sought-after in the market, with lots of other recruiting options able to provide similar production.

Of course, there’s no way to predict the future, and the most concrete data we have to go on are cold, hard times. These rankings in no way mean that all of these 20 swimmers will be NCAA standouts, and they certainly don’t mean that no swimmer left off this list will make big contributions at the NCAA level.

THIS CLASS

• Sprint-heavy class across pretty much all strokes
• Weaker in the 200/500 frees
• Versatility reigns supreme
• Deep distance free group, but not top-of-the-class standout
• Great breaststroke group at the top
• Very thin in fly/back

This is an oddly-consistent class, in that it’s pretty significantly stronger in the sprints than distance events, across all strokes. There are a couple notable exceptions, of course, but the trend is characterized pretty well by the top 6, four of whom are sprinters between 19.6 and 20.0 in the 50 free.

In freestyle, in particular, it’s an outstanding sprint class. Last year’s sophomore class had no boys under 20 seconds in the 50 free; this year’s group has three. This class of 2021 group as sophomores actually compare pretty favorably to the preceding three classes as juniors when you look at top times in the class for the 50 and 100 free:

Top Times in the Class:

• Class of 2021 (as sophomores): 19.67 / 43.07
• Class of 2020 (as sophomores): 20.08 / 43.62
• Class of 2020 (as juniors): 19.55 / 43.00
• Class of 2019 (as juniors): 19.62 / 43.52
• Class of 2018 (as juniors): 19.66 / 42.99

The flip side is that this class is way behind the past few classes in the 200 and 500 frees. We’ve noted over the past three classes (Drew Kibler & the class of 2018; Jack Walker & the class of 2019; Carson Foster & the class of 2020) how loaded the 200 free fields have been, with 1:32/1:33/1:34 types aplenty. This year’s sophomore class has no one below 1:36 at the moment, and though that could change by next year, this recruiting class still isn’t the best place to go searching for a stud 200 freestyler – for programs that didn’t load up on them in the last few classes, competing in an 800 free relay is going to be tricky in what’s become a loaded NCAA.

Same story in the 500, where we’ve seen 4:14s in two of the past three recruiting classes, but don’t have anyone under 4:23 in this year’s group. Recruiting the mid-distances is going to rely a lot more on picking the fast-rising, high-upside talents than it has the past few years.

While this class isn’t outstanding in vertical range, it’s superb in its horizontal versatility – crossing over between stroke disciplines. Our top two standouts can’t realistically be categorized as “freestyler,” “backstroker” or “butterflier.” And that trend carries through to the later recruits as well – we have a lot of good IMers who can also swim a couple strokes well. We’ve got a handful of good sprint freestylers who also cross over into breaststroke. Some of these swimmers will see their primary events come into better focus as they get older, but in general, this class should give coaches a lot of lineup flexibility, and may see different coaches recruiting the same athlete for a different discipline.

The mid-distance dearth extends to the upper distances a little bit. There’s not a true standout miler in the class yet, after the last few classes have all had a sub-15:00 type already in the mix. But the class is relatively deep with milers in the 15:30-15:40 range. No one comes down to the 200/500 at an elite level yet, but there’s still time for development, and a few intriguing prospects who already show impressive range.

As far as specific strokes go, this class is outstanding in breaststroke, especially the 100, where there are a pair of 52s and quite a few 53s dotting the recruiting market. Things are a little more thin in fly and back – there’s pretty good top-end talent in the 100s of each, but the 200s are relatively thin.

**The 1000 free isn’t an event at the Division I NCAA Championships, but is swum instead of the 1650 in many Division I dual meets and is part of the NCAA program in Division II.

With that out of the way, let’s get to our rankings.

Disclaimer: there are a lot of high school sophomores in the country, and no really good, complete, 100% accurate listing of them all. If you don’t see your favorite swimmer on the list, feel free to politely point them out in the comments. There’s a chance that we disagree with your assessment of their spot in the top 20, and so long as it’s done civilly, there’s no problem with differences of opinions. There’s also a chance that we’ve simply missed a no-brainer (we’ve taken every precaution to avoid that), and if that happens, we want to make sure we correct it.

TOP 20 SWIMMERS FROM THE CLASS OF 2021

1. Anthony Grimm– Mason Makos Swim Team – Oakton High School – Fairfax, VA
Best Times: 100 back – 45.60, 100 breast – 52.51, 50 free – 19.67, 100 fly – 47.40, 50 back – 20.87

Grimm is the headliner of this versatile sprinting class. He’s got the best time in the recruiting class in the 100 back, 100 breast and 50 free – a pretty unorthodox event combo at the NCAA level, but one that shows a pretty impressive speed portfolio. Grimm already has NCAA invite times in the 100 back and 100 breast, one of just two boys in this class with invite times as sophomores. Grimm has come on very strong in the past year, dropping from 47.9 to 45.6 in the backstroke, 56.3 to 52.5 in the breaststroke and from 21.1 to 19.6 in the 50 free. Some other key events seem primed to have similar time drops in the near future. When you’re 45.6 in the 100 back but only 47.5 in the 100 free, something doesn’t add up. Grimm hasn’t logged an official 100 free swim since dropping almost a second down to that 47.5 back in late 2017. His speed in each of the four strokes individually suggests that he’s a lot faster than the 1:52 200 IM he put up in 2018 (and you have to imagine at least a few college coaches are wondering if Grimm could have Dressel-like crossover potential into the short course IM). We also don’t usually include 50 stroke splits in our “best times,” but Grimm made a lot of waves with his 20.8 backstroke leadoff at Virginia’s high school state meet – a time that would have been better than all but three leadoff legs of the 200 medley relay at men’s NCAAs.

2. Aiden Hayes– Sooner Swim Club – Norman North High School – Norman, OK
Best Times: 100 fly – 46.64, 50 free – 19.73, 100 back – 47.26, 200 fly – 1:47.01, 100 free – 45.15

Hayes is another great multi-stroke sprinter with immense value in the NCAA scoring format. A 46.6 fly is no joke out of high school – that’s comparable to the best flyers in the classes of 2019 and 2018 as juniors, and it’s actually three tenths faster than the class of 2020’s top flyer (one Luca Urlando) was as a sophomore when we ranked his class. Hayes is also outstanding at the 50 free and 100 back, which makes him a great relay prospect. Like Grimm, Hayes is on an awesome improvement curve: as a freshman, he was 48.3 in fly, 49.2 in back and 20.5/46.8 in free. And Hayes may also develop into a great two-distance flyer after dropping from 1:52 to 1:47.0 over the last year in the 200 fly.

3. Matthew Fallon – Somerset Valley YMCA – The Pingry School – Warren, NJ
Best Times: 400 IM – 3:44.08, 200 breast – 1:54.27, 100 breast – 54.00, 200 IM – 1:48.25, 500 free – 4:26.06, 1000 free – 9:05.12, 1650 free – 15:45.96

We said there were a few notable exceptions to this class’s trend towards the sprints, and Fallon is the main one. He’s a pretty elite 400 IMer already, comparable to where Carson Foster (3:44.1) was when we ranked his class as sophomores. He’s mere tenths out of NCAA invite range in both the 400 IM and 200 breast, and carries a few good options for a third NCAA event, likely the 200 IM or 500 free. What makes Fallon so exciting, though, is his incredible improvement in the 400 IM since last year. Fallon dropped from 3:52 as a freshman to 3:44 as a sophomore. He also took his 200 breast from 1:59 to 1:54, and his 500 free from 4:31 to 4:26.

4.

