The SwimSwam Podcast

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Australian and Russian Trials, Cal Poly's new $45M Football Facility, and preview the Indy Pro Swim.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with Mike Orn, Olympic medalist, NCAA champion, and CEO of Malmsten Inc., the U.S. division of Malmsten AB. Mike was an NCAA champion in the 200 freestyle, going 1:36.02 in 1983, and later won Olympic hardware as part of Sweden’s 4x100 freestyle relay at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Now, more than four decades later, he is preparing for a very different kind of return to LA.  This time, Mike won’t be racing between the lane lines. He’ll be helping put them in. Malmsten is the officia...

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the ongoing Australian and Russian Trials Meets, the Longhorn Invite, and last week's many episodes of the SwimSwam Podcast. 

Greece's Apostolos Siskos is on a roll right now. At the 2026 Acropolis Open in May, Siskos dropped the #1 time in the world (1:54.12) in the 200 back this year so far and broke an 11-year-old Greek record in the 200 fly (1:56.13). We sat down with the 20-year-old and talked about his approach to racing, training on his own, and his decision to forego coming to Harvard to stay and train in Greece.

Jack Kelly has been making waves in the pool since graduating from Brown University last year. The 3x NCAA finalist in the breaststroke events decided he would give pro swimming a go and moved to Austin to train with Bob Bowman. Since making the move, Kelly has progressed immensely, not only going best times in all 3 breaststroke distances, but showing a ton of consistency throughout the last year. He broke the 1:00 barrier for the first time in December, but has since dipped under it on 6 different occasions. He's also been under the 27-second barrier in the 50 breast twice and...

Olympic gold medalist Hunter Armstrong left the inaugural Enhanced Games with $375,000 in prize money after two podium finishes, but the bigger story may be what happened before, during, and after the meet. Armstrong, who competed as a clean, non-enhanced athlete, won the men’s 50 backstroke in 24.21 while racing in a polyurethane “super suit.” The swim earned him $250,000, though it was about half a second off his American record of 23.71. He returned in the 100 freestyle, finishing 2nd in 48.0 behind Kristian Gkolomeev, who won in 46.6. Armstrong’s lifetime best is 47.59. The runner-up finish added another $125,000, bringing Armstrong’s total Enhanced Games payday to...

NCAA Champion Anna Moesch turned heads last weekend when, at the AP Swim International, she clocked a 51.94 100 Freestyle. This was not only a new American record, but it was the first time a woman had dipped under the 52-second barrier since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021) when Emma McKeon won gold in 51.96. This made Moesch the #2 performer all-time in the event at the time, a position she has since ceded to Marrit Steenbergen, who went 51.86 just days later in Canet, France. Moesch came on the SwimSwam Podcast and revealed what her last year has looked like. Last summer, Moesch missed...

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Marrit Steenbergen and other star athletes from Canet and Barcelona, the IOC president saying she doesn't believe in paying athletes, and Caeleb Dressel training with Virginia.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast we have Vern Gambetta, founder of GAIN (the Gambetta Athletic Improvement Network) and Chris Webb, Director of GAINswim. Vern Gambetta is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of functional sports training, a movement that helped shift athletic development away from isolated machine-based strength work and toward training the whole athlete.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss last night's Enhanced Games, the Pro Swim stop at Sacramento, and international meets in London and Monaco.

Isabelle Stadden had been a child protege in the pool, representing the USA on the international stage multiple times over, accruing numerous accolades well before she even reached college. Attending Cal Berkeley, Stadden continued to rake in awards and honors, becoming an NCAA All-American many times over during her 5 seasons with the Golden Bears. Weeks after completing her undergraduate degree, Stadden competed at the 2025 US World Trials. In what was supposed to be a springboard for her pro career, Stadden had what she says was one of the worst meets of her life. Her performances in Indianapolis were lackluster...

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the Sacramento Pro Swim, Kristof Milak racing at Mare Nostrum, and the inaugural Enhanced Games on Sunday.

12-time Olympic swimming medalist Ryan Lochte is making his coaching debut as an assistant coach at Missouri State, joining Dave Collins’ staff for the 2026–27 season. It is a measured move. Lochte is not jumping straight into a head coaching position. He admits he has a lot to learn. For Ryan, coaching is not some far-flung idea. His father, Steve Lochte, coached for 44 years, and both Steve and Ryan’s mother, Ileana “Ike” Lochte, coached him when he was young. Swimming was not just what Ryan did, it was the language of the house. In this GMM Podcast, Lochte talks about why h...

