Morning, Nerd.

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

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

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🏊‍♀️FAST SWIMS AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

World Champs qualifying going hot and heavy this week. Some of the best swimming nations in the world assembled their teams.

Japan Swim

Rikako Ikee was a junior swimming prodigy before being diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 at age 18. She recovered and came back to qualify for her home Olympics in 2021 but hadn't gotten back to the peaks of her junior career yet. Her results at the Japan Swim show that she might be getting close. Now 22 years old, she hit Japan's Worlds qualifying standards in winning the 50 fly (25.59) and 100 fly (57.68), the latter a best since her comeback, while also winning the 50 and 100 frees (24.74/54.17).

Katsuhiro "The Kat" Matsumoto starred on the men's side, hitting three World Championships QTs with 47.85/1:44.98 in the 100 and 200 free and 50.96 100 fly. The 100 free is a Japanese national record and Matsumoto's first time sub-48, while the 100 fly makes him his country's second sub-51 second performer.

Other impressive performances:

British Champs

Great Britain's national championships and Worlds qualifying meet was also this week. As always, British Swimming has set extremely lofty automatic QTs for Worlds, some under the GB national records, with only 8 selections from the consideration times made after the meet. Their selection times are so silly -- thank goodness our good friend pullbuoy makes a tracker every year. 

Midway through the meet it was announced that the 8 person restriction was lifted for unlimited selections, meaning British Swimming basically gets to pick whoever they want for Worlds. No possible politics there! Sounds like they took the Canadian approach. 

Anyway, on to the swimming:

A pair of Freyas made marks early in this meet. Veteran Freya Anderson put up one of the fastest 200 frees in GB history on Day One with a 1:55.89, while 19-year-old Freya Colbert put up a huge best time with a 4:35.50 400 IM in a great dual with Katie Shanahan (4:36.74). Colbert had one heck of a meet overall, going on to win the 400 free (4:06.80) and 800 free (8:35.02) and take second in the 200 back in another dual with Shanahan (Shanahan 2:07.81, Colbert 2:08.73).

Notably in the 800, second place went to 13(!) year old Amelie Blocksidge in 8:38.33. She'd turn 14 a few days later and then move up one spot to win the 1500 in 16:19.57. Almost goes without saying she's one to watch in the next few years.

The GB men showed their wealth of freestyle talent, starting with Matt Richards popping a 47.72 100 free in prelims. He was a bit slower in finals (48.02), finishing behind Lewis Burras (47.99) and owner of the fastest textile 100 free relay split in history Duncan Scott (48.00). With Tom Dean in 48.32 right behind those three, and three more 48s behind them, GB is well setup for free relays assuming the selection committee wants to prioritize those.

Their 200 free squad might be even more impressive, and Richards in currently on top of the pile in that one too, even with defending Olympic gold and silver medalists Dean and Scott. He won the national title in the event in 1:44.83, giving the Brits three guys that have been sub-1:45 in their careers. Richards made up half a second on Dean to out touch him at the finish (the latter finished in 1:44.93), with James Guy (1:45.83) and Scott (1:45.90) right behind.

Also of note:

Skinny Legend Branching Out

100 free World Record holder David Popovici was in action at Romanian Champs with a bit of an eclectic schedule.

Yes, he took on his bread and butter 100 free (knocking out Olympic qualification with a 47.61, which seemed to have been a bit of surprise to him), but he also won a few titles in some off events.

He opened with a 50 free (22.62) and 100 back (54.74) win on day one, followed with a new national record in the 50 fly (23.74) on Day Two (notably, runner-up Denis Popescu's 23.95 made him the second person in the nation sub-24 after Popovici); and outdual the country's best middle distance swimmer Vlad Stancu in the 400 free (3:51.18 to 3:52.45) on Day Three, before his 100 free win the next day.

More Fast Swims

Other notables on the week:

📰 SWIMMING HEADLINES  

Russian, Belarusian Athletes Out At World Champs?

Russian and Belarusian athletes won't participate in the World Championships in Japan this year as World Aquatics expectedly won't decide their eligibility for neutral status in time for their entries. World Aquatics has announced it will create a task force to examine how Russia and Belarus could return as neutral athletes, with an update due in July.

Russia also announced they would be holding their National Championships concurrently with World Champs. 

Swimming is one of the three biggest sports on the Olympic program, and with the reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutral parties ahead of the 2024 Paris Games being examined, any long-term impact may be significant.

Club Team Shuffles

News from two cosmopolitan men's swimmers here. Sprinters Matt King (formerly of University of Alabama and most recently University of Virginia NCAA teams) and Santo Condorelli (Southern Cal to dual-citizenship Canada and then Italy - a true man of the world) are now training with ex-Alabama coach Coley Stickles at Texas Ford Aquatics.

Condorelli was previously under an 18-month suspension for drug testing whereabouts failures, but apparently that got lifted quietly.

King had a breakout long course season last year and then only swam partway through the following NCAA season, so his progress and status is interesting both from an international and NCAA team perspective.

Santo, though, must just be leaning into the fact that his name fits really well as a replacement "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego." Is that a dated reference now?

BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

This morning at 8AM EST...

Loads of swimming going on, worldwide. Catch up with Brett, Sonny (who is back from British Champs), and Nate at 8 AM EST on Dive Inside LIVE.

Tomorrow...Episode #310...

Strength and Conditioning with Vern Gambetta: Evolution and Key Principles

Vern Gambetta is an Athletic Development Coach, Educator, & Consultant. He is the Founder of the GAIN Network and has worked with just about everyone in every sport.

Coach Gambetta is one of the headliners at this years ASCA World Clinic alongside Bob Bowman.

This week's American Swimming Coaches Association talk comes from Dr. Alan Goldberg! 

Dr. Alan Goldberg is a renowned expert in applied sports psychology who works with coaches, athletes, and teams to maximize their performance. In his talk, he discusses the importance of pre-meet psyching and developing the right mindset for peak performance. 

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK

James Guy's Favorite VO2 Set

VO2 swim sets are designed to improve an athlete's aerobic capacity, specifically by working on the body's ability to deliver and utilize oxygen during exercise. VO2 max, or the maximal oxygen uptake capacity of an individual, is dependent on several factors: cardiac output, red blood cell concentration, and the ability of the muscles to utilize oxygen.

400 aerobic

2x200 threshold

100 VO2

300 aerobic

2x200 threshold

2x100 VO2

200 aerobic

2x200 threshold

3x100 VO2

100 aerobic

2x200 threshold

4x100 VO2

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

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