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 couple more national champs/Worlds selection meets over this week, and one big meet for the older swimmers:

Polish Senior Champs

Poland's backstroke prowess was on full display here. Ksawery Masiuk, Junior World Champ last year in the 50 and 100, swept for the men in 25.03/53.74/1:59.01. He tied with NC State rising fifth-year Kacper Stokowski in the 100 - a long course PR for Kacper. Stokowski also took 2nd in the 50 in 25.28 with the two leading a pack of 9 men sub-26. Masiuk was to join Stokowski at NC State after the 2024 Olympics, however he's apparently decided to stay in Poland to keep training long course.

The women's side featured a backstroke sweep as well - Adela Piskorka went PRs in all three in 27.92/59.76/2:09.40. The 200 was a new Polish record, the 100 missed by a hundredth, and the 50 was two tenths off.

Dominika Sztandera also bagged a national record, with a 1:07.10 100 breast win. She also took the 50 breast in 30.90.

Other impressive swims included FINA A cuts in the 100 fly from Adrian Jaskiewicz (51.70) and Paulina Peda (58.24) and a 23.24 50 fly from apparently ageless sprinter Konrad Czerniak.

Turkish Nationals

A head-turning men's distance effort to add on to last week's barrage led this meet. 15-year-old Kuzey Tuncelli popped a 14:56.57 1500 to set a Turkish national record and become by far the youngest person to break 15:00 in the event. He leads a good, young Turkish distance swimming squad that's best highlighted by the 400 free at this meet - Tuncelli finished 4th in 3:54.72, but the entire A final, which was won by Emir Albayrak in 3:52.80 (he also won the 800 in 7:57.93), was born in either 2006 or 2007, and so is somewhere between 15-17 years old.

In Worlds qualifying, Berkay Ogetir hit a PR and A cut 59.18 100 breast, while SCM 50 breast world record holder Emre Sakci went a 27.19 in his specialty. Mert Satyr went Turkish records in the sprint backs in 25.31/54.69, barely missing the A cut in the 50.

There were no national records or A cuts on the women's side, but there were a number of strong B cuts. Ela Ozdemir hit a 2:01.03 200 free PR, Ecem Donmez went 4:15.33 400 free, and Ekaterina Avramova and Sudem Denizli hit 1:02.04 and 1:02.23 in the 100 back. Denizli also went 2:13.54 for a B cut in the 200 back.

US Masters Spring (SCY) Nationals

US Masters Swimming held it's spring championships this weekend. The meet was in Irvine, California and some members of the Swimnerd Cinematic Universe were there competing as well.

The highlight by absolute time was former NC State and Loyola product Ben Cono. A 52.2/1:54.4 breaststroker out of college, Cono dominated that discipline in the men's 25-29 age group, blasting 23.97/51.51/1:54.56 times.

We saw the usual compliment of Olympians taking part - Jenny Thompson, an 8-time gold medalist, took five wins in the 50-54 age group on the weekend - 23.75/52.00 frees, 27.40/58.87 backs, 25.70 fly. An age group down (45-49), Gabrielle Rose, a finalist in the 200 IM in 2000, also took 5 wins. Any of her 28.54/1:01.63/2:15.71 breasts or 56.20/2:03.62 IMs could have been the swim of the weekend.

Some other notable performances on the weekend:

• Heidi George (45-49 women) - 17:02.48 1650 free

• Jeff Natalizio (40-44 men) - 22.75/1:54.53 fly, 55.95 breast, 50.73 IM

• Rick Colella (70-74 men) - 26.68/2:17.30 fly, 2:21.03 breast, 1:00.57/2:10.61 IM

• Carlo Travaini (60-64 men) - 58.98/2:10.08 breast, 56.69/2:05.24 IM

• Maureen Kornfeld (100-104 women) - 1:27.45/3:14.36 free, 1:37.63/3:30.70/6:55.84 back

📰 SWIMMING HEADLINES

USA Swimming Relay Camp

USA Swimming hosted a relay camp at the University of Texas, and among the star-studded group, one Caeleb Dressel showed up looking absolutely ripped. We'll see what that means for his participation in the big summer meets but working out with his teammates is certainly a step in the right direction.

NCAA Miscellany

• Arizona State do-everything star Leon Marchand has committed to coming back to NCAA swimming for at least one more year.

• Conversely, 2022 100 fly champ Andrei Minakov of Stanford has entered the transfer portal. That'd obviously be a conference and perhaps NCAA changing pickup for a number of teams.

• Stanford flyers (among other things) Torri Huske and Claire Curzan will be taking Olympic redshirt years for the '23-'24 season to focus on Paris prep.

• Miles Simon, Howard U's sprinter extraordinaire (19.46/, will use his COVID fifth year at the University of Georgia.

BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK

• The Best Swimmers are like Hungry Rats

• The Wiffen Twins mistakenly trick Jon Rudd

• Finishing and Flattening your Fly

• How'd MP train fly?

• It's nearly impossible to teach breaststroke

• Best sprint group in the world

• Young Bruno Fratus

• What's Inside a Sarasota Sharks Mesh Bag?

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

This morning at 8AM EST...

Catch up on all the world's fastest swimming and stories with Brett and Sonny at 8 AM EST on Dive Inside LIVE.

Tomorrow...

#315 Championing Resilience: Shayna Jack's Story of Fighting for Her Reputation

In this episode, Brett interviews Shayna Jack, the Australian World Champion who was accused of having taken prohibited substances. The interview covers Jack's experience of fighting for her reputation, dealing with the emotional impact of the situation, and her personal growth during the ordeal. The conversation also highlights the importance of having a support system, the lessons learned from going through the process, and Jack's desire to help and support other athletes.

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK

Another Jon Urbanchek Mid Distance VO2 Max Set

4x200 on 8 minutes broken

1x50 from a dive @ 1:30 ("soft legs")

1x100 from a push @ 2:30 ("supple legs")

1x50 from a dive @ 1:30 ("hard legs")

You are looking to be 3-4 seconds faster than your 200 Free goal time.

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

What it's like to swim at Masters Nationals in Irvine, CA when you're from Bend, OR

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