Athens World Cup + The Golden Race in Budapest

Morning, Nerd.

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

• 🌎 Fast Swims Around the World

• 📰 Swimming Headlines

• 📜 Set of the Week

• 🤡 Swimming Meme of the Week

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🏊‍♀️FAST SWIMS AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Athens World Cup

Killer McKeown is the hottest swimmer on the planet right now. Another international swim meet, another sweep of the backstroke events. While the meet in Athens generally saw a pull back in winning times across the board, not for Killer McKeown. She nearly broke the World Record in the 50 and 100 Backstrokes in 27.02 and 57.63.

Qin Haiyang swept the breaststrokes again, though, in slower times than he’s been recently. Then again, he’s gone from World Champs to Asian Games to the World Cups - he has gotta be tired.

Sarah Sjostrom and Siobhan Haughey were absolutely fabulous. We got to see Sjostrom swim the 100 Fly (56.9) and the 100 Free (53.3) and Siobhan the 50 Breast (30.3). Siobhan took both the 100 (52.5) and 200 (1:55.0) Freestyles yet again.

3 Takeways:

• Yufei Zhang topped a star studded field (Sjostrom, Mac Neil, Huske, Hansson) in the women’s 100 Fly going 56.06. This was the race of the weekend for me with an event filled to the brim with the best of the best.

• Katie Grimes was a beast, dropping a 2:08 200 Backstroke after going 16:06 in the 1500. Ron Aitken doesn’t taper until the Olympics. Katie Grimes will be one of the leading stars for Team USA next year in multiple events - pool and open water. She’s already qualified for the 10K. What pool events she swims is anyone’s guess, as she can do most of them.

• South African studs Matt Sates and Pieter Coetze are racing at the top of their game. Sates won the 100 & 200 Fly plus the 200 IM while Coetze took down Ceccon in the 2 Back. These are South Africa’s medal hopes next year.

📰 SWIMMING HEADLINES

Ursula Carlile Passes Away

“The Australian swimming community is today mourning the loss of a legend and a National swimming treasure with the peaceful passing of coaching pioneer Ursula Carlile in Ryde today. She was 86. Ursula’s passing comes nine years after her famous husband and swimming coaching and teaching icon, Forbes Carlile, passed away during the 2016 Rio Olympics – marking the end of an era – celebrating one of the most famous names in Australian swimming – a name that will forever remain a major part of the country’s sporting landscape.”

If you get a chance, this article from Ian Hanson is a beautiful tribute to a beautiful person that made such a positive impact to our sport.

The Golden Race

There will be a special exhibition race in Budapest this weekend. Sounds like if you win one of the 100’s, you get a ticket to the Golden Race.

These four swimmers will go off the blocks at different times, from slowest to fastest. So, most likely, Qin Haiyang will go first in the Men’s Golden Race. He will get a head start - whatever the difference between his winning time in the 100 Breast and Thomas Ceccon’s winning time in the 100 Back.

In a nutshell, the fastest 100 swimmers in each stroke race each other in a handicapped 100.

Apparently the winner gets some extra prize money, but we don’t know how much.

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

This morning…

Athens World Cup Review Show LIVE at 10 AM EST this morning!

Yesterday…

Brett sat down with old friend and fellow Auburn Tiger, Yoav Bruck, to talk about the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel and how education, including athletics, is part of the solution.

Cate Campbell Should Be FASTER

The State of South African Swimming

Why you are WRONG about Michael Andrew

Tomorrow…

Episode #340: South African sprint talent, Caitlin De Lange

00:00 - Welcome Caitlin De Lange!

01:13 - Getting Started in The Sport

04:20 - The Inspiration of Watching our First Olympics

09:44 - The Importance of Drilling BEFORE Sprinting

11:41 - The Power of Determination

14:54 - Equipment: The Pros and Cons of Snorkel Use

22:32 - Be Obsessed With Fast Swimming

25:44 - Looking Ahead To Doha

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK

Texas A&M Distance Practice

Jason Calanog shared this Jay Holmes distance workout with us this week on X…

2 x 800 on 8:45

4 x 200 on 2:15

2 x 800 on 8:45

4 x 200 on 2:15

2 x 800 on 8:45

This was done SCY.

Descend the 800’s.

200’s are steady.

Bonus Sets from Coley Stickels

Swimming World’s Michael Stott spent some time with Coley Stickels and Jacob Wimberly at Texas Ford Aquatics practice. Wimberly is one of the many stallions in America’s stable. A 23.3/49.7/1:49.9 Freestyler and 53.3 100 Fly, Wimberly is headed to Texas A&M next fall and yes, those are LCM times.

It’s not very often Coley lets people in to share his workouts. But here are a couple in their entirety.

Surprise, surprise. They are doing resistance work with a chute…and lots of complicated athletic drills, reminding me of this clip of Dave Salo.

Speaking of resistance work, if you missed last night’s resistance seminar with Brett & Sonny, you can watch here.

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

Her way, right away, at Burger King now.

📅 COMING UP…

The World Aquatics World Cup continues…

Budapest, Hungary from October 20-22

Kristoff Milak returns!!

Also, the Pan American Games are being held in Santiago, Chile from 21-25 October. The American roster is college heavy.

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