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 🌎

The Spring Of Summer

The legend of Summer McIntosh grows. The best swimmer in the world right now is a 16-year-old Canadian.

McIntosh started out Canada's World Championships Trials with a bang - a stunning 3:56.08 400 Free to take out Ariarne Titmus's world record by .32. As would be the theme of her week, she took the race out aggressively - 56.46 at the 100, 1:55.91 at the 200 - over a full second quicker than both Titmus & Ledecky went out during their world record swims.

Summer came home in 59.93/1:00.24. In her post-race interview she expressed shock and surprise.

"To achieve something like this, it was very unexpected. It was never in my dreams to do this tonight or even a few years ago. This just blows my mind." - Summer McIntosh

The next few years of Summer's rise, during the heart of Titmus's prime and the latter part of Ledecky's, is going to be MUST WATCH TV. The Women's 400 Free is shaping up to be the most anticipated race since the Men's 200 Free in Athens - the "Race of the Century".

Next up was a 2:06.89 200 IM Junior World Record, undercutting her previous 2:08.08 from less than a month prior. Again, a strong start paved the way, her 26.80/31.83 front half putting her ahead of WR pace. 38.63 breast and 29.63 free brought her home.

A 2:04.70 200 Fly WJR, featuring 27.41/31.35/32.64/33.30 splits was next. That 2:01.81 world record is still the most daunting number in the record book, but with the way Summer is improving, it may not be as impossible as it's looked.

Her most impressive swim was next up. With a 4:25.87 400 IM, McIntosh broke IM extraordinaire Katinka Hosszu's World Record by half a second. Let's just watch:

Her final swim of the meet was a 1:53.91 - just another PB and World Junior Record. 5th fastest time ever. NBD.

So, the best middle distance freestyler and best IMer in the world right now is a 16 year old Canadian prodigy who is also the first person to ever simultaneously hold the 400 Free and 400 IM LCM World Records.

Summer could match the GOAT with 5 individual gold medals next year in Paris. Who would have thought we'd see, "the next Phelps" before the man himself even turns 40?

Canadian Trials Part Deux

Of course, Summer wasn't the only story at Canadian Trials.

• Josh Liendo, fresh off of NCAA DI Champs last week, transitioned nicely to the big pool. His 50.36 100 Fly knocks half a second off his PR and vaults him to the 5th best performer all-time, behind butterfly luminaries Dressel, Milak, Phelps, and Cavic. He also knocked out 21.80/47.86 sprint free times.

• Maggie Mac Neil took on the same three pack of events on the women's side, with strong efforts of 56.54 in the 100 fly and 24.79/54.58 in the frees.

• Finlay Knox continues to nibble at his 200 IM national record, this time lowering it to 1:57.26.

• Kylie Massie and Ingrid Wilm continued their backstroke back-and-forth, with Massie getting the upper hand in the 50 (27.41-27.59) and 200 (2:07.13-2:10.19) and Wilm taking the 100 (58.80-59.00).

Opens In The Iberian

Spain and Portugal both held large open meets over this week.

At the Spanish Open, two big barriers were broken on the first day of competition. Carmen Weiler Sastre became the first Spanish woman to break 1:00 in the 100 back with a 59.76 win. On the opposite end of the distance spectrum, World Junior Champion Carlos Garach dipped under 15:00 in the 1500 for the first time, breaking the Spanish national record with a 14:57.23.

Also of note at this meet, Valentine Dumont broke the Belgian 200 free national record with a 1:57.91, and Camila Rebelo broke the Portuguese national record in the 200 back with a 2:09.84.

The Portugal Open was the Diogo Ribeiro show. The 18-year-old broke Portuguese national records in the 50 free (21.87), 100 free (47.98), and 100 fly (51.45), and also brought home a 23.19 50 fly win.

The Portuguese women's 100 free record also went down courtesy of Francisca Martins's 56.25. Ana Rodrigues also because the first Portuguese woman sub-31 in the 50 breast with a 30.96 win.

More Fast Swims

A bunch of other meets this week producing fast times as swimmers ramp up for Worlds qualification.

• New Zealand's Erika Fairweather crushed that country's 200 free national record with a 1:55.44, beating her own PR and national record by a second and a half.