The fourth installment of the FISU America Games is set for this summer, July 24-26, in Lima, Peru, and Team USA has assembled a highly competitive team to take to South America. Among the USA's 44-strong roster are NCAA scorers, All-Americans, and former international roster members. Led by FGCU's Dave Rollins (Head Coach) and Oakland's Molly Hebzynski (Team Lead), Team USA will look to lead the medal table at this competition that will provide valuable international experience for athletes and coaches alike.

SwimSwam sat down with Rachel Stratton-Mills, the Director of Swimming & Diving at Northwestern and the new President of the CSCAA Board of Directors. Northwestern had a promising season this year, especially on the men's side, which saw them place 4th at the B1G conference champs and score a relay at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2008. Stratton-Mills discusses the development of her team as their 3rd-year leader and is hopeful that there's much more to come. On the CSCAA side of things, the new president sheds light on the reasons changes were made this year to...

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Ryan Lochte starting his collegiate coaching career at Missouri State, Bob Bowman's Pro Group getting numerous additions, and what Van Mathias' ceiling is for this summer.

Ice swimming is a strange outpost on the edge of our sport. It’s real, growing, and intense, but still outside the formal World Aquatics structure. In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with Chris Ballard, author of THE PLUNGE: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water. The book drops June 9th from Simon & Schuster.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Ft. Lauderdale Open, Chase Kreitler resigning from Pitt, and movement in the NCAA

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the potential change to the NCAA format, big moves in the transfer portal, and the Ft Lauderdale Open.

Yesterday, Mitch Dalton was announced as the new head coach for Brown University women's swimming and diving. Dalton has spent the last 6 seasons at Texas, where he will leave as the associate head coach for the women's team. During his tenure with the Longhorns, they finished in the top-3 at the NCAA Championships every season. We spoke with Dalton about his move and his vision as a first-time head coach in the NCAA.

This past weekend, Olympic champion Matt King swam a lifetime best in the 100m Free, touching at 47.7. Then he posted a screenshot to his Instagram story of a text that was sent about him...

2024 Olympian David Johnston recently announced his transfer from Texas to the University of Florida. The NCAA Champion explained there were 3 big reasons why he chose to leave Austin for Gainesville. One was plain and simple: the money. Johnston acknowledges that he didn't plan to be competing in the NCAA this long and sees why some would call it unfair. However, with the rules being what they are and new NIL opportunities sprouting up, Johnston wanted to go somewhere that could offer him income that could potentially supplement his future as he strives to qualify for the 2028 USA Olympic team...

Join Coleman Hodges as he goes event-by-event to preview the 2026 Men's DI NCAA Championships this week in Atlanta.

Join Coleman Hodges as he goes event-by-event to preview the 2026 Women's DI NCAA Championships this week in Atlanta.

Olivia Smoliga raced a LCM competition for the first time since the 2024 US Olympic Trials this past weekend in Westmont. Smoliga, 31, raced the 50 back (28.4) and 50 free (24.9), where she made the A-Final in both and placed 3rd in the latter. She also time trialed the 50 fly (26.9). The 2x Olympian gives her perspective on why she decided to return to racing, saying she feels like a whole new person now compared to when she was last competing. Smoliga hasn't been completely away from the pool, however. In the interim, she started In Depth Swim Academy, where she's been able to share...

Today on the GMM podcast we have Dan Meinholz, CEO of A3 Performance. For more than a decade A3 has been one of SwimSwam’s most consistent partners, and we’re especially grateful for their backing of our coverage of the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. That kind of long-term support helps us keep doing what we do. But Dan’s connection to the sport runs a lot deeper than a business relationship. He’s deeply chlorinated. Dan grew up in the sport, built his career as a team dealer working directly with swim clubs, and eventually...

Mercersburg Academy had a big weekend at the 2026 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships, winning the boys title and coming within striking distance of a combined team sweep after the girls finished 15.5 points short of the title. On the GMM Podcast, Head Coach Matt Hurst  breaks down the meet, his team's performance, and the culture that makes Mercersburg a consistent powerhouse in prep school swimming.

