Before the Beep: How American Star Regan Smith Prepares For Competition
by JOHN LOHN – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
20 December 2023, 06:56am
Before the Beep: How American Star Regan Smith Prepares For Competition
The 2023 campaign of Regan Smith was spectacular, highlighted by a quartet of medals at the World Championships in Japan, and some of the best times of her career in several events. As the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris creep closer, Smith will continue her preparation under coach Bob Bowman in the Arizona desert.
In Swimming World’s latest edition of Before the Beep, Smith reveals how she prepares for a big meet or critical race.
“I have worked really hard this past year to be able to roll with the punches leading up to race time,” Smith said. “I used to be fairly superstitious and very routine oriented, and I would feel a lot of anxiety if any part of my routine had to be altered. This anxiety would ultimately hurt my performance come race time. Having a pre-race routine is still very important to me, but it changes each time I compete. Doing this helps ensure that I’ll be able to handle any changes in variables.”
THE WEEK BEFORE THE MAJOR MEET
How do you mentally prepare for what is ahead?
“I like to think about the meet and just get amped up to race. Bob (Bowman) likes to have us suit up and do race efforts in practice about once a week. After doing that, I feel very pumped up to race for real. I also like visualizing the races I’ll be competing in during practice times. For example, yesterday our main set had 10 150s back-breast-free by 50. I imagined I was racing a 200 IM on each one just to get myself in that race mindset.”
What do you discuss with Bob Bowman leading up to the meet?
“Bob and I honestly don’t discuss much. He provides amazing practices and I show up daily and do those practices to the best of my ability. Doing that is the best preparation for me and he always knows when I am ready. It’s what works for us.”
HOTEL
Once you are checked in, do you have any rituals that you follow? Movie to watch? Food to Eat?
“I’m normally lucky enough to have my parents with me at domestic competitions, and we like to go to the grocery store right away and get me anything I need. I always like having pb and js, protein bars, oatmeal, yogurts, chocolate milk, and trail mix. We like getting other food items, too, but it varies each trip!”
At the hotel, do you stay to yourself and focus, or do you interact with teammates, family, etc.?
“I swim my best when I’m having fun, so I like talking to my family and teammates as much as possible. I’d prefer to be alone as little as possible.”
WARMUP
What is your specific timeline for arriving to the pool for warmup ahead of the meet? What needs to be in place for you to feel ready?
“I show up to the pool roughly 90 minutes before I race, sometimes earlier depending on how I feel. I like to sit for a few minutes and chat with teammates before getting my suit on and stretching while having a snack or a drink. Nothing specifically needs to happen for me to be ready. I just want to enjoy myself.”
What type of warmup does Bob have you do?
“Bob likes me to feel warm and loose (and so do I), so I’ll typically do anywhere between 1500-2k. I will do slightly less if my body feels great. I hit all the bases: Swim, kick, pull, drills, IM, some aerobic swimming, and some bursts/speed. The distances of each will vary depending on what event I am swimming and how my body feels in the water.”
READY ROOM
What does your typical ready-room process look like?
“I like to go with the flow in the ready room. I’m happy to chat if I have a friend in there, but I’m also happy to keep to myself if the ready room is quiet. I basically just relax in my chair and think about my race plan. Nothing too crazy. I used to dread the ready room and I know that most people do. I now try to enjoy the ready room because it means it’s almost time to race!
Are there any superstitions or checkboxes that you go through while waiting to be called to the deck?
“I make sure I have a backup cap and goggles in my parka pocket. I make sure my cap is on straight and my goggles are secure, and that’s about it! I’ve done the work, so now it’s time to go blank and let autopilot take over.”
BEHIND THE BLOCKS
How do you handle those final moments before hearing your name called for the race?
“I like to visualize my race and hype myself up. It can be very easy to get swallowed by your own fear before competing, so I like to practice positive self-talk.”
Is there any specific music you listen to behind the blocks, or do you go another route?
