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 Leon Marchand

• 📜 Set of the Week

• 🤡 Swimming Meme of the Week

This Week in Swimming is brought to you by the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Help preserve our sport's history by becoming a monthly donor like us.

🏊‍♀️FAST SWIMS AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Erika Fairweather 

The 19-year-old New Zealander swam the 400 and 200 freestyle at the 2023 South Island LC Championships this week. In the 400 Free she hit 4:00.97 (ranked #2 in the world behind Katie Ledecky 4:00.20). That time also makes her the 8th fastest performer ever!

In the 200 Free, Fairweather swam 1:56.73, which is the 4th fastest performance in 2023 and makes her the third fastest performer in 2023. With 508 days until Paris, the Women's 400 Freestyle is looking more and more likely that you'll have to be sub 4 minutes to win a medal. Titmus, Ledecky, McIntosh, Pallister, Fairweather.

TYR Pro Series: Fort Lauderdale🏝️

This weekend was probably one of the fastest PSS meets ever. Ft. Lauderdale has always been a fast pool, with multiple world records broken here. When you walk in, this is what you see:

Pro Series, National Age Group, and World Junior records were all broken! If you'd like to take a tour of the facility, we went to the 57th Annual International Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

On the Women's side, Abbey Weitzeil, Regan Smith, and Summer McIntosh stole the show. On the Men's side, Kaii Winkler, Ahmed Hafnaoui, and Ilya Kharun impressed me the most.

Here are the results:

Day 1:

• The Sandpiper girls take 1-2-3 in the mile: Katie Grimes won the women's mile 🥇 in 15:56.27 - beating her Knoxville pro series time of 16:15.02 by "a mile" 😉 teammates Bella Sims and Claire Weinstein finished second and third respectively in times of 16:19.29 🥈and 16.26.50 🥉.

• A hard fought battle for the win in the men's mile as it was Tunisia swimming superstar, Ahmed Hafnaoui took the 🥇 in 15:00.24 (slipping past Ireland's Daniel Wiffen for #2 ranking in the world). Second was Egyptian Veteran Marwan El Kamash 🥈 in 15:01.26 and third was the Tokyo Olympic Champion in the mile, Bobby Finke 🥉 in 15:02.54.

Day 2 Top Three:

• W 100 Free: Abbey Weitzel - 53.38 🥇/ Katie Ledecky - 54.01 🥈/ Erika Brown - 54.39 🥉

• M 100 Free: Dylan Carter - 48.28 🥇/ Matt Richards - 48.48 🥈/ Hunter Armstrong - 48.95 🥉 - Note: The Slim Reaper, Kaii Winkler, broke the NAG record in prelims with 48.81. The only 15-16-year-old to ever break 49. He also ripped a 52.64 in the 100 Fly which was a massive PB for him.

• W 100 Breast: Lily King - 1:06.28 🥇/ Kara Hanlon - 1:06.93 🥈/ Imogen Clark - 1:07.85 🥉

• M 100 Breast: Nic Fink - 59.97 🥇/ Michael Andrew - 59.98 🥈/ Cody Miller - 1:00.12 🥉

• W 50 Back: Regan Smith - 27.55 🥇/ Lauren Cox - 27.91 🥈/ Medi Harris - 28.03 🥉

• M 50 Back: Justin Ress - 24.73 🥇/ Hunter Armstrong - 24.95 🥈/ Shaine Casas - 25.20 🥉

• W 200 Fly: Summer McIntosh - 2:05.05 WJR 🥇🔥/ Bella Sims - 2:09.89 🥈/ Maria Mata Cocco - 2:11.00 🥉

• M 200 Fly: Ilya Kharun - 1:54.49 🥇/ Trenton Julian - 1:55.70 🥈/ Chase Kalisz - 1:56.03 🥉 - Note: New Canadian Record for the teenager

• W 400 Free: Katie Grimes - 4:05.18 🥇/ Siobhan Haughey - 4:05.84 🥈/ Claire Weinstein - 4:06.24 🥉

• M 400 Free: Ahmed Hafnaoui - 3:46.02 🥇/ Marwan El Kamash - 3:47.34 🥈/ Kieran Smith - 3:48.02 🥉

Day 3 Top Three:

• W 200 Free: Summer McIntosh - 1:54.13 US Open + WJR 🔥🥇- Katie Ledecky - 1:54.96 🥈/ Siobhan Haughey - 1:55.53 🥉

• M 200 Free: Matt Richards - 1:47.04 🥇/ Kieran Smith - 1:47.36 🥈/ Luis Altamir/Shaine Casas - 1:47.88 🥉

• W 50 Breast: Lily King - 30.04 🥇/ Imogen Clark - 30.48 🥈/ Siobhan Haughey/Rachel Bernhardt - 31.21 🥉

• M 50 Breast: Michael Andrew - 27.10 🥇/ Nic Fink - 27.29 🥈/ Tommy Cope - 27.48 🥉

• W 50 Fly: Abbey Weitzel/Emilie Beckmann - 26.27 🥇/ Katerine Savard/Natalie Hinds - 26.68 🥈

• M 50 Fly: Dylan Carter/Michael Andrew - 23.33 🥇/ Shaine Casas - 23.48 🥉

• W 200 Back: Regan Smith - 2:05.34 🥇/ Katie Grimes - 2:09.53 🥈/ Erika Pelaez - 2:11.67 🥉

• M 200 Back: Ryan Murphy - 1:56.44 🥇/ Chase Kalisz - 1:59.73 🥈/ Jay Litherland - 2:01.14 🥉