• NZ's men's sprint records also took a hit - Cameron Gray led off the 400 free relay with a 48.29 to break the 100 free record by half a second.

• Speaking of men's sprints, Ireland's Tom Fannon popped a 21.95 50 free to become the first Irishman under 22, breaking a super-suited Barry Murphy's old 22.14 national record.

• Also from the Ireland Open, Ellen Walshe took the Irish 100 fly record down twice, settling it at a 57.96 in finals.

• They weren't best times or a records, but the German distance contingent is back on top of the leaderboards. Lukas Martens 3:43.22 to take the world lead in the 400 free, while Florian Wellbrock did the same in the 1500 with a 14:40.18

• Korea is building the makings of a great 800 free relay. Short Course World Champ Hwang Sunwoo won the Korean Swimming Championships title in the 200 free with a 1:45.36, decent enough for him, but right behind him was Lee Ho-Jun's 1:45.70 and Kim Woomin's 1:46.10, both PRs by over a second.

Short Course Yards Miscellany

Some end-of-yard season good stuff going on still:

• 13-year-old Luka Mijatovic (Luka the Bazooka) popped a 4:22.50 500 free at Far Westerns in California. He's now the fastest 13 year old in history by over two seconds. When I was 13, I was still trying to figure out how to do a backstroke turn without gliding too much and getting deeqed.

• College Club Swimming National Champs were held over the weekend as well. Used to be almost an afterthought, but there's a heck of a lot of talent there these days. USC's Billy Cruz Zuniga swam for the varsity team last year, he popped a 19.94 50 free and 21.53 50 fly. Also of note were the men's medley relays - Liberty (48.55/54.69/50.78/45.21) took the 400 in 3:19.23 over Georgia (led by Thomas Askew's 48.18 fly split), Purdue (Kellen Reese's 47.51 fly), and Michigan State (Travis Nitkiewicz's 54.60 breast), while Purdue got the upper hand in the 200 (1:29.32 off 23.74/24.85/21.09/19.64 splits) with MSU and LU both joining them under 1:30.

📰 SWIMMING HEADLINES

Sarah Wellbrock out of Worlds

The German distance record-holder (nee Kohler, she married Florian Wellbrock last year) will miss her second consecutive World Champs. Last year it was for law school, this year she's got a bad shoulder. At 28, the Olympic 1500 bronze medalist may not have a ton of prime left for a distance swimmer, so let's hope for a quick recovery.

Adam Peaty Burned Out but Focused on Paris

The double Olympic Champion posted on Instagram this week that he is sitting this one out.

Here was what he wrote in full:

“Everyone wants to sit in your seat until they have to sit in your seat... very few people understand what winning and success does to an individual's mental health. They don't understand the pressures these individual's put on themselves, to win over and over again.”

As some people may know, I've struggled with my mental health over the last few years and I think it's important to be honest about it. I’m tired, I’m not myself and I’m not enjoying the sport as I have done for the last decade. Some might recognise it as burnout; I just know that over the last few years I haven’t had the answers that I’m looking for. With help, now I know how I can address the imbalance in my life. Whilst I am continuing to train, I have decided to withdraw from the British Swimming Championships next month. This is with the sole purpose of delivering the best performance possible in Paris at the 2024 Olympic Games. I'm hugely grateful for all the support I am receiving from my team and family at British Swimming along with my incredible sponsors, family and friends. As always, I thank the swimming community and beyond for the incredible support I’ve forever received. This sport has given me everything I am and I’m looking forward to finding the love I have for it again.

NCAA Transfer Portal Fun

A few big names hit the transfer portal this week. SIU's Ruard Van Renan, the first Saluki man to score at NCAAs in decades, sounds like he's on the way out of Carbondale. His 44.67/1:39.73 backstroke times would play, well, anywhere.

D2 national champion and co-swimmer of the year Ben Sampson of Colorado Mesa is also hitting the portal. He's gone from HS 52.21/1:57.36 to college junior 21.43/46.06/1:40.73 with 19.89/44.15/1:36.78 frees and 1:44.33/3:45.98 IMs. I'm less certain he's heading out than Van Renen, but he should have some interest from the top D1 teams.