By Anne Lepesant FR on SwimSwam

Depuis sa création en 1973, arena est associée à « technologie » et « savoir-faire » dans le monde de la natation en compétition. En 2012, l’entreprise a puisé dans son héritage pour créer un concept révolutionnaire dans le domaine des combinaisons – la CageCarbone qui intègre des fibres de carbone dans la structure de celles-ci pour maximiser la compression et augmenter le soutien et le contrôle nécessaire. Dans la continuité de ces innovations techniques sans pareilles dans le monde de la natation, arena a rapidement su adapter cette toute nouvelle technologie au domaine du triathlon en invitant de nombreux athlètes de renommée internationale à participer aux cycles de développement des nouveaux produits sur cette pratique.

arena c’est avant tout la technologie. arena impose la qualité. arena ça ne veut pas dire différent, ça veut dire la différence.

Depuis plus de 40 ans, le savoir-faire arena et les recherches approfondies qui ont été menées ont permis de créer des produits révolutionnaires qui ont repensé l’équipement sportif – tout d’abord l’équipement de natation mais désormais aussi le triathlon et le swimrun.

Avec cette gamme de produits, arena accompagne les athlètes depuis l’eau libre, au vélo en passant par la piste, pour finir par la course, pour que la pratique devienne plus qu’un challenge, un vrai plaisir.

COMBINAISON POWERSKIN CARBON

La combinaison arena Carbone présente une structure Cage Carbone laminée dans sa surface interne offrant ainsi une stabilité optimale pendant la nage. Par ailleurs, les plaques de néoprène Yamamoto Aerodome intégrées à la Cage Carbone permettent une flottabilité maximale et équilibrée du corps dans l’eau tout en conservant une liberté totale de mouvements grâce au néoprène ultra fin et souple placé sur les épaules et les bras. La combinaison possède aussi une fermeture éclair inversée ergonomique permettant de retirer la combinaison en un rien de temps. Modèle disponible dans une version sans manche.

COMBINAISON POWERSKIN CARBON SAMS

SAMS signifie Shark Attack Mitigation System (système de prévention des attaques de requin), cette technologie utilise les atouts de la CageCarbone pour réduire le risque d’attaques de requin en se basant sur des recherches menées sur la vision des requins selon les profondeurs, les distances et les différentes conditions de luminosité et d’eau. Unique dans le monde du triathlon, la combinaison SAMS, par sa forme, ses contours et ses motifs présente un look futuriste et élégant qui donne un certain style aux athlètes hors de l’eau tout en leur permettant de se fondre parfaitement en eau libre. Les versions originales des combinaisons grises et noires SAMS sont désormais déclinées dans un nouveau coloris bleu.

COMBINAISON POWERSKIN SWIMRUN

Conçue spécialement pour les multiples transitions entre la natation et la course, cette combinaison présente : un revêtement en néoprène Glideskin sur le buste et l’avant des cuisses pour réduire les frottements ; du néoprène à haute élasticité sur les épaules et les bras qui assure une palette complète de mouvements et un tissu spécial de glisse très résistant qui réduit la traînée. La flottabilité uniforme permet la stabilité dans l’eau, les fermetures à glissière avant et arrière simplifient l’enfilage ou le retrait de la combinaison quand il le faut et le néoprène laminé résistant à l’usure dans les zones stratégiques permet de conserver la combinaison de manière durable.

LUNETTES DE NATATION COBRA TRI SWIPE

L’association de verres moulés et incurvés avec des joints d’étanchéité 3D permet une vision hermétique optimale et sans buée pour un maximum de confort, de satisfaction et un hydrodynamisme renforcé. Ils permettent également un écoulement latéral de l’eau de manière à offrir une vision panoramique améliorée tout en conservant une structure légère et protectrice idéale pour le triathlon et le swimrun. La technologie révolutionnaire de l’antibuée Swipe par arena s’active par un simple frottement de doigt, prolongeant la protection jusqu’à dix fois plus longtemps. Ces lunettes sont disponibles avec des verres miroirs polarisés clairs ou foncés pour s’adapter à toutes les conditions.

BONNET NATATION 3D SOFT SWIM

Le silicone souple combine performance et confort pour une coupe qui s’adapte à toutes les formes et offre une compression unique et un hydrodynamisme renforcé. Ce bonnet sans pli glisse dans l’eau sans friction et ses finitions adhésives à l’intérieur assurent un maintien sur la tête.

FASTPACK 2.2

Le plus fonctionnel des sacs à dos pour les triathlètes et les swimrunners. Doté d’un « système de gestion de l’espace » extrêmement efficace, il permet de ranger et organiser les équipements très rapidement et simplement. Chaque compartiment est doté d’un système de ventilation permettant de régulariser l’humidité avec un grand compartiment arrière pour planche et un compartiment bas pour les équipements mouillés ou pouvant accueillir jusqu’à deux paires de chaussures. Deux poches de côté en maille souple pour bouteilles d’eau grand format et autres accessoires, grandes fermetures éclair renforcées, bretelles avec un système de sangles et un panneau arrière rembourré en mailles. Disponible dès cet été.

www.arenawaterinstinct.com

Contact Presse arena France
ZMIROV Communication
Constance Marle
Téléphone : 01 70 95 15 02
E-mail: constance.marle@zmirov.com

Read the full story on SwimSwam: arena présente ses nouveaux modèles triathlon

By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

Kyle Daniels, the 20-year-old Australian swim instructor accused of sexually assaulting young girls, is now being faced with 36 child sex charges after a tenth victim came forward last month.

Further reading:

• 20-year-old Sydney swim instructor charged with sex abuse (March 21)
• 9th alleged victim comes forward against former Sydney swim instructor (April 9)

Daniels was arrested in early March and accused of sexually touching and having sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10. Those original charges revolved around two girls, one eight years old and the other six. Police said the abuse happened while Daniels was giving the girls swim lessons.

As more victims were discovered, the list of charges grew. As of early April, Daniels was charged with 35 sex abuse charges with nine alleged victims. Now, News.com.au reports that a tenth victim has come forward, bringing the total charges to 36. Daniels is accused of having sexual intercourse with a seven-year-old girl eight times within a three-week period. His charges include sexual intercourse with a child under 10, intentionally sexually touching a child under 10 and the indecent assault of a person under 16.

News.com.au reports that Daniels is the son of a “prominent advertising executive.”

Daniels’ attorney says Daniels denies all of the allegations against him.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Australian Swim Instructor Now Faced With 36 Charges and 10 Alleged Victims

By Loretta Race on SwimSwam

On the heels of both Italian swimmer Santo Condorelli and German ace Philip Heintz having been added to the ISLAqua Centurions squad, breaststroking powerhouse Fabio Scozzoli has also been named to the Federica Pellegrini-captained team.

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By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam

by Olivier Poirier-Leroy. You can join his weekly motivational newsletter for swimmers by clicking here.

Swimmers are comparison-making machines.

We walk out onto a pool deck, look at who is in the water, and immediately rank and sort ourselves against how fast or slow they are going.

• I could totally beat that person.
• Oh, that swimmer has killer underwaters.
• That swimmer could give me a run for my money.
• Holy chlorinated kickboards—that guy’s breaststroke kick is fast.

The comparison-making we do isn’t even conscious. It’s not as though you have it in your mind that you are going to go storm over to the edge of the pool and watch who is in the pool and tally up where you rank.

Why is why it can feel like we don’t have control over how comparison-making ends up making us feel.

Particularly when those comparisons are unfair, pointless, or utterly de-motivating:

That swimmer is really tall, there’s no way I can beat them. My competitor swims for a world-class coach, how can I compete with that? The swimmer in lane four has a seed time that is ten seconds better than my PB.

Thanks to the world wide web of internet tubes and social media we have an endless parade of swimmers to compare ourselves against.

