Morning, Nerd.

Welcome to the Swimnerd newsletter where each week we highlight the most interesting stuff going on in swimming.

• 🏊‍♂️ 2022 Junior Pan Pacs & World Junior Champs Top Swims

• 🤡 Swimming Meme of the Week

• 📜 Swimming Set of the Week

🏊‍♀️ 2022 JUNIOR PAN PACS & WORLD JR CHAMPS 🏊🏼

Everytime I watch a Juniors meet I can't help but think like a recruiter. I'm checking D-O-B's wondering what their TOEFL score is. Dreaming of finding that diamond in the rough.

Back in the day, it was easier to recruit foreign swimmers because there was hardly any information and no access. Now, everyone knows everybody and access is as simple as a DM on Instagram.

This year USA, Australia, and Canada skipped World Juniors in Lima, Peru. Instead, they said Aloha to Junior Pan Pacs in Hawaii. Add the two meets together, and you get a better representation of the world at large.

I feel as a whole, there are fewer blazing fast female juniors when you compare them to the boys -- just look at how many NAG's the guys broke vs. the girls. This list of top junior swims definitely 2nds that opinion, as just 2/10 chosen swims came from the ladies.

The best part about these meets? Team USA's 4x100 Free Relays were victorious with impressive depth. It felt GREAT to watch the American junior women go 54-54-54-54 while taking Australia out. Shout out to Kayla Wilson, one of Virginia Beach's finest, for leading that relay off right!

🏊🏼 Top Junior Swims 🏊‍♀️

Mio Narita, Japan, 200/400 IM, 2:11/4:36

Japan's Yui Ohashi won the 200 and 400 IM's at the Tokyo Olympics and it looks like they've got another great IMer on the rise. Just 15 years old, Mio Narita won both the 200 and 400 IM's at Jr. Pan Pacs. She's got a strong breaststroke, splitting 37.50 in the 2. She should give the 200 Breast a crack.

Mio was also sub 2:10 in the 200 Back and split 55.8 on the 4x100 Free Relay.

Diogo Matos Ribeiro, Portugal, 50 Fly, 22.96

First junior to ever break 23 seconds in the 50 Fly. Remarkable speed at such a young age.

"The body achieves what the mind believes" - Diogo Ribeiro 

Flynn Southam, Australia, 100 Free, 48.23

The Australian has a unique ability to come home with incredible speed. His differential between the 2x50's was .65 of a second — basically unheard of.

Popovici's World Record (46.86) had a differential of 1.38. Typically, anything under 2 seconds is great. But 6 tenths?? That's ridiculous.

He also PB'ed in the 50 Free (22.3) which means he is taking his 100 out in 1.4 seconds slower than his best 50 time.

Max Williamson, USA, 200 IM, 1:59.01

Max set the American 15-16 NAG in one of the greatest American events ever. He only has to climb over Carson Foster and Michael Phelps in the next category. His back and free are exceptional. Plenty of room to improve on his short access strokes not that his fly is bad - just a lot of room to improve when you go out in just 26.

Daniel Diehl, USA, 100 Back, 53.27

Another NAG record breaker, Dan Diehl is officially taking hold of the backstroke torch for Team USA. He also split 48 mid on a couple of relays — not just backstroker.

Too bad he wasn't at World Juniors — the showdown between him, Masiuk, and Coetze would have been something.

Erin Gemmell, USA, 200 Free, 1:54.86

At US Nationals, Erin was 1:56.1 from a flat start. Yes this 1:54.8 was a relay split, but over a second better than your flat start time is outstanding. You always want to see that as a coach and as a recruiter.

Team USA's 4x200 Free Relay will be up for the challenge come Paris against Australia and China.

Erin was MVP of the meet, winning the 100 Free (54.1), 200 Free (1:56.1) and the 400 Free (4:05.0).

Plus, she split 53.7 on the medley relay. Go Longhorns.

Aaron Shackell, USA, 200 Fly, 1:55.81

Aaron has great genes -- his parents both swam at Auburn and his sister won the 100 Fly and captured 3rd in the 200 Fly at Jr Pan Pacs. This family loves butterfly.

If you break 1:55, you make a World Champs Final.

Thomas Heilman, USA, 100 Fly, 51.98

Breaking NAG's is nothing new for Heilman but boy did he crush this one, beating it by almost half a second. And, this is Long Course - the most important Course.

Enjoy another free meme from Jake Swinn...

Ksawery Masiuk (POL) vs. Pieter Coetze (RSA), 50/100/200 Backstrokes

Easily the best races from World Juniors were the boys backstroke events. Polish star Masiuk took down South African Coetze in the 50 and 100 -- both broke 53!

Coetze got retribution in the 200, though.

Men's Backstroke is already stacked including a new World Record holder in Thomas Ceccon. These two will be in Paris trying to take him down.

BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK

• Discipline & Detachment with David Popovici

• Lydia Jacoby's Favorite Quote

• How To Protect A New Tattoo While Swimming

• Which WR goes down first? 2 Free or 4 IM?

• Matthew Sates' Hardest Practice

• Better Breaststroke Pullouts with Alia Atkinson

Last week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

César Cielo: The Making of an Olympic Champion

César Cielo is one of swimming's greatest sprinters of all time. At the 2008 Olympics, he won the 50 Freestyle and scored Bronze in the 100 Free after barely qualifying for the Final. He didn't lose much after that. César won World titles in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. He won everything there is to win. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, César set the World Records in both the 50 and the 100 Freestyles. His 50 Free world record is still intact. The thing that separated Cesar from everyone else was his mentality. He talks about the difference between being excellent & extraordinary. His mentality is on another level and you will see that in this Cesar Cielo interview.

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

Cullen Jones talks sprinting, Marsh, Cielo, & MP

Cullen Jones is a 2x Olympian and 4x Olympic medalist (2 G, 2 S). Individually, he captured Silver in the 50 Free behind Flo Manaudou in 2012. He was also part of THE relay -- the one where Lezak caught Bernard and touched him out at the 2008 Olympics. That World Record is still intact. Now a Senior Manager of Sports Marketing at Speedo, Cullen is enjoying retired life.

📝 SET OF THE WEEK

Brett's Back End Speed Endurance Set

8x50's 3 aerobic, 1 at BES @ 1:006x50's 2 aerobic, 1 at BES @ 1:004x50's 1 aerobic, 1 at BES @ 1:002x50's 1 aerobic, 1 at BES @ 1:001x50 at BES

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

Found this in my photo album. Can't remember where I got it from. But it makes me laugh.

Learn something today?

Click on a link to vote:

• 👍 Super helpful thank you!

• 😐 Meh - it was ok.

• 👎 Next week better be better or I might hit the unsubscribe button.