Berlin World Cup + College Swimming Roundup

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 🌎

World Cup, Berlin

Fireworks on the first stop of the World Cup in Berlin. Qin Haiyang and Kaylee McKeown, fresh off becoming the first two athletes to sweep three events of one stroke at the World Champs, continued their torrid momentum here.

McKeown swept her specialty backstrokes in 27.24/57.95/2:06.47, all World Cup records, adding a 2:10.76 200 IM win, while Qin did the same in the men’s breaststrokes with 26.29/57.69/2:07.45, also sweeping WC records. That 100 breast tied Qin’s PR from Worlds with very similar splits.

Those two weren’t the only record breakers on the weekend. Mid-D free metronome Siobhan Haughey smashed a new best time in the 100 free (52.02, third fastest performer ever, new national and Asian record), and also broke the WC record in the 200 free with a 1:55.10.

New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather and Australia’s Lani Pallister had a couple distance showdowns. Fairweather got the upper hand in the 400 with a 4:01.09 WC record, while Pallister took the W in the 800 with an 8:16.82 PR and WC record.

Other swims of note:

Versatile Thomas Ceccon took three gold medals on the weekend - 47.97 100 free as the only man under 48, and 52.27/1:56.64 backstrokes. The reigning World Champ and World Record holder has his eyes on Olympic gold.

And it is looking more and more like the reigning Olympic Champ in both backstrokes won’t be in Paris:

Dutchwoman Tes Schouten came close to her PR in nipping the WC record in the 200 breast with a 2:22.13. Of note in that race, Letitia Sim got the bronze with an over-2-second PR and Singaporean record 2:24.15.

Danas Rapsys had his best meet in what seems like years (2019), taking the mid-distance frees in 1:45.75/3:44.86 and adding a strong 1:59.69 200 IM. He was aggressive going out and held strong coming home.

Sarah Sjoestrom just keeps ticking along in the 50 free and fly, coming within .12 of her WC record (from 2018) in the former with a 23.95 win over Cowbell Cate Campbell’s 24.11 and breaking her WC record from the same year in the latter with a 25.06 over Yufei Zhang’s 25.11.

Ruta Meilutyte was responsible for yet another WC record, winning the 50 breast in 29.56. That’s the first sub-30 in the event in World Cup history. Her 100 was another story, only going 1:07.

College Swimming Roundup

Getting close to a full weekend of college swimming on this first weekend of October:

USC With Early Signs of Life: After some coaching turmoil and a frankly bad season last year, there weren’t a ton of expectations for USC. Then they picked up some pretty fantastic recruiting classes, headlined by the Polish Chmielewski twins. Might be time to reevaluate expectations after the SMU Classic this weekend. Krysztof had perhaps the two best swims on the men’s side, winning the 200 fly in 1:41.60 and the 500 free in 4:15.18, while on the women’s side Kaitlyn Dobler hit 57.35/2:08.59 breaststroke wins. A couple lesser-heralded freshmen on the women’s side had great debuts - Hungarian Minna Abraham went a 1:43.53 200 free, while Russian Vasalissa Buinaia went 47.67 in the 100 free. The team already has a A cut in the 400 medley relay with a 3:30.90 (Macky Hodges 54.23/Dobler 57.14/Anicka Delgado 51.85/Buinaia 47.68).

This meet always offers a lot for this early in the season:

• Louisville’s women’s sprint crew looks stacked. Gabi Albiero took the 50/100 and 100 fly in 21.75/47.67 and 51.16 respectively, while Christina Regenauer went 22.33/48.24/52.52 in those same events. Their men were led by Denis Petrashov’s 51.95 100 breast.

• SMU’s Jack Hoagland looks to be settling into his grad school. He won the 400 IM in 3:45.39, also popping a 4:19.60 500 free to finish third behind Kryzstof C. and Auburn’s Mason Mathias (4:19.05).

• Mizzou’s Taylor Williams won the 200 fly with a 1:56.65 for a second-and-a-half PR, also going 52.47 in the 100.

• Auburn’s men’s sprint relays are also looking strong: They won the 200 medley relay in 1:24.49 (Nate Stoffle 21.23/Henry Bethel 23.73/Aidan Stoffle 20.41/Kalle Makinen 19.12) and the 200 free relay in 1:18.56 (N Stoffle 19.98/Makinen 19.25/Ben Chateigner 19.28/A Stoffle 20.05).

Leon Marchand, Cheat Code: Running out of superlatives here. ASU took on UNLV and Marchand was his usual self. He started his day with a 50.47 100 breast relay split, teaming up with Hubert Kos (46.09 back), Ilya Kharun (44.47 fly), and Filip Senc-Samardzic (43.64 free) for an early season 3:04.67 A cut. He then went 1:39.64 200 back, 1:39.65 200 fly, and 3:37.96 400 IM. Whew.

This is ASU’s year to win the team title. They have multiple people that can win multiple events. Leon Marchand + Ilya Kharun + Hubert Kos is staring at ~160 points. They can podium every relay. That’s another ~160 points. We are at 320 points and haven’t talked about Jonny Kulow, Jack Dolan, or Patrick Sammon. Cal won the team title last year with 482 points.

ASU’s expansive pro group also hit the water for some time trials here. Chief among these was a strong women’s 200 free race, with Simone Manual taking the win in 1:43.15 over Regan Smith (1:43.25) and Paige Madden (1:43.84). Simone would also pop a 47.37 100 free just behind Olivia Smoliga (47.36, she also went a 50.70 100 back), while Regan would PR her 200 IM (1:55.72).

Notre Dame Grad Students Fitting In: Notre Dame ended up being perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the second to last year of COVID fifth year waivers, picking up a couple DIII stars in Tanner Filion and Liam McDonnell as well as Louisville sprinter Abdelrahman Elaraby, and these guys look like they’re fitting in nicely. Elaraby went 19.74/44.18 sprints against Wisconsin, while Filion provided the fastest split in the Irish’s 2:56.21 400 free relay (Guiliano 44.08/Elaraby 44.21/Filion 43.76/Wilburn 44.16).

Also out of this dual, UND might be building the best backstroke group outside of the Pac-12. NCAA scorer Tommy Janton swept the backs (46.74/1:45.14), while Marcus Gentry looks like he’s hitting his sophomore year running (47.46/1:46.44) and D3 record holder Filion added a 1:45.42 200.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin women might be rivaling Texas and Georgia for Distance U. Freshman Maggie Waggoner swam away from NCAA mile champ Paige McKenna in the 1000 (9:43.27-9:44.28), and Abby Carlson went 1:46.82/4:46.14 200/500.

📰 SWIMMING HEADLINES

Nobody is Competing at 2024 Doha World Champs

The best swimmers in the world continue to announce they will not be competing at World Championships in Doha, Qatar this coming February, 2024.

Now including the fastest man ever over 100 meters, David Popovici. 

Olympics or bust.

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

Tomorrow…

The LIVE SHOW is back with all your favorite nerds including Brett Hawke, Meagen Nay, Sonny the Swimsuit Guy, and Kurt Hanson.

Wednesday…

The American Swimming Coaches Association presents, “A Physical & Psychological Approach to the Next Level”, from Frank Busch.

Thursday…

Episode #339.

Hint: she’s got 3 Olympic medals.

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK

Arizona State Sprint Set

8×50 fast @ 2 minutes

#1 is with fins and paddles
#2 is with paddles only
#3 is with fins only
#4 is naked

Twice through.

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

This Thomas Ceccon reaction is an all-timer.

📅 COMING UP…

The World Aquatics World Cup continues…

Athens, Greece October 13-15

Budapest, Hungary from October 20-22

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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