We compare ourselves to the competition. We compare ourselves to our teammates. Heck, we even compare the swimmer we are today to the swimmer we were in the past.

There is no end to the comparison-making if you aren’t doing your part to hit the snooze button on it.

Here are some fun facts and tips about comparison making, and how you can work this normal human instinct to your benefit.

Fun fact #1: Improvement happens at different rates for all of us.

We use the clock and scoreboard to measure ourselves against other swimmers.

Makes sense, but this is way too simplistic for any reasonable kind of comparison-making.

Some kids grow a foot over a summer when they are 13 years old. Others grow slow and steady. Some kids master technique quickly, while others slowly work their way around to mastering it. Some kids peak at 16, while others don’t hit their stride until their mid-20s.

You are on your own path.

How long it takes for you to improve is unique to you. Little Bobby in the next lane might have dropped five seconds in a month in his 100-freestyle, but that doesn’t mean you are going to do the same.

You might drop one second per month, over five months. You might drop one second, per year.

Whatever the case, trying to use someone else’s progress and improvement as a timeline or blueprint for your success is risky business.

Instead, use the success of others as proof of what is possible…

“If they can do it, so can I.”

Fun fact #2: Comparison-making can be motivating when done properly.

When I was a kid, we used to a get a swim magazine to our home every two months that had national rankings for swimmers in each group.

(A printed magazine… on paper… no app, no website. I know, I’m old, bro.)

I would photo-copy the page with my competitors, highlight my name, and over the next two months try to march up as fast as possible up the rankings at subsequent meets.

The rankings motivated me and gave me a sense of urgency in practice.

In this manner, comparison-making was helpful.

On the other hand, if I was receiving that magazine, reading the rankings, and felt overwhelmed and hopeless by the fast swimming of others, with the benefit of hindsight and a time machine I’d have quickly instructed myself to lay waste to the magazine and instead focus on my own preparation.

The same could be said for farting around on social media, relentlessly scrolling through meet results, or spending hours on YouTube watching videos of fast swimmers.

If it ain’t helping you in your preparation, stop wasting time and energy on it.

Fun fact #3: Comparison-making can be the spark to ask what you can do to be better.

Sometimes we need the kick in the butt that comes with a fast competitor.

Rivalries and competition show us that it’s possible to be better, and can encourage us to look inward to see if we really are maximizing our preparation and efforts.

Can you go to bed a little earlier? Can you spend ten minutes writing down and evaluating your workout? Can you take two minutes to get feedback from your coach on your technique? Can you do a couple extra race pace turns? Can you video tape your start to see where you can improve?

Faster swimmers can push you to be more honest about where you can work harder.

Fun fact #4: Now you have someone to chase.

Seeing a teammate performing like a boss in practice should excite you.

Why?

Because now you have someone to race against. A challenger. Someone to chase after each day at practice.

Use the performances of others to motivate you. One of the challenges of being top dog in the group or lane is that we tend to coast when we are crushing everyone.

I always relished getting moved up a group to where I would be struggling to keep up with the faster swimmers. Intuitively, I knew that training with faster swimmers would push me far more often than training with slower swimmers, and I was stoked about the hype-improvement that would come from trying to keep up.

Fun fact #5: Winning is only meaningful if you are also improving.

Beating others isn’t always that rewarding, especially if you aren’t improving.

Ever notice the joy from a swimmer who places in the bottom of the results but drops a metric butt-ton of time? I’ve been there—improving was the real win.

Ditto with the swimmer who wins gold, but isn’t thrilled since they swam significantly slower than their personal best time? It’s a bit of a hollow win.

While we love to obsess over gold medals and winning, you can’t fake the satisfaction that comes from maximizing your talent and ability.

What can you do to be better?

What are the things you have control over?

Motivation, confidence and all the warm fuzzies in the world come from exceeding our own limits, not bypassing someone else’s.

Fun fact #6: Comparison-making knows no limits.

Reality: There will always be someone faster than you.

Even if you are the fastest of the fasterest swimmers in the history of the sport today, there is someone out there who will someday knock you off.

That’s just the endless march of the sport.

You can be the fastest swimmer in the lane, but you might not be the fastest swimmer in the group. You may be the fastest swimmer on the team, but there is going to be someone faster cross-town, or cross-state, or cross-Earth.

There will always be someone faster, better, taller, better-looking, etc etc etc.

Does this mean you should give up? Not work hard? Not see what you are capable of?

Of course not.

Work hard. Swim fast. See what you can do.

In sum, the next time one of your teammates is putting an unmitigated beat-down on you in practice, check yourself before you wreck yourself with these quick questions and reminders:

• Is comparing myself to them motivating me or not? How can I use their performance to make myself better?
• Am I improving? Swimmers develop at their own rate—as long as you are progressing with your process, the gains you want will happen.
• There will always be someone faster. There will always be someone slower.

ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY

Olivier is a former national level swimmer who is obsessed with helping swimmers develop a high-performance mindset in the pool. He’s the publisher of YourSwimBook, a ten-month log book for competitive swimmers.

He’s also the author of the recently published mental training workbook for competitive swimmers, Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High Performance Mindset.

It combines sport psychology research, worksheets, and anecdotes and examples of Olympians past and present to give swimmers everything they need to conquer the mental side of the sport.

The book was written with the feedback of 200+ Olympic champions, head coaches, former world record holders and NCAA champions.

Ready to take your mindset to the next level?

Click here to learn more about Conquer the Pool.

COACHES & CLUBS: Yuppers–we do team orders of “Conquer the Pool” which includes a team discount as well as complimentary branding (your club logo on the cover of the book) at no additional charge.

Want more details? Click here for a free estimate on a team order of CTP.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: “Help–other swimmers on my team are swimming fast and I’m not.”

By Karl Ortegon on SwimSwam

FINA CHAMPIONS SWIM SERIES 2019 #2 – BUDAPEST

• May 11-12, 2019
• Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Saturday – 7:30 pm local / 7:30 am ET Opening Ceremony, 8:00 start
• Sunday – 7:30 pm local / 7:30 am ET start
• FINA Champions Series Info
• Entry List
• Live Stream (NBC Sports) – May 11th
• Live Stream (Olympic Channel) – May 12th
• Live Stream (FINA TV)
• Extended Start Lists (TBA)
• Live Results (Omega)

The 2nd stop of the inaugural FINA Champions Series will be held in Budapest’s Duna Arena this weekend. As a refresher, see below the format for this meet.

THE FORMAT

Each race will have only four swimmers competing in a timed final format. Initially, the four athletes invited to compete in each event were:

• the reigning Olympic champion
• the reigning World Champion
• the current world record holder
• the #1 ranked swimmer in the world this season

If any of those swimmers declined their invite (or were duplicates, retired, etc), they would follow with the Olympic and World silver and bronze medalists, and then the next highest ranked athletes in the world until the four spots were filled.

#1 WOMEN’S 200 FREE A TITANIC SHOWDOWN

Europe has a very impressive contingent set to race, and the 200 free on the women’s side is one of the best showcases of their continental talent. The race features Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the 2017 World Champion and World Record holder, Sarah Sjöström, the 2016 Rio silver medalist, Veronika Popova, the Russian record holder. China’s Li Bingjie is the 4th entrant, though she’s more of a factor in the longer races.

Pellegrini (1st) and Popova (4th) return after making the 200 free final at the 2017 World Championships, while Sjöström’s 1:55.39 from the 2018 Stockholm Open last month makes her the highest-ranked swimmer in the field. Pellegrini has been 1:56.60 from the Italian Nationals in April, while Popova hasn’t made the world top 25 yet this season.