“I prefer to feed off the energy of the crowd instead of listening to music. I’ve come to really enjoy that. It makes me happy to hear people excited to see me and my competitors race. And a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer!”
2024 International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony to be held in Cancun, Mexico!
The International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF) has recently announced their plans for the 2024 IMSHOF Honoree Induction Ceremony, which will be held in Cancun, Mexico, the weekend of May 17-19, 2024.
Cancun (May 17-19, 2024) Ceremony Update ~ IMSHOF is making plans with the local host committee.
The (draft) schedule is as follows (with some deciding to take public tours/relax on the beach for some of the weekend).
Friday, May 17, 2024
Many will arrive early, and casual dinners will be organized. Watch for invitations closer to the day.
Saturday, May 18, 2024
1.9 km and 3.8 km swims, swim discussion (Open to the public)
Congress (for ceremony attendees)
Induction & Awards Dinner, and after dinner drinks.
Sunday, May 19, 2024
10 km swim
Class of 2024 Inductees
Leonie Beck, Honor Swimmer, Germany
Arianna Bridi, Honor Swimmer, Italy
Allan Do Carmo, Honor Swimmer, Brazil
Sam Greetham, Honor Administrator, Great Britain
Ros Hardiman, Honor Swimmer, Great Britain
Suzanne Heim-Bowen, Honor Swimmer, United States of America
Pauline Jackson, Honor Administrator, United States of America
Lynton Mortensen, Honor Swimmer, Australia
Courtney Moates Paulk, Honor Swimmer, United States of America
Dr. Evgenij Pop Acev, Honor Swimmer, Macedonia
Simone Ruffini, Honor Swimmer, Italy
Dan Simonelli, Honor Coach, United States of America
Catherine Vogt Kase, Honor Coach, United States of America
Class of 2024 IMSHOF Award Winners
Melissa Cunningham Roberts, Honor Swimmer, Australia, 2013 – The Dale Petranech Award for Services to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame
Massimo Giuliani, Honor Coach, Italy, 2020 – The International Swimming Hall of Fame’s (ISHOF) Irving Davids and Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award
Penny Lee Dean, EdD, Honor Swimmer, United States of America, 1980 – The International Swimming Hall of Fame’s (ISHOF) Poseidon Award
for more information regarding this event, click here: www.imshof.org
Happy Birthday Claudia Kolb!!
Claudia Kolb (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1975)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964 silver (200m breaststroke); 1968 gold (200m, 400m breaststroke; 200m individual medley); WORLD RECORDS: 23; PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1967 gold (200m butterfly; 200m, 400m individual medley), silver (200m breaststroke); U.S. NATIONAL OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1964, 1965 (100m, 200m breaststroke); 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 (200m individual medley); 1966, 1967 (400m individual medley); U.S. NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 25; “World Swimmer of the Year”: 1967.
1964-1968 Olympian Claudia Kolb swam all strokes individually and collectively better than any swimmer of her time and was further ahead of her competition in the individual medley (13.7 seconds in the 1968 Olympics) than any swimmer in recent years. Four different times she was high-point girl at the U.S. Nationals.
At 14, swimming the 200m breaststroke, Claudia, a freckle-faced kid from California, won an unexpected silver medal in the 1964 Olympics. It was a courageous effort, for she had qualified for the final only as fifth best. With 25 meters to go she was in fourth place. Suddenly Claudia abandoned all caution, put her head down and sprinted like mad for 10 meters to swim into second place (2:47.6) splitting the mighty Russian pair Prozumenschikova (2:46.4) and Babanina (2:48.6).
Four years later, at the Mexico Games, Claudia was the best in the world for the individual medley and she won the 200m and 400m gold medals with almost contemptuous ease – the former (2:24.7) by 4.1 from her teammate Sue Pedersen and the latter by a huge 13.7 from another American, Lynn Vidali.
