Commentary

39 Thoughts All Swimmers Have During the 200 Butterfly By Sophia Chiang, Swimming World College Intern We're pretty sure everyone is terrified of the 200 butterfly. Well, except for Michael Phelps, maybe. But let's just make it clear that Phelps is absolutely the exception and not the rule. Even if ...

Swimmers are renowned for their dedication to their sport. We train long hours at ridiculous times and spend all day at meets only to spend a few minutes actually racing in the pool. However, all swimmers reach a point in their careers when they question why they're still doing it. Although many rel...

Overcoming Obstacles to Make Swimming Accessible to All As all swimmers can attest, our sport poses all sorts of challenges: early mornings, freezing cold water, sets of the utmost difficulty, and even simply finding the time to fit a workout into the day. What many may not realize, however, is that...

Why Morning Workouts Are the Secret Pride of Swimmers It’s 5:57 a.m. and yet again, you find yourself standing at the edge of the pool, cap and goggles on, about to take the plunge. You’re cold, not quite willing to dive into an even colder pool and you’re tired; definitely not keen on raising your ...

As a swimmer, Jonty Skinner went down in history as the man who crushed the swimming speed that crushed the rest:  20 days after after American Jim Montgomery clocked a then stunning 49.99sec over 100m freestyle for Olympic gold at Montreal 1976, Skinner, locked out of the race by the apartheid...

2020s Vision - after introducing the theme of Athlete Sustainability, we dip into the archive to see what we learn from the long career of Therese Alshammar and why Sweden's head coach Ulrika Sandmark wants to tap into the wisdom to be had from it Back in 1991, a 13-year-old junior won the Swed...

2020s Vision - Athlete Sustainability and Lessons From Sweden  That Speak Louder After COVID-19 Lockdown There was a sobering moment at the World Aquatics Development Conference in Lund back in January when Ulrika Sandmark, performance head coach of Swedish swimming, put a slide up on the board...

Dear Swimming is reposted from two years ago, but remains a timely and heartfelt ode to the sport. Dear Swimming, I remember the first time we met. I was a young, excited swimmer with big clear Speedo goggles, ears sticking out of my cap, and a suit three sizes too big. Not yet knowing how to dive, ...

6 Ways to Survive Through Swim Practice Surviving a swim practice can get a bit rough. Sometimes, it’s the workout. Sometimes, it’s just not your day. Every swimmer has their own strategies for making it through. Here are six of the most common ways swimmers endure their swim practices... 1. The Clo...

5 Things Coaches Should Know About Recruiting in a Virtual World A swarm of butterflies flutters through your stomach and your heart races. You tap on your spiral notebook and scan your checklist one last time. Why are you so nervous? You’ve done your research and more importantly, no one can see yo...

Tempo and Rhythm: A Swimmer's Secret Weapons There are countless combinations of sets and drills that help swimmers enhance their overall training and performance. We can focus on a single aspect of our swim such as pulling, kicking, or breathing. Yet, have you ever thought of focusing on your tempo...

In 2020, we’re missing out on one of the fastest and most exciting meets in the sport of swimming: The U.S. Olympic Trials.  The history of this meet reveals an interesting progression of events as they were included in the Olympics, and gives insight into the history of the sport of swimming.  Look...

The human mind can be pretty weird sometimes. As people, we go through waves of highs and lows in life, and our mind is in control of it.  Of course, certain events and situations will trigger it to get out of rhythm. However, our mind is in command of how we react to everything. So it doesn't reall...

Commentary - 2020s Vision: Athlete A - a review of the Netflix documentary of the Indianapolis Star Investigation in sexual abuse in USA Gymnastics that rocked Olympic sport to its core. A must watch for any with children in sport; and all governors and guardians of sport. Our 2020s Vision series ta...

15 Truths About Swimming Swimming is a sport like no other. You learn a lot about yourself throughout your years as a swimmer and the sport inherently instills valuable life lessons in you. Even when your time as a competitive swimmer is done, you still continue to learn more about the sport and hav...

Losing Like An Olympic Champion (Matt Grevers) As Swimming World nears the end of eight days of throwbacks to the 2016 Olympic Trials, it seemed an appropriate time to rerun the following piece by former staff writer Annie Grevers. After her husband, Olympic champion Matt Grevers, finished third in ...

Vision for NCAA Virtual Championship During COVID-19 Era By Bob Groseth, Guest Author Berkeley, California, 1:52 p.m. Pacific time, March 22, 2022. Bjorn Carlson can’t even hear himself think as he stands behind Lane 4 for the final event of the final meet of the 2022 NCAA Dual Meet Championships. T...

Who Are They: Meet 7 Unsung Swim Heroes Not all heroes wear goggles. Making sure a swim meet runs smoothly involves much more work than you may think. While swimmers physically exert themselves and earn recognition at meets, the effort needed to organize and execute the meet is often unheralded. Thi...

Is Your Pool Following Safe Guidelines During Covid-19 Pandemic? Check Here to be Sure Around the country, and moreso in some locales than others, individuals are splashing around in public pools, logging laps or following the guidance of coaches. The adjusted return to pool life has called for dill...

How Open Water Swimming Can Boost Pool Performance As swimming pool availability across the country has been at an all-time low the past few months due to COVID-19 pool closures, swimmers have struggled to find a way to train. However, as summer is getting underway, open water swimming is a pote...