The SwimSwam Podcast

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In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.

Episodes

Wednesday Jul 28, 2021

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the #Tokyo2020 Olympic Games: Day 4

Wednesday Jul 28, 2021

SWIMSWAM’S TOP 5 SWIMS OF THE 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 4

#5 – M 200 Fly: World record holder Kristof Milak backed up his world title, doing his thing and dominating the field in the 2nd 100, touching for his first Olympic gold in 1:51.25

#4 – W 200 IM: Yui Ohashi completed the IM sweep in her home country, taking the 200 in 2:08.52 to become the 7th woman in a row to win both medley events at the Olympic Games

#3 – W 1500 Free: After placing 5th in the 200 free, Katie Ledecky bounced back in a big way, getting back in the pool just over an hour later to dominate the first Olympic iteration of the woman's 1500 and win gold, her first of these Games

#2 – W 200 Free: That race where Ledecky got 5th, Ariarne Titmus earned her 2nd gold in Tokyo, swimming a similar race to the 400 and coming back on the rest of the field in the last 50 to touch the wall 1st

#1 – M 4x200 Free Relay: It was a perfectly executed race for Great Britain, who had 3 of the 6 fastest splits of the field to win their first gold in this event since 1904 and come .03 within the super-suited world record held by the USA

BELLY FLOP OF THE DAY: USA Leaves Dressel Off Relay

Where was Caeleb Dressel? He should have been on the 4x200 free relay, even Michael Phelps agrees with us. Although USA put up some very solid splits, we're confident they would have got on the podium with Dressel leading off. Would they have gotten past Britain? No way. But they get a medal with Caeleb on it.

HOT TOPIC OF THE DAY: Men's 100 Free Final - What the heck is going to Happen?

The men's 100 free depth is overwhelming, with 47.9 missing the final altogether. Caeleb Dressel is just 2nd seed with a 47.2, behind Kliment Kolesnikov's 47.11 European record. Mel says there's too much speed in this field and Kyle Chalmers won't even medal... I think he's a fool and that the defending Olympic champ will absolutely put himself into the top 3. All will be revealed in this next finals session in what could very well be the race of the century.

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Tuesday Jul 27, 2021

Rebecca Soni Gives Insight to Exceeding Your Expectations as an Athlete

Tuesday Jul 27, 2021

We sat down with 3x Olympic champion Rebecca Soni, the breaststroke legend who won back-to-back Olympic titles in the 200 breast. After seeing 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby take the title in the women's 100 breast, Soni compared Jacoby's reaction to what Soni felt when winning her first 200 breast title in 2008. Soni emphasizes that exceeding your expectations as an athlete at the top level is a very rare thing and something to be appreciated and enjoyed.

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Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Tuesday Jul 27, 2021

Ricky Berens Dissects What it Takes to be Great in the 200 Free, 800 Free Relay

Tuesday Jul 27, 2021

We sat down with Olympic and world champion Ricky Berens to get his perspective on the 2020 Olympic 200 free final and what he see's for the 4x200 free with USA. Berens breaks down the subtleties of what it takes to swim a great 200 free and where the world is at in that progression. While chances are grim, he explains why USA still has a chance to win gold tonight against Britain, Russia, and the rest of the field.

SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Tuesday Jul 27, 2021

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the #Tokyo2020 Olympic Games: Day 3

Tuesday Jul 27, 2021

SWIMSWAM’S TOP 5 SWIMS OF THE 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 3

#5 – M 200 Free: Rising star and 16-year-old David Popovici drops a huge 1:44.68 in his first Olympic final, just missing a medal at 4th place and breaking the European Jr record

#4 – M 200 Free: The British are coming, with Tom Dean and Duncan Scott taking 1-2 in the 200 free, both dropping 1:44.2's to top the rest of the field by nearly half a second

#3 – W 100 Breast: 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby keeps her momentum rolling from Olympic Trials, getting her hand on the wall first to hit Gold, while defending champ Lilly King earns Bronze behind her

#2 – M 100 Back: Evgeny Rylov breaks a European record en route to gold (51.98) and a 1-2 Russian finish as his countryman Kliment Kilosnikov finishes right behind him at 52.0 for silver