Both Pellegrini and Sjöström have said they were done with this event at major international championships, but talk is cheap (Pellegrini swam it at the 2018 SC Worlds, and both she and Sjöström have been racing this event in 2019 in non-major meets). Eyes will be on the two of them for a showdown we don’t get to see very often between two titans of the sport.

#2 AMERICAN BACKSTROKERS ROLL UP TO THE SCENE

Olympic champion Matt Grevers is entered in both the 50 back and 100 back, while Justin Ress will race the 50 back and Jacob Pebley the 200 back.

Grevers is a seasoned pro, and he’ll be up against Russians Kliment Kolesnikov and Evgeny Rylov as well as China’s Xu Jiayu in what should be an electric 100 backstroke. Xu (52.27), Rylov (53.00), Kolesnikov (53.03) rank 1-2-3 in the world this season. Grevers is back at 15th, but his time (53.81) isn’t all that far off of the Russians.

Kolesnikov’s 24.40 leads the 50 back world rankings and Rylov’s 1:54.00 the 200 back rankings, while the former is also the WR holder. Pebley’s been 1:56.96, ranking 10th in the world in the 200. Ress is finished with his career at NC State, and this will be his first pro meet (and first LCM race since last summer).

#3 MILAK AND CSEH JOIN THE BUTTERFLY FIELDS

Kristof Milak, one of the most exciting names in butterfly right now, and Laszlo Cseh, a veteran who has medaled at every LC World Champs since 2003, will add some excitement for the home crowd in the butterfly races. They both enter the 100 and 200 fly after not swimming in Guangzhou.

Neither rank in the world’s top 5 this year in the 100 fly, but Milak’s 1:53.12 from March leads the world and Cseh is #6 (1:55.81). Chad Le Clos will be a huge obstacle in both of these races, while Italian record holder Piero Codia will race in the 100 fly and Japan’s Masato Sakai will race the 200 fly.

#4 CHASE KALISZ TO SWIM THIRD MEET SINCE PAN PACS

American IM juggernaut Chase Kalisz has been fairly quiet since last summer’s Pan Pacific Championships. He’s only raced in two meets since then: the Pro Swim Series stops in Knoxville in January and then in Richmond in April (the most recent PSS stop).

Kalisz is only invited to swim the 200 IM (there is no 400 IM in this program). He was 1:57.68 in the 200 IM in Knoxville, which sits 8th in the world this season’s rankings, but was just 1:59.02 in Richmond a month ago. Without any 200’s of stroke or the 400 IM on his schedule (and no prelims, mind you), one would expect a strong swim from him here.

He’ll be racing China’s Wang Shun, Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches, and Germany’s Philip Heintz in Budapest. Wang is #2 in the world with his 1:56.66 from March’s Chinese Nationals, while Desplanches has been 1:56.89 to rank 5th and Heintz 1:58.35 (T-11th).

#5 OTHER NEW PLAYERS ENTER THE FIELD

There were a handful of new names set to race in Budapest who were not present in Guangzhou.

On the men’s side, Brazil’s Bruno Fratus (50 free), France’s Mehdy Metella (100 free), Russia’s Aleksandr Krasnykh (200/400 free), USA’s Kevin Cordes (100 breast) and Josh Prenot (200 breast), and Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch (100 breast) are some of the biggest new names.

For the women, the biggest new names not already mentioned in this article are Canada’s Penny Oleksiak (100 free/50 fly/100 fly), Egypt’s Farida Osman (50 free/50 fly/100 fly), Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros (50 free/50 back), Great Britain’s Holly Hibbott (400 free), Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (200 fly) and Ajna Kesely (400 free), Anastasia Fesikova (50 back), Italy’s Margherita Panziera (200 back), Russia’s Yulia Efimova (50/100/200 breast), USA’s Katie Meili (50/100/200 breast), Great Britain’s Siobhan Marie O’Connor (100 breast/200 IM) and Alys Thomas (200 fly), and Germany’s Franziska Hentke (200 fly).

Sun Yang and Fu Yuanhui of China, Kathleen Bakerof the USA, Mireia Belmonte of Spain, and Charlotte Bonnet of France all showed up on initial entry lists, but have since been replaced by Hungarian national team swimmers. We already knew Sun and Fu had withdrawn from the remaining FINA stops.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 5 Storylines for the Budapest Stop of the 2019 FINA Champions Series

By Coleman Hodges on SwimSwam

SwimSwam wants to give you an inside look at what a normal day-in-the-life looks like for any given swimmer, and how that differs from team to team or city to city. We send our head of production, Coleman Hodges, to be a fly on the wall at practice, then relay what he discovered back to you over pancakes. Or at least breakfast.

We have one final workout from Charlottesville: a “colors” (red) set from UVA assistant Blaire Bachman. This workout was written for Paige Madden, who in preparation for World University Games this summer, didn’t take significant time off after a breakout NCAA’s. She wasn’t alone, however; she had a good amount of training partners for majority of the set, including ACC champion Morgan Hill. The set was as follows:

Rd 1

200@2:40 Pink

4×100@1:20 Red

:30 rest

2×50@1:10 Blue, Stroke

Rd 2

200@2:40 Pink

4×100@1:20 Red

1×150@2:00 Red

:30 rest

2×50@1:10 Blue, Stroke

Rd 3

200@2:40 Pink

4×100@1:20 Red

2×150@2:00 Red

:30 rest

2×50@1:10 Blue, Stroke

Rd 4

200@2:40 Pink

4×100@1:20 Red

3×150@2:00 Red

:30 rest

2×50@1:10 Blue, Stroke

After the set, they finished with a 100 off the blocks, either free or stroke. Madden dropped a sub-60 second 100m free at the end of this set.

See our first Practice + Pancakes with UVA featuring Tyler Fenwick’s distance workout here.

See Jack Conger take down Todd DeSorbo’s power set in Practice + Pancakes here.

See Todd DeSorbo’s philosophy on sprinting in Beyond the Pancakes here.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Practice + Pancakes: Paige Madden WUG Set

By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

The U.S. Center for SafeSport requires the national governing bodies of all sports to implement a Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP) by June 23, and USA Swimming has released the full details of its MAAPP, including restrictions on social media communication, travel and one-on-one interactions between coaches and swimmers.

USA Swimming approved interim changes to its rules at an April 26 meeting, and those changes will be permanently implemented at the House of Delegates meeting in September. However, all USA Swimming member organizations will have to update its rules and policies to match the MAAPP by June 23.

You can read USA Swimming’s full release on the policy changes here. We’ll break down some of the bigger policy pieces below. The MAAPP focuses in on five areas:

1. One-on-one interactions
2. Travel
3. Social media & electronic communication
4. Locker rooms & changing areas
5. Massages & rubdowns

The full MAAPP can be found here, and links to further information and FAQs can be found here.

When the new rules were presented at the USA Swimming National Team coaches meetings this week, those present tell us that the coaches were generally displeased with the new restrictions. One coach, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the three biggest areas of concern by coaches were how this would impact college recruiting, basic implementation/logistics and how the new rules would be policed, and the strain that the new rules could cause on coach/athlete relationships.

Specifically, there was a lot of concern about how this might impact recruiting – with college coaches concerned over being told that they would have to include a parent on all text message, email, and phone calls with recruits; with college coaches not being able to drive recruits to or from the airport during their official visits, and with recruits not being able to stay in dorm rooms during their official visits.

Social Media & Electronic Communication

We’re still digging in on specific effects of many of these policy pieces, but the social media policies are some of the more notable ones so far. (The policy uses the term “applicable adult” to define coaches, adult athlete USA Swimming members, meet officials & timers, LSC & club staff and any other adult who has regular contact with or authority over minors. We’re using more specific terms like “coach” or “adult” below for clarity, but the rules stipulate “applicable adults” for all of these policies).