She was the first holder of the world record for 200m medley with her 2:27.8 on August 21, 1966. Two years and several world records later, she had brought her time down to 2:23.5. She broke the 400m world record four times, taking it from 5:11.7 in July 1967 to 5:04.7 in August 1968. At the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnepeg she won the 200m butterfly, was second in the 200m breaststroke and set world records in both the 200m and 400m individual medleys.
Claudia, from the George Haines stable at Santa Clara, twice (1964,’65) won the United States outdoor 100m and 200m breaststroke titles (best winning times 1:17.1 and 2:48.6 in dead-heating with Cynthia Goyette in 1965). She won the 200m medley four times (1965-68) and the 400m medley twice (1966-67). Claudia won 25 U.S. National AAU Championships and set 23 world records during her remarkable 6-year career. In 1967 she was named “World Swimmer of the Year” by Swimming World magazine.
Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center hosts the First Edition of the CAN-AM-Mex High Diving Challenge
USA Diving and Diving Plongeon Canada welcomed the first edition of the CANAMEX High Diving Challenge held at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center, December 8-9, 2023.
The event was used as the USA team selection event for the World Aquatics World Championships which will be held in Doha, Qatar, February 2-18, 2024.
Ellie Smart took the top spot for the women and James Lichtenstein won on the Men’s side. Both will be competing at the World Aquatic Championships. Fort Lauderdale’s own, Coach Dave Burgering will be traveling to Doha representing the USA as coach of the High Diving Team. Go Team USA!!!
World Aquatics High Diving Schedule / Doha, Qatar
High Diving:
Tuesday, February 13: 3:00am: Women’s 20m Prelims / 6:00am: Men’s 27m Prelims
Wednesday, February 14: 3:00am: Women’s 20m Finals
Thursday, February 15: 3:00am: Men’s 27m Finals
Happy Birthday Igor Milanovic!!
Igor Milanovic (YUG)
Honor Water Polo (2006)
FOR THE RECORD: 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 1987, 1989 WORLD CUPS: gold; SCORED 450 GOALS IN MORE THEN 300 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS; CONSIDERED ONE OF THE BEST CENTERS IN THE WORLD
Yugoslavia won its first water polo Olympic gold medal in 1968, breaking Hungary’s (and to a lesser degree, Italy’s) Olympic water polo dynasty. Hall of Fame players, Mirko Sandic, Zdravko Korvacic and Zoran Jankovic all helped give special rise to Yugoslavia’s water polo success. Although Yugoslavia won the silver medal 12 years later in 1980, it was in 1984 and 1988 that they won back-to-back gold medals in Olympic competition, largely due to the driving ability of the great Igor Milanovic. The Partizan Club was the country’s leading water polo team and produced most of the Yugoslavian Olympic players, including 6’10” Milanovic.
Igor joined the Partizan Club Team at age ten in 1975 and under the coaching of Nicola Stamenic and Vlaho Orlic; he soon became a skillful and inspirational player. At age 18, legendary coach Ratko Rudic promoted him from the junior team to the national team just in time for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles where he was instrumental in his team winning the gold medal. Four years later at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he once again steered his team to gold. At the height of his career, the Balkan War prevented his team from competing during the years between 1992 to 1995, thus forfeiting the 1992 Olympics.
Throughout his career, he also competed for Mladost, Croatia; Roma, Italy; and Katalugnia, Spain, the latter two in the Professional League. His career includes over 300 international competitions. He has scored over 450 goals.
Each of his coaches place him in high regard with Coach Rudic stating that he is the only player who could play in every position on the team.
Let’s take a look back at the ISHOF Museum and some of the memorabilia and artifacts…..