• W 400 IM: Katie Ledecky - 4:36.04 🥇/ Ella Jansen - 4:43.32 🥈/ Tess Cieplucha - 4:44.92 🥉

• M 400 IM: Bobby Finke - 4:15.93 🥇/ Lorne Wigginton - 4:19.95 🥈/ Grant Sanders - 4:26.33 🥉

Day 4 Top Three:

• W 800 Free: Katie Ledecky - 8:14.70 🥇/ Claire Weinstein - 8:33.16 🥈/ Michaela Mattes - 8:39.61 🥉

• M 800 Free: Ahmed Hafnaoui - 7:48.50 🥇/ Marwan El Kamash - 7:50.38 🥈/ Daniel Jervis - 7:51.93 🥉

• W 100 Back: Regan Smith - 57.92 🥇/ Olivia Smoliga - 59.71 🥈/ Medi Harris - 1:00.05 🥉

• M 100 Back: Hunter Armstrong - 52.95 🥇/ Ryan Murphy - 53.33 🥈/ Justin Ress - 53.63 🥉

• W 200 Breast: Lily King - 2:23.33 🥇/ Kelsey Wog - 2:25.49 🥈/ Annie Lazor - 2:26.96 🥉

• M 200 Breast: Will Licon - 2:10.77 🥇/ Anton McKee - 2:10.86 🥈/ Chase Kalisz - 2:12.26 🥉

• W 100 Fly: Regan Smith - 56.60 🥇/ Katerine Savard - 58.63 🥈/ Ella Jansen - 58.93 🥉

• M 100 Fly: Shaine Casas - 50.80 🥇/ Ilya Kharun - 51.54 🥈/ Michael Andrew - 51.80 🥉

• W 200 IM: Summer McIntosh - 2:08.08 WJR 🔥🥇/ Mary Sophie Harvey - 2:11.94 🥈/ Katie Grimes - 2:12.66 🥉

• M 200 IM: Chase Kalisz - 1:58.32 🥇/ Kieran Smith - 2:00.13 🥈/ Finlay Knox - 2:01.02 🥉

• W 50 Free: Abbey Weitzel - 24.40 🥇/ Kasia Wasick - 24.68 🥈/ Siobhan Haughey - 24.85 🥉

• M 50 Free: Alberto Meistre - 22.04 🥇/ Michael Andrew - 22.06 🥈/ Ryan Held - 22.19 🥉

College Swimming Roundup

Tomorrow morning we will publish all the conference happenings and record breaking swims. But...

ASU won their first Pac-12 Conference Title in School History! Led by NCAA record-crusher, Leon Marchand. During the meet, Marchand broke the NCAA record in the 400 IM (3:31.57) and 200 Breaststroke (1:47.67). He also just missed his own record in the 200 IM - swimming 1:37.81.

BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK

• What is Pruet’s Law?

• Is U/W kicking faster than swimming?

• 48 at 16. New American hope

• How to become a professional high diver with Catalin Preda

• Would you jump off a 27m high cliff?

• ISHOF 2022: Awards, Ft. Lauderdale Pool Tour, Interviews, & Highlights

• Nort Thornton on using Kickboards & Pullbuoys

• Nort Thornton's thoughts on Training with Snorkels

• Swimming Technique: Matt Biondi vs. Alexander Popov

This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...

This morning at 8AM EST...Dive Inside LIVE!

Brett and Sonny catch up with the most important stuff going on in swimming.

On Tuesday...Episode #303...Bernard Savage!

In 2021, Hockey Australia appointed Bernard Savage as its new High Performance Director, who has extensive experience in successful Australian high performance sporting environments; including, 16 years with Swimming Australia as a Performance Scientist and High Performance Sports Manager.

3 Key Takeaways:

1. Sports science plays an important role in swimming, combining physiology and biomechanics to maximize performance.

2. Race analysis is a necessity that can be used to inform training and prepare athletes for competition.

3. It is important to invest in athletes and demonstrate that you care about them in order to get the best results.

ICYMI

"Don't take too much for granted. Ask better questions."

Last week's American Swimming Coaches Association talk comes from the 1995 World Clinic in New Orleans. Hall of Fame Coach Nort Thornton discusses the importance of asking better questions and not taking too much for granted in order to find better ways of doing things.

Nort coached at Cal Berkeley from 1974 to his official retirement in 2007 where he won two national titles in back to back years in 1979 and 1980. He also served as a coach for the United States’ 1992 Olympic team which was littered with current and former Cal swimmers.

Don't forget to sign up for the World Clinic this year. September 6th through 9th in Dallas, Texas.

📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK

Kaii Winkler swims for Coach Adam Madarassy at Eagle Aquatics in Florida. Here are a few of the sets he does, courtesy of Swimming World Magazine.

Long IM Set

6x {4 x 100 + 400)

Round 1: 4 x 100 fly + 400 IM

Round 2: 4 x 100 free + 400 free

Round 3: 4 x 100 back + 400 IM

Round 4: 4 x 100 free + 400 free

Round 5: 4 x 100 breast + 400 IM

Round 6: 4 x 100 free + 400 free

VO2 75's

8-12 x 75 @ 2 or 2:30 Freestyle

Easy swim

8-12 x 75 @ 2 or 2:30 Non-Freestyle

🤡 SWIMMING MEME OF THE WEEK

Jake Swinn's Swimming Memes are unstoppable. Big month this month. Get ready.

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