Morning, Nerd.

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

• U.S. Open, Fast Swims Around the 🌎, and Olympic Trials tickets go on sale

• 📜 Swim Set of the Week

• 🤡 Swimming Meme of the Week

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2022 US OPEN 🏊‍♀️

Ledecky v. McIntosh 400 Free Rematch

The race of the meet was the rematch between Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky in the 400 Free.

Last month, at the Toronto stop of the FINA World Cup (SCM), these two swimming heavyweights fought stroke for stroke. Ultimately, Ledecky began her kick a little too early, allowing McIntosh to touch her out in a new WJR of 3:52.80 vs. Ledecky's 3:52.88.

The rematch at the U.S. Open didn't disappoint. They were never more than a half second apart and most of the time were within one-tenth of a second of each other - even exactly tying at the 300 mark (3:00.32). This time around Ledecky waited to smash the accelerator and took home the W in 3:59.71 - ahead of McIntosh by .08 of a second (the same margin as in Toronto).

These are the types of races that our sport lives and dies by. In a sport where people pick and choose carefully when and where they race, I'm thankful we are getting this type of action.

Watch the back and forth race below!

Regan Smith Wins 5 Events

It was an incredible meet for Regan Smith, her first major competition since joining an all-star pro group at Arizona State with Head Coach Bob Bowman. She went 5 for 5.

Regan began the meet going toe-to-toe with Breakout Star of the Year, Leah Hayes, in the 200 IM. Smith took out her first 100 very close to Katinka Hosszu's world record pace in 59.25 to Hosszu's 58.94 with Hayes just behind in 1:01.66. Then came the breaststroke... Smith's breaststroke has come a long way since May when she swam her previous best time in this event in May. Her split was 42.5 then and is 41.2 now, which is a solid improvement. But to contend with the likes of Alex Walsh, Kaylee McKeown, Summer McIntosh, or Leah, it will still need serious improvement. Smith's breaststroke split was 41.22 vs. Leah Hayes' 37.72.

She's got 3/4 strokes locked down, coming home in a speedy 50 freestyle split of 29.93 — chasing down Leah and touching her out 2:10.40 to 2:10.67.

Smith's onslaught continued with the 100 Fly/100 Back double. She easily won the 100 Fly over Beata Nelson in 57.65. Then, her 100 Back was absolute domination 🔥 57.95. Precisely a half-second off the World Record, which she would seemingly like to have back from Kaylee McKeown.

If the 100 Fly/100 Back double wasn't bold enough for you, how about the 200 Back/200 Fly double? Because Smith did that too...on the final day...

Regan won the 200 Back in 2:05.28 which now sits at fifth fastest of the year and nearly a half-second faster than she swam at World Trials last April. Clearly Regan is focused and ready to dominate the backstroke world once again.

Regan finished her meet with a decisive win in the 200 Fly in a time of 2:07.30 beating Lindsay Looney (2:10.25). She is in remarkable shape.

Daniel Diehl Grabs Backstroke Torch

The #1 recruit for the high school class of 2024, Daniel Diehl had a fantastic meet swimming best times and breaking NAG's. Though primarily known as an up-and-coming backstroke superstar, Diehl also had a pretty good 200 IM at the US Open this week cracking the two-minute barrier for the first time and placing third at 1:59.89.

Diehl dominated the field in both backstroke events while posting PB's. Diehl won the 100 Back in 53.07. His swims showed an impressive bit of both speed and speed endurance as he split 26.00 going out and 27.07 coming back. The only other person to split under 28 seconds in the back half was B-final winner and 50 Back World Record holder, Hunter Armstrong (53.61 [26.68/26.93]), whom he easily beat.

In the 200 Back on the last day of competition, Diehl was in a league of his own. The only man to crack two minutes in prelims (1:57.62) and then improving his personal best in 1:56.41.

All Smiles From Chase Kalisz

Chase can be pretty hard on himself. If you've followed his career, you know that in many post-race interviews he can wear his emotions on his sleeve, especially if the race did not go exactly the way he wanted.

Kalisz had three events this week: the 2 & 4 IM plus the 2 Breast. He won all 3.

In the 200 IM, put in an all-around top-shelf swim. His A-final winning time was 1:56.52. In his post-race interview he was surprised at the time and was generally as happy as I've ever seen him.

That time is only .09 slower than his 4th finishing time at this year's FINA World Championships. Check out these splits:

Fly: 25.52

Back: 29.72 (55.24)

Breast: 💥32.95💥 (1:28.19)

Free: 28.33 (1:56.52)

In the 400 IM, Kalisz dominated everyone in 4:10.0.