FUN FRIDAY: Watch our video from 2010 below
Throwback Thursday: Janet Evans and Her Super Show in the 400 Freestyle; A Back Half to Behold (Video)
by JOHN LOHN – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
14 December 2023, 12:34am
Janet Evans – Ahead of Her Time
When Janet Evans stepped onto the blocks for the final of the 400 freestyle at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, the American star already had a gold medal in her grasp. A few days earlier, the 17-year-old bested the field in the 400 individual medley, an event that was the weakest of her three entries. As a result, Evans had to feel good heading into freestyle action, which was her strength.
As the world-record holder, Evans was the favorite in the 400 freestyle, but she was expected to be challenged by East Germany’s Heike Friedrich and Anke Mohring. Although they may not have tested positive for doping, it was widely understood that Evans wasn’t just racing against Friedrich and Mohring, but also against the systematic-doping program of East Germany.
Friedrich was riding the momentum of a title the previous night in the 200 freestyle and through the first half of the race, she was with Evans, who made the turn in 2:02.14. Evans turned at the 300-meter mark with a slight advantage, but she blew away Friedrich in the last 100 meters and clocked a world record of 4:03.85, with Friedrich earning the silver medal in 4:05.94. Mohring picked up the bronze in 4:06.64.
Evans produced a split of 1:00.40 for the last two laps and covered the back half of her race in 2:01.71 for an impressive negative split. Her world record endured for more than 17 years and wasn’t wiped out until France’s Laure Manaudou posted a time of 4:03.03 at the 2006 French Championships. Add in the 800 freestyle and the 1500 freestyle, and Evans owned three world records that lasted at least 17 years, a statistic that speaks to her ahead-of-her-era talent
“I wasn’t worrying about my time,” Evans said. “When I saw 4:03, I was really surprised. I knew I was going to have to bring it home really hard that last 100, but I felt really good. I felt really easy. I didn’t think I was going that fast.”
Evans’ time would have won every men’s 400 freestyle in Olympic competition through the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
Happy Birthday Lazlo Kiss!!
Laszlo Kiss (HUN)
Honor Coach (2012)
FOR THE RECORD: 40 YEARS WOMENS NATIONAL TEAM COACH; COACH OF SWIMMERS WINNING SIX GOLD, TWO SILVER, TWO BRONZE OLYMPIC MEDALS; 45 YEARS COACH OF SPARTACUS CLUB TEAM IN BUDAPEST (1963-2008); COACH OF SWIMMERS BREAKING THREE WORLD RECORDS; COACH OF SWIMMERS WINNING FOUR GOLD, TWO SILVER AND TWO BRONZE MEDALS IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION; COACH OF SWIMMERS WINNING 17 GOLD MEDALS AT EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS; HUNGARIAN COACH OF THE YEAR FOR ALL SPORTS: 1991,1992,1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000.
Every so often, a coach will come along who has the ability to lift his swimmers to new heights, as Laszlo Kiss did establishing Olympic champions.
Kiss was a 1960 Olympic swimmer who was disappointed when he failed to win a medal. American champion Mike Troy offered him some training tips which Kiss applied to a new team he began coaching three years later. From then on, Kiss never looked back, and for almost 50 years continued to develop Olympic champions.
As head coach of Budapest’s Club Spartacus Team, he later became the Hungarian National Team Coach for women for an unprecedented 40 years, continuing to develop swimmers from the grass roots level to Olympic champions.
His greatest swimmer was a thin little girl he developed from age five to become the greatest backstroke swimmer, perhaps of all time, Krisztina Egerszegi. Egerszegi is only the second woman, after the great Dawn Fraser, to win the same event in three successive Olympic Games when she won the 200 meter backstroke in 1988, 1992 and 1996, while winning the most gold medals by a female in individual events with five gold medals.
Other swimmers include Agnes Kovacs, who won the gold medal in the 200 meter breaststroke in Sydney, and the bronze medal in the 200 meter breaststroke in Athens. Karoly Guttler won breaststroke silver and bronze medals in Barcelona, 1992 and Atlanta, 1996. All totaled, his swimmers have won six gold, one silver and two bronze medals at Olympic Games and 23 medals at the European Championships, 17 of them gold. Between 1991 and 1999, Kiss was elected Hungarian Coach of the Year seven times for all sports.