• When communicating with a minor through electronic means (including social media), a coach must include the minor athlete’s legal guardian in the communication. That means CCing a parent on e-mails, including a parent in text threads, and having a parent included in phone calls. We’re told that this includes college recruiting, where an adult coach (an “applicable adult”) is calling a minor athlete and will need a guardian on the line with the athlete.
• When communicating to a group or an entire team, a coach must include another adult in the communication. (Copying another coach, parent or other adult).
• Coaches can only use electronic communications between 8 AM and 8 PM.
• A coach cannot have “private social media connections with unrelated minor athletes” – that means coaches cannot be connected with minor athletes on personal social media platforms. (There is a stipulation for when an “applicable adult” is considered a celebrity, or has a fan page).

Most of these rules do have exceptions for “emergency circumstances.”

Here’s a handful more, broken down by the other five categories:

1. One-on-one interactions

• Must be observable & interruptable. That is, they must take place someplace where another adult can see what is happening and intervene if the communication looks inappropriate. This includes individual training sessions like private lessons.
• Meetings in a room must have the door open and unlocked, and blinds open on the windows.
• Meetings cannot take place in an applicable adult’s hotel room or “other overnight lodging location” when a team is traveling.

2. Travel

• Applicable adults cannot ride in a vehicle alone with an unrelated minor athlete. For a coach to drive an athlete anywhere, they need either multiple athletes or multiple adults present.
• Two applicable adults should work together to do room checks when a team is traveling.
• Unrelated, non-athlete applicable adults cannot share a hotel room with a minor athlete. Adult athletes can only share rooms with minor athletes if the minor’s guardian provides written permission.

3. Social Media & electronic communication

• As noted above

4. Locker rooms & changing areas

• Applicable adults are not allowed to expose themselves to minor athletes for any reason, nor to ask a minor athlete to expose themselves to the adult.
• As with the one-on-one interaction policy, an adult should never be alone with a minor athlete in a changing area.
• Clubs are required to monitor locker rooms through a combination of sweeping the locker rooms before athletes arrive, posting staff directly outside the locker rooms, leaving doors open when privacy is still possible, and making occasional sweeps of locker rooms with female coaches checking female locker rooms and male coaches checking male locker rooms.

5. Massages & rubdowns

• The policy defines “massages” to refer to massages, rubdowns, stretching, injury rehab and things like cupping or dry needling.
• Massages must happen in an “open and interruptable location,” even if the massage is given by a licensed massage therapist.
• Coaches are not allowed to give athletes massages or rubdowns, even if the coach is a licensed massage therapist.
• A legal guardian must give permission for a minor athlete to get a massage from a licensed massage therapist. And guardians must be allowed to observe the massage.
• Another adult must always be present during the massage – no one-on-one situations with an athlete and a massage therapist.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: USA Swimming MAAPP: Guardian Must Be Included On Electronic Communication

By Lily Ermal on SwimSwam

La Lituanienne Ruta Meilutyte aurait manqué trois contrôles antidopage sur une période d’un an, ce qui constitue une infraction au protocole de contrôle de l’agence mondiale antidopage (AMA). Conformément à l’article 2.4 du code mondial antidopage, il est considéré que 3 manquements aux contrôles antidopage de la part d’un(e) athlète ou/et la combinaison d’une absence de notification dans ces cas-là, tels que définis dans le Standard international pour les contrôles et les enquêtes, pendant une période de 12 mois, est considéré comme une violation des lois antidopage.

En accord avec le code mondial antidopage et les règles antidopage lituaniennes, les athlètes doivent fournir des informations précises sur leur localisation et se conformer aux exigences relatives à leur emplacement. Ces informations doivent être transmises au système d’administration et de gestion antidopage (ADAMS), pour permettre la réalisation de contrôles antidopage inattendus. En cas d’absence à un contrôle inopiné, l’athlète est signalé d’un “no-show”.

Selon la publication de la fédération lituanienne, la championne olympique 2012 a manqué les contrôles les 22 avril 2018, 29 août 2018 et 28 mars 2019. Bien que la sanction exacte n’ait pas encore été annoncée, ces trois “no-shows” pourraient lui coûter cher. La Lituanienne, aujourd’hui âgée de 22 ans, pourrait écoper d’une suspension allant jusqu’à deux ans, sachant que même une suspension d’un an la priverait de participer aux Jeux olympiques de Tokyo 2020.

Nous avons récemment vu d’autres cas d’athlètes ayant manqués des contrôles antidopage, comme les nageurs australiens Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Maddie Groves et Jarrod Poort. Sur les 3, Fraser-Holmes a écopé d’une suspension de 12 mois, tout comme Poort, tandis que Groves a été innocentée et n’a fait l’objet d’aucune suspension.

Kristina Jagminiene, directrice de l’Agence antidopage de la République de Lituanie, a déclaré : “ Notre expérience montre que, malheureusement, les athlètes refusent et remplissent leurs données de manière irresponsable, en pensant que cela n’a pas d’importance. La négligence et l’irresponsabilité peuvent entraîner des changements dans la carrière de l’athlète, qui peuvent avoir des conséquences sur le plan financier et moral. Nous doutons que les individus se renseignent en détail pour savoir pourquoi un athlète est suspendu. La violation des lois antidopage restera à l’avenir, tout au long de la carrière du sportif. Le cas de chaque athlète étant différent, le verdict attire l’attention sur les circonstances atténuantes et aggravantes.La sanction la plus sévère est la suspension pour une durée de 2 ans. Les règles antidopage sont strictes et doivent être respectées par tous.”

Meilutyte a changé plusieurs fois d’entraîneur depuis l’obtention de sa médaille d’or à Londres. Après que son entraîneur de longue date à Plymouth Leander, en Grande-Bretagne, Jon Rudd, ait été nommé directeur technique de Swim Ireland, Meilutyte est retournée en Lituanie pour s’entraîner sous la direction de Paulius Andrijauskas, ancien nageur olympique, et vice-président de la Fédération Lituanienne de natation. Ce déménagement n’a toutefois pas duré bien longtemps, puisque la championne olympique s’est envolée pour l’Australie pour participer à des compétitions et suivre un entraînement saisonnier avant de faire des essais avec la Elite à San Diego pendant un mois, un peu plus tôt cette année. Salo, son entraineur actuel, a indiqué qu’après les championnats du monde en petit bassin 2018, elle a fait une pause hors des bassins, et qu’à sa connaissance, aucun contrôleur antidopage n’est venu la chercher à la piscine de l’USC.

Récemment, Meilutyte avait posé ses valises en Californie pour s’entraîner avec Dave Salo, où elle avait prévu de rester jusqu’aux Jeux olympiques de Tokyo 2020. Salo a, par le passé, entraîné des stars internationales comme la Hongroise Katinka Hosszu, l’Américaine Rebecca Soni, ou encore la brasseuse Russe Yuliya Efimova, concurrente directe de Ruta Meilutyte sur les épreuves de brasse, qui a déjà été condamnée pour deux affaires de dopage en 2014 et 2016. Meilutyte l’avait d’ailleurs critiquée publiquement pour cette raison en 2015.

En avril 2018, Meilutyte avait déclaré au site brésilien Globo Esporte qu’elle luttait contre une dépression depuis 2016.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Ruta Meilutyte menacée de suspension pour 3 contrôles antidopage manqués

By Wendy Mayer on SwimSwam

NCAA First Round

• May 10, 2019
• Avery Aquatic Center; Palo Alto, California
• Tournament Central
• Winners advance to the semifinals on Saturday

NCAA Tournament water polo action continues Friday at the Avery Aquatic Center with the quarterfinal round (first round) with the top four seeds  – #1 USC, #2 Stanford, #3 UCLA and #4 Cal beginning play alongside #5 Hawaii, #6 Michigan and Tuesday’s opening round victors: #8 Pacific and #14 UC San Diego.

