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

This Week in Swimming is brought to you by...

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🏊‍♀️FAST SWIMS AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

A fast week this week, highlighted by French Elite Championships and Australian World Championships Trials

French Nationals

• We wrote about Leon Marchand’s elite 200 breast last Sunday. He took four more titles this week: The 200 free (1:46.44, with Hadrian Salvan and Roman Fuchs joining him under 1:47, 200 fly (1:55.79), 200 IM (1:56.25), and 400 IM (4:10.57). That last time, 6 seconds off his best, shows how much more he may have left come Worlds. Bob Bowman estimated him 50% prepared, which seems like a bit of hyperbole, but with the momentum he’s built the past couple years almost nothing would be a surprise.

• Charlotte Bonnet took a buzzsaw to the French sprint breaststroke records with 30.82/1:07.54. She actually finished behind Belgium’s Florine Gaspard (30.73/1:07.21, the latter a PR).

• Maxime Grousset, well known as an elite 100 freestyler, is branching out to sprint fly with great success. He swept those events in 23.07/50.61, the latter a PR by over a second, a new French record, and makes him the 12th fastest performer in the event in history. He also took the 100 free title in 47.62, and took second in the 50 free in 21.78

• The winner of that 50 was veteran Florent Manaudou, who went a 21.62 in finals but was faster in prelims, 21.56. He also swam prelims only of the 100 free, popping a 48.12. That’s going to be important for France’s medley relay chances.

• Newly minted Frenchperson Anastasiia Kirpichnikova is singlehandedly bringing up the level of French women’s distance swimming. She’ll be the first French entry in the women’s 400, 800, and 1500 in years with times of 4:08.70/8:27.52/16:04.89.

• Emma Terebo hit a big PR 2:09.35 200 back to qualify for Fukuoka. She took fourth in the 100 back, which was a fantastic race featuring Pauline Mahieu (59.66), Analia Pigree (59.79), Mary-Ambre Moluh (59.80) and Terebo all touching within half a second.

• Damien Joly went some strong distance free times, winning the 800 and 1500 in 7:49.41/14:56.46. Notably Pacome Bricout broke the French junior records in those events in 7:50.29/15:00.81. You’re gunna have to be much faster than that if you want to Final in Japan, though, as we are in the #goldenageofdistanceswimming

• Tabitha Avetand didn’t make the French Worlds standard in winning the 200 fly, but did crush the national junior record with a 2:09.73.

• Mewen Tomac was the man in the backstroke events, sweeping all three distances in elite 24.80/52.87/1:56.45 times. He has improved a lot of the last year and has taken the top backstroke spot away from Yohann, who sustained an elbow injury back in December.

Australian Trials

Hard to pick swim or swimmer of the meet here, there was something special nearly every session:

• Kaylee McKeown continues to build momentum for Worlds, with strong 57.50/2:03.70 backs and a 2:07.60 200 IM.

• Sam Short isn’t going to be lost in the wash of men’s distance depth through the world, he swept the longer events with 3:43.38/7:40.39/14:46.67. That 800 is the top time in the world this year.

• Mollie O’Callaghan showed her back half speed in winning the 100 and 200 frees. In the 100, she split 25.50/26.98 for a 52.48 to become the 10th fastest performer in history. In the 200, she swam past noted mid-distance star Ariarne Titmus (“noted” = former world record holder in the 400 and second fastest 200 ever), splitting 27.08/29.21/29.25/28.29(!) for a 1:53.83 win. She also took second in the 100 back (58.42).

• As always, the Australian women showed their sprint free depth behind O’Callaghan. The 100 featured 5 women under 54 even sans Campbell sisters, while the 200 had 7 sub-1:57s.

• Titmus did win a couple races - she took the 400/800 in 3:58.47/8:15.88. Probably leaving a lot left in the tank for the showdowns with Summer and Katie next month.

• 29-year-old Cam McEvoy hit his first best time in the 50 free since 2016. His 21.27 makes him fastest in the world this year and the 10th fastest performer in history. He also won the 50 fly in 23.07.

• Teenagers Elizabeth Dekkers and Abbey Connor both hit big PRs in the 200 fly, going 1-2 in 2:05.26/2:07.61.

• Kyle Chalmers won his specialty 100 free in 47.44, but 18-year-old Flynn Southam was just behind in 47.77. He actually outsplit the famously fast-finishing Chalmers on the back half, 24.45-24.68.

• Tommy Neill had a bit of a breakout meet in the IMs, winning the 200 in 1:57.74 and placing second in the 400 in a huge 4:15.57 PR (7 seconds if I’m perusing results right). Brendon Smith won that 400 in 4:10.64. He’s a bit of a metronome in that range in big meets.