His splits:

Fly: 56.55

Back: 1:04.29

Breast: 🔥1:09.85🔥

Free: 59.40

In the 2 Breast, he swam a 2:10.10 - which is only .20 off his best time from over four years ago! His breaststroke was obviously clicking at this meet.

Summer McIntosh Dominates the 400 IM

After battling Ledecky in the 400 Freestyle and coming up short by a margin of less than .1 of a second, McIntosh swam what is without a reasonable doubt her best event, the 400 IM. She breaks 4:30 for fun now.

At the Commonwealth Games in August, she won by over seven seconds in a final time of 4:29.01. That was wild. Fast forward four months, she travels to Greensboro, North Carolina, and sets a US Open record (fastest time swam on American Soil) in 4:28.61. That time was also a championship record and World Junior Record.

Swimming next to the Olympic silver medalist in the 400 IM, Emma Weyant, she absolutely torched her by over 13 seconds. And to pour salt in the wound, she did it while training with Emma's coach, Brent Arckey of the Sarasota Sharks.

Summer's splits vs. Katinka Hosszu's World Record splits:

Fly: 🤯59.40🤯 — WR Split: 1:00.91

Back: 1:08.80 (2:08.20) — WR Split: 2:08.39 (1:07.48)

Breast: 1:19.29 (3:27.46) — WR Split: 3:24.50 (🔥1:16.11🔥)

Free: 1:01.15 — WR Split: 1:01.86

As you can see, breaststroke was the huge difference-maker here. When Katinka broke Ye Shiwen's World Record set at the London Olympics, she knew her first 300m would have to be at least five seconds under WR pace. I'm sure you remember, Ye Shewin's 58.68 last 100 Free was faster than Ryan Lochte's final 100 split (58.65)...

Summer doesn't turn 17 until next August...

Watch the dominating race below:

🏊‍♀️ Fast Swims Around the World 🏊🏼

Matt Richards, 100 SCM Free, 45.85

The 19 year old old Englishman, who won a gold medal as part of Britain's 4x200 Free Relay in Tokyo, continues to get faster.

Now, he is the fastest man from Great Britain ever. Faster than Duncan Scott. Faster than Ben Proud. Faster than Mark Foster. He set the 100 SCM Free record twice actually, this being a tenth faster than his Prelims swim.

He also won the 200 Free in the 2nd fastest time ever for a Brit. Unfortunately for GB, he's not on the squad going to SC Worlds next week.

Tomoru Honda, 1:52.70, 200 LCM Fly

Last month Tomoru Honda broke the 200 SCM Fly World Record by a ton. Here's that video:

This time around, Tomoru blasted a 1:52.70 in the long pool. Other than Kristof Milak, there are few people in the world that can go sub 1:53.

He was out in 54.0.

2024 USA Olympic Trials Tickets

Tickets for Olympic Trials in 2024 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis went on sale this week for all USA Swimming members and families. The general public will have access to tickets starting on February 1 (per USA Swimming's announcement).

Tickets are $600 on the low end and $3300 for floor seats.

Some fans are upset at the price but I'm not in that boat.

This is for 9 days of action. $600 for 9 days is somewhere around $15 an hour. That's incredibly reasonable. It costs ~$3500 for a mid-level stadium seat for the Super Bowl.

What is unreasonable is taking 10 days off of work.

BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

#290 Ryan Moss discusses surf photography, breaking his back off Oahu

Ryan Moss is a charismatic award winning photographer and filmmaker with a one-track mind to inspire the world by sharing his passion and love of nature through the images he creates. Some of his clients include National Geographic, Red Bull, and Outside Magazine.

A self-educated visual artist, he draws his inspiration from the ocean, mountains, people, and travel that play such an important role in his life.

When he isn’t traveling, he can be found in Hawaii, sipping an almond milk dark chocolate latte while scanning the horizons for his next adventure.

Enjoy!

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK 📝

Michael Bohl Breath Control Set

Pull or Swim

8x50's LCM Free @ 1:00

1st 50 breathing only 4x 2nd 50 breathing only 3x 3rd 50 breathing only 2x4th 50 breathing only 1x5th 50 breathing only 3x6th 50 breathing only 2x7th 50 breathing only 1x8th 50 no breathing

Hypoxic blackout (aka shallow water blackout) is super dangerous. Make sure to have a coach and/or lifeguard on deck and be extremely careful when doing breath control exercises. Never ever hold your breath as part of a competition.

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK 🤡

Well, it didn't turn out as well as it did for USAS back in 2008...

Improve your team's posture, balance, and strength with the D-Band!

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