#1 – W 100 back: This highly anticipated showdown did not disappoint, and once again Australia took control as Kaylee McKeown moved ahead of the field with 15m to go and touched first at 57.47, the #2 performance ever and just .02 behind her own world record

BELLY FLOP OF THE DAY: Men's 200 Fly

It was disappointing to see 14 men go 1:55 or slower in the semis, with #2 being 1:54.9. With Kristof Milak going the easiest looking 1:52 that has ever been swum, we would have thought the rest of the world might have been able to catch up a bit. But the real belly flop was Chad le Clos' 31.8 final 50, which was not only entertaining (and painful) to watch, but surprisingly effective, with the fly-and-die swim netting him the 3rd seed. le Clos could easily turn that belly flop into a medal today.

HOT TOPIC OF THE DAY: Will USA Vets Show Up?

We've seen USA youngsters firing in Tokyo just as we did in Omaha, and I'm not saying that the Vets aren't swimming well. They just aren't getting their hands on the wall like we're used to seeing them do and it worries me as an American. But as Mel notes, it's early in the meet, and USA is used to being in situations like this and staying resilient through the latter half of big meets like this.

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Monday Jul 26, 2021

Jason Lezak Unpacks The 4x100 Free Relay and Dressel's 100 Free

Monday Jul 26, 2021

Gold Medal Mel Stewart sat down with sports icon Jason Lezak, the man who anchored the most exciting race in Olympic swimming history, the 2008 men's 4x100 free relay. Lezak unpacks Team USA's gold medal performance last night, detailing Dressel's leadoff, the exchanges and Zach Apple's monster anchor swim.

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Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Monday Jul 26, 2021

Nathan Adrian Weighs in on 400 Free Relay, Why Top Seed Should Pick Their Lane

Monday Jul 26, 2021

We sat down with Olympic champion and USA sprinting legend, Nathan Adrian to get his wisdom through 2 days of the Olympic Games. The most interesting thing he said: we should start a petition that top seed gets to choose what lane they swim in at night. Why? Adrian prefers the outside lane for his events, especially a 100 free because that way competitors can't ride your wave as much. Adrian noted that on the lead-off of the 400 free relay, everyone knows US star Caeleb Dressel will be out fast and they gravitate to him like a magnet, trying to benefit from the wake he creates.

SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Monday Jul 26, 2021

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 2

Monday Jul 26, 2021

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 2.

#5 - W 100 Back: Regan Smith breaks the 100 back Olympic record (4th time it went down in less than 24 hours) with 58.76 to take the top seed heading into the final tomorrow night

#4 - M 4x100 Free Relay: USA Men defend their gold in the 400 free relay, putting on a dominant performance of 3:08.97 and winning by over 1 second

#3 - W 100 Fly: Maggie MacNeil, after winning 100 fly gold at world champs in 2019, backs it up with an Olympic title, swimming the #2 time ever in 55.59

#2 - M 100 Breast: Adam Peaty defends his Olympic title in the 100 breast, swimming the #5 time all-time at 57.37 and dominating the field as per usual for him

#1 - W 400 Free: Ariarne Titmus vs. Katie Ledecky round 1 did not disappoint as we saw the two titans battle it out for 400 free gold, where Titmus ultimately got her hand on the wall first, touching at 3:56.69, the #2 time ever, while Ledecky finished at 3:57.36, the #3 time ever

Belly Flop of the Day: Russia Men's 4x100 Free Relay

Coming into the meet, our editor-in-chief Braden Keith had picked them to take gold, and just about everyone else knew they were looming as a title contender. After a shaky prelims, we saw Russia put together an even shakier finals performance, back-ended by a 48.1 from relay-stalwart Vlad Morozov and a 48.4 anchor from Kliment Kolesnikov, coming off of a 52.2 swim in the 100 back semi less than an hour before.

This led the team to finish 7th overall, nearly 2 seconds outside of the medals.

Hot Topic of the Day: Titmus vs. Ledecky

Titmus took round 1 of this Clash of the Titans, but what does this say about both swimmers moving into the rest of the meet? We know Ledecky is firing, and it seemed like she played into Titmus' hand in the 400 free strategically. In the 200, Ledecky could make it interesting but it seems like Titmus has too much speed to catch.