• Jenna Forrester’s 4:34.89 400 IM puts her 4th in the world, and with 2nd ranked Kaylee McKeown not swimming it she’s a strong candidate for a Worlds medal.

More Fast Swims

• South Korea’s Sunwoo Hwang blasted 47.79/1:44.61 sprint free times in Gwanju. He ain’t gonna let Popovici have an easy time of it in Fukuoka, and he’s got a bit of an advantage - it’ll be in his home time zone! He was reportedly expecting more out of his 200. Korea still looking good for a solid 800 free relay here as runner-up Hojun Lee’s 1:46.19 was about half a second off his PR and Jaehoon Yang, the country’s fourth-best in the event, hit 1:48.40 to come within .27 of his best.

• We wrote about 13-year-old Shareef Elaydi’s exploits last week. Well, he turned 14 sometime over the week and popped some more fast times this weekend. His 55.44 100 fly in Irvine, CA puts him fifth in age group history with almost a year to go to improve. He also went 1:58.13 200 free and 2:07.42 200 IM. We also got a fantastic 2:22.11 200 breast from 14 year old Peter Vu here.

• At the Bill Nixon Invite in Lewisville, TX, 10 year old Josie Sun went 2:42.33 200 IM and 5:03.26 400 free PRs that are #1 in the 10 and under age group this season.

📰 SWIMMING HEADLINES

Madame Butterfly Breaks Masters World Record

Susie O’Neill broke the Masters World Record in the 50 LCM Butterfly over the weekend. She went 28.9 at 49! Her interview with Brett is one of my all time favorites.

Coleman Stewart, Annie Lazor Become College Coaches

World Record Holder Coleman Stewart and Olympian Annie Lazor are both transitioning from the pool onto the pool deck. Coleman is headed to Duke while Annie joins the staff at the University of Florida.

Australian Swimmers’ Association Inks Deal with Swimming Australia

The Australian Dolphins are apparently winning in and out of the pool, signing a deal with Swimming Australia that provides them a portion of the revenue from sponsorship deals.

While we don’t know exactly the details of the deal, we are investigating. Now all we need is a Netflix special docuseries…

BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK

• David Popovici smells blood in the water

• Chlorine Daddy becoming a 100 Butterflyer?

• Maxime Grousset 47.6 100 Free

• Cam McEvoy 23.0 50 Fly

• Eamon Sullivan Underwater Freestyle Technique

• Dean Boxall talks about Mollie O’Callaghan 

• Flo Manaudou 21.5 50 Free

• Managing Titmus & Mollie O from Dean Boxall

• Maxime Grousset 50.6 100 Fly

• High Standards with Swimming Australia Head Coach Rohan Taylor

• Why is the Australian swim team mostly Queenslanders?

• Why are Australian Trials being held in a training pool?

• Cam McEvoy 21.2 50 Free!!!!

• Shayna Jack 24.2 50 Free

• Swimmers retiring 12 months out from Olympic Trials

• Cam McEvoy prediction

• Kaylee McKeown can swim fast any time any place

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

Today...

#321 Evolution of Sports in Arab Nations with Dr. Zied Abbes

Take a closer look at the evolution of youth sports programs and the changing perception of athletics in Arab nations through an engaging and informative interview with Dr. Zied Abbes, author of, “How to become a great swimming teacher”. Discover how sports, once viewed primarily as recreation, are now recognized as a path towards growth and success.

Tomorrow…

Developing World Class Female Swimmers by Jack Bauerle | ASCA Talk #012

Recently retired Jack Bauerle is an American swimming coach who has earned a reputation as one of the most successful coaches in our sport. He had been the head coach of the University of Georgia's women's and men's swimming teams since 1979 and 1999, respectively. Under Bauerle's guidance, the University of Georgia women's swim team won numerous Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships and several NCAA national championships.

In addition to his collegiate coaching success, Bauerle has also served as a coach for the US Olympic swimming teams, working with elite athletes like Allison Schmitt, Amanda Weir, Kara Lynn Joyce (just too name a few). Throughout his career, Jack Bauerle has been well-renowned for his ability to develop champion swimmers and implement effective training strategies.

In this talk from the 2005 ASCA World Clinic, Coach Jack talks about these strategies.

Enjoy!

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK

200 Pace Set with Coach Clark Campbell

2-3 Rounds

14×25 using a tempo trainer - it’ll beep every 12.5 yards/meters

So if you are a 2:00 200 Freestyler, you set the tempo trainer to beep at 7.5 seconds.

You rest for two full beeps. 1:1 work to rest ratio. In this case, 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off.

1×50 200 Pace get your hand on the wall before the 4th beep

5-10 minutes of recovery in between the rounds

Change strokes however you’d like.

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

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