Coming into the B1G Championships, Indiana's Josh Bey was seeded at 3:42.61. Through prelims, he dropped a 3:36.92 PB. Then in finals, he cut another 2 seconds to touch at 3:34.90, touching .3 ahead of Michigan's Lorne Wigginton for the win. When SwimSwam sat down with Bey to discuss his monumental drop, he revealed an interesting development that occurred this season. At the beginning of the season, the 400 IM group had been doing a lot of over-distance training. When the group sat down with their coach, Luke Ryan, and asked to incorporate more race-specific work, Ryan agreed. This seemed to be a pivotal...

The 2026 NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships will very look different. The CSCAA’s proposed format changes have stirred debate across the sport, and veteran coach Brian Schrader has stepped forward publicly to say he does not support them.

Last week, 16-year-old phenom Luka Mijatovic turned heads with his historic performances at his CA sectionals. After clocking a 3:40 400 IM, he decimated his own 15-16 NAG in the 500 free with a 4:05.76, becoming the 3rd fastest performer in history. He followed that up with an American record in the 1000 free (8:32.83) to become the fastest ever in the event.

In this GMM podcast episode, Hunter Armstrong opens up about the year after Paris, and it’s not the story most people expect. Fresh off Olympic gold and silver in 2024, Hunter assumed momentum would carry him forward. Instead, he lost his top sponsor. The financial runway tightened. Training didn’t get cheaper. And 2025 became a grind. At this point in swimming history, Olympic gold does not equal financial security. Now Hunter’s made a decision that’s making headlines on SwimSwam. Hunter will compete at the upcoming Enhanced Games, but he’s doing it clean. To be clear, Hunter will not b...

SwimSwam sat down with Nic Askew, the head coach for Howard University's swimming and diving teams (as well as tennis), who is coming off a historic performance at the NEC Conference Champs. Not only did the Howard men's swimming defend their team title from last year, but the women joined the party this year, winning their first conference championship in program history. As the coach of the only HBCU to field a Division I Swimming & Diving program, Askew knows how to put things in perspective. He knows that to win a team title, it takes a team effort. He...

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing last week's SEC, ACC, and Women's Big 10 Championships as well as previewing the Big 12 and Men's Big 10 Championships.

Today’s conversation is one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. It’s rooted in a feature story that stopped me in my tracks when I first read it in our upcoming Swimsuit issue of SwimSwam Magazine (dropping March 29th). The piece is titled “What Remains When the Stopwatch Stops,” written beautifully by Anya Pelshaw. Anya's an exceptional talent, and she captured something rare in her interview. It's not just the résumé of a great coach, it's the architecture of a life built on belief.

Today on the GMM podcast we have University o...

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the upcoming SEC, ACC, and Women's Big Ten Championships. 

We wanted to catch up because Regan is one of the most fun conversations in the sport. She’s transparent for someone living inside the elite bubble. You can ask her about most anything, and she doesn’t default to clichés. That’s why we’re calling this episode What Does Regan Smith Think? 

2x Olympic medalist Ilya Kharun announced earlier this week that he would be switching his sporting citizenship from Canada to the USA.

Carsten Vissering was an absolute force during his time in the pool. Breaking national high school and age records as a teenager, he went on to swim for the University of Southern California in college. As a Trojan, Vissering won an NCAA title in 2018 as a part of the 200 medley relay and 2 Pac-12 Titles. Once Vissering walked away from swimming, though, he wasn't done with elite sport. After aquatic retirement, Vissering still wanted to compete and ended up stumbling into bobsledding in 2022. He made the US national team and worked his way up the ranks until, earlier this month...

Marrit Steenbergen had a heck of a 2025 season. At the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, she touched first in the 100 free, defending her world title from 2024. Then, to end the year, she won 6 gold medals in Lublin at the SC European Championships, where she also set 5 European records. Steenbergen joins us to discuss her big year and her new training style that has brought her success so far. While she's in the water 8-9x per week during much of the season, she's started the last two seasons by only swimming 3 days per week (5x within those three days) and...

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we review the Pro Swim Series in Austin, USA Swimming's financial situation, and the future of the Enhanced Games.