Meaning it all comes down to the 800 free.

We say Ledecky swims her own race at the end of the meet, learning from her 400 and staying away from Titmus early on so she has no wave to ride, successfully defending her last 2 Olympic titles i in the event.

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Monday Jul 26, 2021

Carson Foster Delves into 400 IM Pain, World #1 Swim with 4:08.46

Monday Jul 26, 2021

We sat down with Carson Foster, the 19-year-old who just put up the #1 time in the world in the 400 IM from Austin, Texas. Foster breaks down what went right in his swim, what didn't go so right in his finals swim at the 2021 Olympic Trials, and what he thought when watching the 400 IM Olympic final. Foster gives a lot of insight into what the men in that 400 IM final went through to get to the top 8 and why the times may not have accurately portrayed the effort being put out.

Foster also provides insight into the work he's been doing since coming back to Austin from the Olympic Trials, including 10x100 (suited) on 1:10 best average, where he held 57s, the time he would want to come home in at the end of a 400 IM. Foster says getting the feeling of that '400 IM pain' on numbers 5,6,7,8 gave him confidence heading into the sectional meet this weekend.

SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Sunday Jul 25, 2021

Olympic Champion Tom Dolan Breaks Down the 400 IM Final Results

Sunday Jul 25, 2021

This is 12 minutes. The full hour drops next week.

Tom Dolan is a 400 IM beast, winning this race in 1996 and 2000. In 2000 Tom broke the World Record dropping a 4:11.76. Think about that! That was 21 years ago in a tiny, non-compression suit. Tom has high 400 IM swimming IQ, and he shares it here, breaking down the Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland gold and sliver medal Olympic performances. Daiya Seto is figures prominently, as does Caron Foster who dropped a 4:08.4 on Friday night at the Speedo Sectional Meet in Austin, Texas, 24 hours ahead of the Olympic final, a time that would've won the gold. There are a lot of layers to this analysis, and we air them out entirely next week. This 12 minutes is a big teaser.

For those who don't know what's going on with Tom Dolan post Olympics. He's been a force in the learn-to-swim industry with his Tom Dolan Swim Schools. Recently he's merged with Big Blue Swim School becoming their President of East Coast Operations. This is not a small swim business. Big Blue Swim School is a powerhouse with 130 franchises.

SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Sunday Jul 25, 2021

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 1

Sunday Jul 25, 2021

SwimSwam's Top 5 Swims of the 2020 Olympic Games: Day 1.

#5: Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland going 1-2 for the USA, Kalisz winning his first-ever gold and bringing home the US's first gold of the Games

#4: We take Adam Peaty going fast for granted sometimes, but let's take a moment to appreciate that through prelims and semis, he's dropped 2 Top-10 times of all-time with 57.5/57.6

#3: Yui Ohashi takes gold for the home country of Japan, winning the 400 IM at her home Olympic Games in 4:32.0

#2: Tunisia's surprise Olympic champion in 18-year-old Ahmed Hafnaoui, who won the 400 free with a gutsy swim out of lane 8

#1: We've got to give it up for the Australian women's 4x100 free relay, which not only won gold by over 3 seconds but smashed their own world record in the process

Belly Flop of the Day: Daiya Seto

With the top 6 finishers all dipping under the 4:10 mark in today’s men’s 400m IM heats, reigning world champion Daiya Seto found himself out of the final in 9th place. Putting up a strong race through the beginning of the freestyle leg, the man let himself get passed by several swimmers to shockingly wind up sitting on the sidelines for the final.

“I thought I’d finish in 8th place but I misread the time needed to advance,” he said. “At the end, I misread the freestyle pace. It’s a shame because I’m in good shape.

Hot Topic of the Day: Men's 400 IM Times

The first swimming medal of these 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was earned by American Chase Kalisz in the men’s 400m IM. The silver medalist from Rio clocked a time of 4:09.42 to lead teammate Jay Litherland and Aussie Brendon Smith who finished in the silver and bronze medal positions, respectively.

Yes, Kalisz won by nearly a second. However, the entire field was on the sluggish side, at least compared to historic data.

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