Defending national champion USC will kick things off against the Tritons, while 2018 runnerup and tournament host school Stanford will take on Pacific. The Trojans are looking to go back-to-back and nab its sixth NCAA water polo crown, while Stanford is aiming to win its seventh NCAA title and second in its home pool (following 2015).

Full NCAA Tournament Bracket:

USC vs. UC San Diego – 3 p.m. ET

• Live Stream
• Live Stats
• Winner Plays the winner of Cal/Hawaii at 6 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals

The first step toward USC (26-1, 5-1 MPSF) going back-to-back as national champions goes through #14 UC San Diego, which topped #19 Wagner in the opening round (or play-in game). The Trojans have finished no worse than fourth (or in the semifinals) in every NCAA Tournament since 2004, including five national titles. USC is on a six-match win streak, including a golden goal victory over #1 Stanford in the MPSF title game, which avenged its lone loss of the season.

UC San Diego (22-13, 4-0 WWPA) is on to the first round (quarterfinals) for the first time since 2016, after defeating Wagner 12-8 in Tuesday’s opening round. The WWPA’s tournament champion for the seventh straight year, the Tritons bring a six-game win streak into Friday’s battle.

Series History: USC leads the all-time series 13-4, including a 13-4 win on Jan. 20 at the Gaucho Invitational. The Trojans have won 13 straight against the Tritons.

Players to Watch: First team All-MPSF honoreeMaud Megens paces the Trojans with 63 goals, including 20 multi-goal efforts, while fellow first teamer Paige Hauschild has chipped in 45 scores, including 14 multi-goal performances. On the other end of the pool, first teamer Amanda Longan has allowed just 4.4 goals per game.

Three players boast more than 50 goals, led by Honorable Mention All-WWPA honoree Grace Pevehouse’s 61. Honorable Mention selection Taylor Onstott (55) and first teamer Ciara Franke (53) follow. It was Shelby Stender, however, who guided the Tritons against Wagner, with four scores, upping her season tally to 33 goals. Pevehouse added two goals, while Franke and Onstott chipped in one apiece among six scorers in the victory.

First Team All-WWPA selection Bennett Bugelli handled the goalkeeping duties in the game, but did not make a save, leaving her with a 7.19 goals against average. If necessary, the Tritons have the option of switching to Reilly Gallagher, who has logged 494 minutes between the pipes and owns a 7.57 GAA.

Pick: USC. Even after a nearly two-week layoff, it is hard to pick against the defending champs and especially the goalkeeping abilities of Longan. If UCSD hopes to keep this one close, they will have to go deep in their scoring roster, utilizing Stender, WWPA Player of the Year Chanel Schilling (35) and others to load up on the Trojan defense. UCSD has played 20 matches against ranked foes, but fell to all eight of the Top 10 opponents they faced. It would take a monumental effort to pull off this upset.

Cal vs. Hawaii – 4:45 p.m. ET

• Live Stream
• Live Stats
• Winner Plays the winner of USC/UC San Diego at 6 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals

This is the fourth meeting between Cal and Hawaii in 2019. The Bears took the first two meetings (12-10 on Feb. 23 and 10-9 on March 10), but the Rainbow Wahine won the most recent (6-5 on March 30).

Despite being the third at-large team to get in to the NCAA Tournament, Cal was awarded the #4 overall seed. The #4 Bears (16-8, 3-3 MPSF), which earned their third straight NCAA berth after finishing fourth in the MPSF, are looking to make the semifinals for the seventh time in program history, doing so in each of its previous appearances. All eight of Cal’s loss this season have come to Top 5 opponents, while the team also registered seven Top 10 victories.

Hawaii (18-5, 4-1 Big West) is making its sixth NCAA appearance in program history and first since 2015. Although the team is 5-10 all-time at the NCAAs, the Rainbow Wahine have won four of their five opening contests. After finishing in a tie for the regular season Big West title with UC Irvine, the Rainbow Wahine charged through the conference tournament with wins over UC Davis and UC Irvine to claim the league’s automatic bid. Four of the team’s five losses came to Top 5 foes, including two against Cal (12-10 on Feb. 23; 10-9 on March 10).

Series History: Cal leads the all-time series vs. Hawaii 33-11, including a 2-1 advantage in 2019. The Rainbow Wahine won the most recent contest on March 29, marking their first win over the Bears since 2016.

Key Players: First team All-MPSF selection Emma Wright has more than doubled the output of her nearest Cal teammate, finding the back of the net 62 times, including a seven-goal effort against San Jose State in the MPSF Tournament among 11 hat tricks on the year. Brigit Mulder (36) and Kitty Lynn Joustra (30) follow. In goal, second team All-MPSF honoree Madison Tagg boasts a 7.23 goals against average, playing in 22 of the team’s 24 games.

Two-time Big West Player of the Year Irene Gonzalez leads the way offensively for UH with 59 goals. First team All-Big West honoree Elyse Lemay-Lavoie add 47 scores, while honorable mention selection Maxine Schaap has notched 41 goals. Second teamer Femke Aan adds 29 goals and 24 assists. Lemay-Lavoie, Aan and Gonzalez each boast at least one six-goal effort in 2019. Hawaii has options in goal with Molly DiLalla and Bridget Layburn splitting time. DiLalla has allowed 6.60 goals per game in 381 minutes, while Layburn has notched a 7.57 GAA in 376 minutes.

Pick: Flip a coin. Hawaii won the most recent meeting by just one goal, but that could go a long way in confidence for the Rainbow Wahine. Honestly, this one comes down to star power and defense. Will it be Emma Wright for Cal or Hawaii’s Irene Gonzalez that can impose her will offensively or get enough help from a supporting cast to gain the edge? Forced to pick, I give Hawaii the edge based on momentum.

Pacific at Stanford  – 6:30 p.m. ET

• Live Stream 
• Live Stats 
• Winner Plays the winner of UCLA/Michigan at 8 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals

#8 Pacific (18-8, 7-0 GCC) steamrolled Cal Lutheran 16-4 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday. The victory, which extended the Tigers’ current win streak to 10 games, saw eight players contribute a goal. Leading the way was GCC Player of the Year Kyra Christmas’ five-goal haul, which marked her 12th straight hat trick. Toula Falvey (15) chipped in three goals. In 2019, GCC champion Pacific bested 12 ranked foes, including potential semifinal opponent Michigan once, and suffered all eight of its losses at the hands of Top 10 foes, including a 14-3 decision to Stanford on Feb. 23.

#2 Stanford (20-2), which boasted the #1 spot nationally to end the regular season and captured the MPSF regular season crown, is coming off a 9-8 golden goal loss to USC in the league’s tournament title match. The Cardinal are no stranger to the NCAA Tournament, however, boasting six titles, including five of the last eight. Stanford, which has played in the national final every year since 2010, has suffered both of its 2019 losses at the hands of the Trojans, which also topped team in the 2018 NCAA title game. This year, 19 of the team’s 20 wins have come against ranked teams, including 11 against the Top 10, strong preparation for whatever lies ahead over the next few days.

Series Record: 1-0 Stanford in 2019 with the Cardinal coming out with a 14-3 win on Feb. 23 at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational

Key Players:Kyra Christmas paces Pacific with 69 goals, followed by First Team All-GCC honoree Viktoria Szmodics (44) and second teamer Mariana Duarte (44). As evidenced by the team’s opening round win, however, the Tigers boast multiple goal scoring options, with eight notching a goal and four recording multiple scores. Honorable Mention All-GCC selectionClara Vulpisi has spent 780 minutes at goal keeper, boasting a 7.53 goals against average. In 18 of her 26 appearances, Vulpisi has made at least five saves, while posting a 13-5 mark in those contests.