From this small country of ten million people, Laszlo Kiss joins the other great Hungarian Hall of Fame coaches who have developed outstanding swimmers including Stefen Hunyadfi, Imre Sarosi and Tamas Szechy.
Former ISHOF Board Member and Chairman of the Board Dale Neuburger named as recipient of the 2023 George M. Steinbrenner III Sport Leadership Award ~ Congratulations Dale!
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The United States Olympic & Paralympic Endowment announced Dale Neuburger as the recipient of the George M. Steinbrenner III Sport Leadership Award. The award was presented during the annual awards ceremony at the New York Athletic Club in New York City recently. In addition to Neuburger, with a lifetime of service to aquatic sports and Olympic ideals, Mary Lou Retton, 1984 Olympic gold gymnast and fitness ambassador, was recognized with the William E. Simon Award and multi-world and Olympic medals wrestler, Bruce Baumgartner, was the honoree of the General Douglas MacArthur Award. Each of these individuals were honored for their commitment andcontributions to the Olympic and Paralympic movements.
Dale Neuburger has held a variety of domestic leadership roles within aquatics, including president ofUnited States Aquatic Sports; president of USA Swimming; and chairman of the board of directors of theInternational Swimming Hall of Fame. Internationally, he has held leadership roles in World Aquatics andhas served as technical delegate within the International Olympic Committee for five Olympic Games. Heserved for eight years as a member of the board of directors of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and a member of its executive committee for four years. The Steinbrenner award is presented annually to honor outstanding members of the Olympic and Paralympic family who have contributed to sport through management, sport organization endeavors or the enhancement of competitive opportunities; and who have displayed qualities of leadership, ethical conduct, and dedicated responsibility during a longstanding commitment to sport.
Mary Lou Retton catapulted to international fame, igniting a new era of American dominance ingymnastics during the Olympic Games Los Angeles 1984 when she became the first American woman towin a gold medal in gymnastics, scoring two perfect 10s along the way. With five medals, the most of anyathlete during the 1984 Olympic Games, she went on to win numerous national and internationalcompetitions and became the first woman to appear on the iconic Wheaties box. She retired fromcompetition in 1986 but remains deeply involved in the gymnastics community and is a renownedmotivational speaker traveling the world as a fitness ambassador, promoting the benefits of propernutrition and regular exercise. The Simon award is given to an individual or group who has madeextraordinary contributions to the advancement of the Olympic and Paralympic movements.Bruce Baumgartner is one of just eight athletes in American history to medal in four different Olympiads.With five international titles, nine world championship medals and four Olympic medals (2 golds, 1 silver,1 bronze), he has won the most world and Olympic medals among American wrestlers. It was at the 1984Olympic Games that he became Olympic champion and America’s first gold medalist in 60 years of super-heavyweight wrestling and went on to compete in three more Olympic Games, earning three additional Olympic medals. Bruce served as head wrestling coach and director of athletics at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, establishing numerous student-athlete endowed scholarships and he currently serves as president of USA Wrestling. The Douglas MacArthur award is given to an individual who has exhibited exemplary service to the USOPC and athletes.
The USOPE was established by the USOPC in 1984 to administer and invest the corpus of endowedfunds that resulted from the surplus of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 1984. A nonprofit organization,its objective is to support the USOPC and its member organizations, with the overall aim of enhancingOlympic and Paralympic sports in the United States. A separate entity from the USOPC, the USOPE’s netassets have grown to approximately $235 million, while awarding grants to the USOPC and its memberorganizations totaling $374 million over the last 39 years.
Could Australia Challenge Great Britain, United States for Men’s 800 Free Relay Superiority?
by DAVID RIEDER – SENIOR WRITER
13 December 2023, 07:44am
Could Australia Challenge Great Britain, United States for Men’s 800 Free Relay Superiority?