Texas's Anthony Grimm announced his retirement from swimming last year, but it looks like he's not quite done as he's transferring to Virginia, where he is just a couple hours away from his home town. His former and future teammate Tim Connery made the same move last year and had a great ACCs but a less-than-stellar NCAAs, which could be said for most of the Cavalier men.

Speaking of Virginia, Claire Tuggle will also be transferring out. As a young teenager, she was putting up times nobody had ever put up. She went years without going a PB until her Freshman year at UVA, where she went best times in every freestyle event she swam (23/48/1:44/16:13). But, she didn't make UVA's NCAA team.

Louisville's Abdelrahman Elaraby is taking his sprinting chops elsewhere. The 18.7/41.9 freestyler can swim at any program and have a major impact. Perhaps he is also coming to Virginia...Virginia Tech that is, where fellow Egyptian Youseff Ramadan has also been swimming very fast.

Water Safety in Schools

Representative Karen Toles has put forth a bill in Maryland that would require public schools to teach water safety and swimming. This is exactly the type of legislature that we have been promoting for years. HOORAH!

How do we prevent drownings? How do we get more kids of color to learn how to swim? These questions have such simple answers - we just have to teach people water safety and swimming. Do it in school. It shouldn't matter what race, religion, culture, or socio-economic background you come from.

"A man is not learned until he can read, write, and swim." - Plato, ~2500 years ago

While this bill talks specifically about teaching 8th through 12th graders, swimming should start early - earlier than Kindergarten.

In fact, the educational piece should start in the maternity wards. "Did You Know that drowning is the most likely reason your child won't see their 5th birthday?" We need to teach the parents and the children. Start with the parents in the hospitals - this is a simple educational flyer that can be given to every new Mom & Dad. Give them a call to action at the bottom of the flyer. "GET FREE SWIM LESSONS" would prolly get a lot of clicks.

When people talk about water safety, they typically harp (and for good reason) on drowning. But there are other reasons why we should be teaching every American child how to swim. It puts young people months and months ahead in all sorts of development areas according to Robyn Jorgensen's "Adding Capital to Young Australians" research.

The kids in the study that learned how to swim were...

• 7 months ahead in motor skills

• 10 months ahead in cognitive function - you know the reading, the writing, the maths

• 15 months ahead socially and emotionally

National Security is another reason. It's difficult to join the Navy if you can't swim a lick. Even harder to become a Navy SEAL, where you must be overly competent in the water.

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BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK

• The new backstroke finish rule with Olympic Champ, Ryan Murphy

• Anders Holm, Conor Dwyer on the call - Leon Marchand's 400 IM

• Similarities between Kaii Winkler & David Popovici

• Where is Kaii Winkler going to college?

• Summer McIntosh breaks the 400 Free World Record

• Tips for a Great 200 Fly with Summer McIntosh

• Best 100 Freestyler Mindset

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

This morning at 11AM EST...

Dive Inside LIVE is back and there is a lot to catch up on. Brett & Nate talk about the most interesting things going on in swimming this morning at 11 AM Eastern.

Tomorrow...Episode #308...

SwimStrong Dryland's Eric Hudson & Swim Specific Dryland Training

Meet Eric Hudson, a fitness professional with 14 years of experience in the fitness industry and 10 years of swim-specific training expertise. Hudson has created a world-class dryland training program called SwimStrong Dryland that has helped develop some of the top young swimming athletes in the United States (Kaii Winkler, Erika Pelaez).

After graduating from Purdue University with a degree in Exercise Science, Hudson worked as the head strength and conditioning coach for a club swim team and later took on roles as a personal training manager in a multi-billion dollar fitness company and as the general manager and lead coach of a boutique group training gym. Through these experiences, he became passionate about working with competitive swimmers and believed in the need for professionally designed swim-specific dryland training in the club swimming world.

Hudson's SwimStrong Dryland program not only focuses on strengthening the body but also the mind and heart to inspire young athletes to be phenomenal not only in the pool, but also in their homes, schools, and communities. Join Hudson on his mission to make the impossible possible and positively impact the world.

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK

Today's set comes from Arizona State Coach Herbie Behm. How do you train sprinters so that they can come home in a 200 Free? One of Coach Herbie's favorite sets and a staple at ASU is:

6x50's all out

3 @ 1:00

1 @ :50

1 @ :40

1 @ :30

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

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