The Stanford roster is headlined by Makenzie Fischer and Aria Fischer, who have led the team in scoring in all but six matches in 2019. Makenzie, the reigning MPSF Player of the Year, boasts 78 goals, including 17 multi-goal efforts and 15 hat tricks. Aria, a first team All-MPSF honoree, has chipped in 46 goals, followed by second teamerKat Klass (41). Fourteen players have contributed to the team’s 354 goal tally (16.09 goals per game) with 13 notching at least one multi-score effort. The Cardinal turn predominantly to honorable mention All-MPSF honoree Emalia Eichelerger in the goal, where she has posted a 7.40 goals against average over 54 quarters of play. Thea Walsh is a strong second option, with a 5.08 GAA in 32 quarters of play.

Pick: Stanford. This one could be closer than expected if battle tested Pacific can utilize multiple scorers, but if the Tigers rely predominantly on Christmas to do the scoring, it may be over much sooner. The Cardinal have something to prove after last year’s title game disappointment and will seemingly do anything to get another crack at USC. Even in a fairly even contest, Stanford has the edge with a tougher defense (6.5 GAA), a dynamic duo with the last name Fischer and home pool advantage (10-1 at home in 2019 and 108-10 since 2008). Don’t expect Pacific to roll over though, no matter the score.

UCLA vs. Michigan  – 8:15 p.m. ET

• Live Stream
• Live Stats
• Winner Plays the winner of Stanford/Pacific at 8 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals

#3 UCLA (23-6, 4-2 MPSF), which was one of three MPSF teams to earn an at-large berth to the NCAAs, finished third in the both the conference regular season and tournament races. The Bruins record all 23 of their victories against Top 25 teams, including 11 Top 10 victories, besting its current foe twice (15-5 on Feb. 23 and 9-7 on Jan. 20). The teams six losses all came against MPSF teams, three vs. USC, two vs. potential semifinal foe Stanford and one vs. Cal.

#6 Michigan (23-8, 6-0 CWPA), which is making its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and looking for its first NCAA win since 2016, brings a nine-game win streak into Friday’s contest against UCLA. The Wolverines, which won the CWPA regular season and tournament titles, are no stranger to tough competition, having notched 19 wins vs. ranked foes and six against fellow Top 10 teams. Michigan has hit a buzzsaw in MPSF foes, however, falling to #3 UCLA and #1 USC twice and once each to #2 Stanford and #4 Cal.

Series History: UCLA leads the all-time series 22-0, including two victories in 2019: a 9-7 win on Jan. 20 and a 15-5 decision on Feb. 23.

Key Players: MPSF first team honoree Maddie Musselman leads the Bruins with 50 goals, followed by Val Ayala (32) and second team All-MPSF selection Bronte Halligan (27).  UCLA has scored 10.24 goals per game, while allowing just 6.72. Seventeen players have turned in multi-goal efforts, including three five-score performances by Musselman. Honorable mention All-MPSF honoree Carlee Kapana has played 530 of the team’s 716 minutes in the goal, posting a 6.64 goals against average. Jahmea Bent has logged 249 minutes between the pipes and a 6.62 goals against average.

The Wolverines average 11.4 goals per game with six players boasting 30 or more goals, while allowing just 7.58. Second team All-CWPA honoree Julia Sellers has netted a team-best 63 goals, followed by CWPA Rookie of the Year Abby Andrews (56) and CWPA Player of the Year

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

In a new wrinkle for the 2019 edition of USA Swimming’s SwimSquads competition, where 4 American swimming greats of the past have drafted teams that are pit against each other in a ‘fantasy swimming’ type of competition, this year the Open Water National Championships are involved in the scoring.

While everyone seems to have forgotten about this (there’s no mention of roster selections or scoring, and USA Swimming’s official SwimSquads standings have not been updated with any mention of the event).

The good news: we’ve got you covered. Because only 2 races count toward the standings (the men’s and women’s 10km swims), and because no team had more than 3 male or 3 female swimmers entered, we’re going to make a leap that everyone remembered to enter a team (or will retroactively be allowed to do so), and entered “all of their eligible swimmers.”

With not many points to be scored, the results didn’t cause any change in the team standings. Elizabeth Beisel’s team, however, did fall further behind the field (though she’s still within striking distances of Maya Dirado’s DiradSquad), and Cammile Adams’ Adams Family team maintained its sizable lead on the field.

There are still 2 events left in the season, with points up for grabs at both the Pro Swim Series stops in Bloomington next weekend and Clovis, California to finish the circuit. The winning squad will donate $10,000 to its designated charity.

Scoring Update

An athlete must make the top 8 to score points:

• 1st: 10
• 2nd: 8
• 3rd: 7
• 4th: 5
• 5th: 4
• 6th: 3
• 7th: 2
• 8th: 1

Running Totals

Here’s a look at the team-by-team scoring:

Beisel Bunch

DiradSquad

Jaeg-Train

Adams Family

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Open Water Nationals Sees Little Change in SwimSquads Standings

By Loretta Race on SwimSwam

GERMAN OPEN, ESSEN

• May 10th – May 12th
• Swimming Center Essen-Rüttenscheid
• Meet Site
• Entry List
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Live Timing
• Live Stream

SwimSwam Germany Recap here.

Day 1 Highlights

Although the 29-strong German roster for this summer’s World Championships in Gwangju, Korea, was already announced, there is still a possibility for swimmers to gain last-chance bids in individual events during this 2019 German Open in Essen.

Jana Margraf kicked things off with a win in the women’s 200m fly, clocking a time of 2:15.60. Behind her was Amelie Zachenhuber who touched the wall in 2:17.68.

The men’s edition of the same race saw Yannick Plasil get the job done in 2:04.56. He has already qualified for the European Junior Championships in this event.

59.38 is what it took Lara Seifert to win the women’s 100m freestyle youth final, while sisters Lena and Laura Riedemann came very close to tying in the open final. Younger Lena logged a winning effort of 56.95 to tie Rosalie Kleyboldt for the Essen Ope title, while Laura finished just .01 behind for bronze in the nailbiter of a race.

Laura is already qualified for the World Championships in the 100m back, with Lena also on the European Junior Championships lineup.

No one managed to dip under the 50-second barrier, nor the 51-second barrier for that matter, in the men’s 100m free final, with Poul Zellmann‘s 51.05 representing the fastest mark. Zellmann is the nation’s fastest 200m freestyler this year with his 1:46.89 and has qualified for Gwangju in that event.

Jessica Steiger was too quick for the women’s 100m breaststroke field, logging the only sub-1:10 outing of the final. Steiger touched in 1:08.71, about a second off of her personal bet of 1:07.75.

Marco Koch won the men’s 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:00.98, not enough to qualify for Gwangju, although he will be representing Germany there is much better 200m breast event.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: No Additional World Championships Qualifiers Through Day 1 Of German Open

By Torrey Hart on SwimSwam

Just under four months removed from announcing his testicular cancer diagnosis, Olympic champion Nathan Adrian is listed on the pysch sheets for the Bloomington, Indiana stop of the 2019 Pro Swim Series, taking place May 16-19.

Adrian is entered as the top seed in the 100 free and No. 2 seed behind Michael Andrew in the 50 free.

• Click here to view the full psych sheet.

The 30-year-old, announced his diagnosis January 24 and underwent minimally invasive laparoscopic RPLND surgery January 29. He committed to publicizing his treatment experience to draw awareness to men’s health issues and posted on social media that he returned to doing light workouts just one week after surgery.