In recent years, the Australian men has achieved their most consistent success in the 800 freestyle relay since the days when Ian Thorpe was handling anchor duties with teammates Grant Hackett and Michael Klim on board. Currently, Australia is riding a streak of four major meets winning a medal in the event, dating back to an upset gold at the 2019 World Championships. Australia won silver at the 2022 World Championships and bronze in 2023, albeit swimming over one second quicker and with an entirely new quartet.
This year’s Aussie group could not match the firepower of Great Britain, which boasted a team of world champion Matt Richards, Olympic champion Tom Dean and veterans Duncan Scott and James Guy. Also ahead were the Americans, with Carson Foster and Kieran Smith hitting 1:44 splits in a spirited silver-medal effort. But Australia got bronze, more than one-and-a-half seconds clear of fourth-place France, without a single weak leg.
A mix of newcomers and veterans all produced 1:45 splits, with 100 free superstar Kyle Chalmers going the quickest at 1:45.19 before Alexander Graham and Thomas Neill, both members of the bronze-medal team from the Tokyo (alongside Chalmers), going high 1:45s to seal the deal. But they would never have been in position without the breakout performance of Kai Taylor, a 19-year-old who broke 1:46 for the first time on the leadoff leg. After a disappointing individual performance in the 200 free, where he missed the semifinals, Taylor rebounded to lead off in 1:45.79, and his team was off and rolling.
Those four swimmers provide an excellent base for Australia’s 200 free corps, while Fukuoka alternates Flynn Southam and Elijah Winnington both have the ability to contribute to this relay, with the 18-year-old Southam having clocked 1:46.24 earlier in the year while Winnington led off the finals squad in 2022 in 1:45.83. Sam Short, the world champion in the 400 free and a medalist in the 800 and 1500 at World Championships, has contributed to this relay in the past, while Zac Incerti should return to the mix next year after a shoulder injury knocked him out for this year’s Worlds.
Depth earns relay medals at major meets, and Australia has no problem there. But winning relay gold requires sensational efforts, like when Chalmers split 46.56 anchoring Australia’s 400 free relay in Fukuoka to steal a gold medal. Well, there’s a new Australian star emerging in the 200 free, one with the capabilities of becoming that central relay figure in short order.
Max Giuliani was not too far away from qualifying for Worlds this year, finishing eighth in the 200 free final at the Australian Trials. His time that evening was 1:48.05. But improvements came swiftly. In late July, the 20-year-old traveled to the United States to race at the TYR Pro Championships, and he blasted a mark of 1:46.23. In October, racing in Europe on the World Cup circuit, Giuliani dropped his time of 1:46.18 and then 1:45.42, which made him the country’s top-ranked swimmer for 2023.
And most recently, with a phenomenal effort at the Queensland Championships, Giuliani joined the 1:44-club, leading off a relay in 1:44.79 to become only the third Australian ever under 1:45 and the second-fastest ever from his country, behind only Thorpe (1:44.06).
That time and his ridiculous improvement curve suddenly vaults Giuliani into serious contention for an individual Olympic medal in the 200 free next year. Giuliani is only the ninth man to swim sub-1:45 from a flat start this year, and only five swimmers have surpassed his time all year: Richards, Dean, Hwang Sunwoo, Pan Zhanle and David Popovici.
Add that time onto a relay with Taylor, who could feasibly work his way close to (perhaps even under) the 1:45-barrier in the next year, and supply some veteran reinforcement from Graham, Chalmers, Neill and/or Incerti. Southam has been inconsistent over 200 meters this year, but he is almost two years younger than Giuliani.
Suddenly, the prospect of a sub-7:00 relay, maybe even chasing down the British team, the American team and the world record, does not seem so improbable. As 2023 gives way to 2024, the men from Down Under already own the top spot in the 400 free relay, and they are quietly (or not-so-quietly) building a mighty team for the longer relay as well.