Adrian was cleared to practice in mid-February, with doctors saying the best path for his treatment going forward would be “close surveillance.” In late April, he announced that his PET scans came back clean and he could go “back to real life.”

The three-time U.S. Olympian has said throughout the last few months that he’s still aiming to make the 2020 U.S. Olympic team. He hasn’t spoken on his status for the coming summer, where he is qualified to represent Team USA at the World Championships as a relay swimmer and at the Pan American Games as an individual and relay swimmer.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Nathan Adrian Scheduled for Return to Racing at Bloomington Pro Swim Series

By Torrey Hart on SwimSwam

FINA CHAMPIONS SWIM SERIES 2019 #2 – BUDAPEST

• May 11-12, 2019
• Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Saturday – 7:30 pm local / 1:30 pm ET Opening Ceremony, 8:00 start
• Sunday – 7:30 pm local / 1:30 om ET start
• FINA Champions Series Info
• Entry List
• Live Stream (NBC Sports) – May 11th
• Live Stream (Olympic Channel) – May 12th
• Live Stream (FINA TV)
• Extended Start Lists (TBA)
• Live Results (Omega)

Stars from around the world have converged in Budapest for the second stop of the inaugural FINA Champions Swim Series. Photographer Rafael Domeyko (domeyphotograhy.com) is on deck and captured the laid-back – yet energized – atmosphere during pre-meet warmups Friday.

Nicholas Santos. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Etiene Medeiros. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Jacob Pebley and Matt Grevers. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Danas Rapšys. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Kristof Milak. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Jérémy Desplanches. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Josh Prenot. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Anthony Ervin. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Chase Kalisz. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Molly Hannis. Photo: Rafael Domeyko.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: FINA Champions Series 2019 – Budapest: Pre-Meet Warmups Photo Vault

By Loretta Race on SwimSwam

2019 SYDNEY OPEN MEET

• Friday, May 10th – Sunday, May 12th
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center (SOPAC)
• Heats at 9am local/Finals at 5:30pm local
• Incorporates UniSport Nationals
• LCM
• Meet Site
• Start List
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Live Results

Cate Campbell brought the heat to tonight’s women’s 100m freestyle final in Sydney, rocking a winning time of 52.96. She said post-race that was was ‘really happy’ with that performance, especially in light of the fact that the Aussie World Championship Trials are just weeks away.

Speaking on-deck and mid-breath, C1 describes her new training environment in Sydney, describing her fresh surroundings as ‘a vacation.’ She and sister Bronte Campbell moved from their previous training grounds of Chandler, Brisbane to their new home at the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) late last year.

27-year-old Paralympic gold medalist Ellie Cole has also joined the squad, while C1 has new physios and performance experts guiding the NSWIS athletes into Tokyo 2020.

“Eat, sleep, train” is how C1 will be handling life until the World Championships Trials where she is well aware that the women’s 100m free is one of the most hotly contested events with 3 out of the top 5 performers in the world this season all stem from Australia.

2018-2019 LCM WOMEN 100 FREE

CateAUS
Campbell

04/07
52.35

2	Sarah SJOSTROM	SWE	52.76	04/15
3	Rikako IKEE	JPN	52.79	11/17
4	Emma McKeon	AUS	52.84	04/07
5	Shayna Jack	AUS	53.20	04/07

View Top 26»

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Eat, Sleep, Train: Cate Campbell’s 3-Word Life Heading Into Aussie Trials

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam

Courtesy: British Swimming

Tom Daley and Matty Lee returned to the podium at the penultimate leg of the FINA Diving World Series in Kazan as they claimed the Men’s 10m Synchro bronze.

After winning their first international medals as a pair two weeks ago in Canada, Tom Daley and Matty Lee picked up where they left off in the Russian city of Kazan. A solid opening three rounds saw the new pairing sitting in third position, and despite a slight slip in the fourth round they produced a solid final two efforts to secure the final podium spot.

A fifth round Reverse 3 ½ Somersault Tuck (307C) saw the London pair land 81.60 points, one of the best dives of the competition, to secure bronze medals with a total of 395.82 points.

Of their performance rising star Matty Lee said:

“The placing was good and we’re happy with a bronze medal, however we both could have dived a lot better. A few of the dives in there were good,

but there were a few that weren’t so great. The Russian’s are some of our main rivals and they managed to get us this time, but it’s their home pool and we’re back in our home pool in London next week so we’ll be bringing our A game.

“I’m really excited to be in front of home crowd again – I’ve done it before and by far the best World Series is in London. I think Tom and I will thrive off the vibe, so we’ll look to fix a few things and go for it.”

Daley added:

“We’ve got some sharpening up to do but we’ve got a week before we get to compete in front of a home crowd in London. First though we’ve got the individual event and the mixed synchro here in Russia, so hopefully we’ve got some more good performances to come.”

Less than 38 points separated all six of the finalists in the Men’s 3m Synchro, with the British duo of Jack Laugher and Dan Goodfellow placing fifth after six rounds of diving was complete.

Laugher and Goodfellow started strong, ranking consistently and firmly in the hunt for the medals with their highest scoring dive coming in the third round, they scored 81.90 points for their Reverse 3 ½ Somersaults Tucked but then moved out of medal contention and down the board after dropping their penultimate dive.

The pair finished fifth overall with a total of 385.62 points, with the gold, silver and bronze claimed by Ukraine, Russia and Mexico respectively.

Also in fine form in the opening session were young pairing Eden Cheng and Lois Toulson, who have only be a partnership since last summer, where they scooped a surprise European title. Having been growing in confidence on the world stage this year, Cheng only making her debut in Japan in March, the pair equaled their personal best performance in Russia with a fourth place finish.

Fighting for bronze throughout, the pair nailed their fifth and final dive, a Back 2 ½ Somersault 1 ½ Twist Pike (5253B) to end the competition on 284.28 points.

Grace Reid and Kat Torrance brought the opening day’s action in Kazan to a close for the GB, the pairing took to the 3m Springboard for the Synchro event and also placed fifth at the end of the final with a points total of 270.63.

Full results from Kazan can be found here.

Tickets for the final leg of the FINA Diving World Series, which takes place in London from 17-19 May, can still be purchased here.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Daley, Lee Earn 10M Synchro Bronze in Kazan

By Anne Lepesant on SwimSwam

The latest swimmer to enter the NCAA transfers database is Cal breaststroker Dannie Dilsaver, who will leave the program after 2 seasons.

Dilsaver grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska where she was an 11-time state champion at Lincoln Southwest High School and set four state records. A two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, she had to sit out her senior year of high school because she tore an ACL in her knee playing kickball with her club team, Greater Nebraska Swim Team. In her first year with the Golden Bears, Dilsaver went lifetime bests in the 100/200 breast and 200/400 IM. She ranked among Cal’s top five swimmers in all four events. At the 2018 Pac-12 Championships, she placed 13th in the 200 IM (1:59.97), 14th in the 400 IM (4:14.84) and 16th in the 200 breast (2:15.96) and was named a 2018 CSCAA Scholar All-American. As a sophomore at the 2019 Pac-12 conference meet, she finished 12th in the 400 IM (4:15.64), 22nd in the 200 breast (2:15.04), and 24th in the 200 IM (2:00.65).

Dilsaver has not yet made an official announcement as to her destination for the 2019-20 season but by requesting that her name be placed in the database, she is free to talk to other coaches to explore her options.

Best SCY times:

• 200 IM – 1:58.59
• 400 IM – 4:12.46
• 100 breast – 1:01.71
• 200 breast – 2:14.02
• 200 free – 1:47.91

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to Recruits@swimswam.com.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Breaststroker/IMer Dannie Dilsaver to Leave Cal After 2 Seasons