FAST AND FURIOUS

>Virginia’s Matt Brownstead is shown in the 50 yard freestyle the instant after leaving the wall.

College coaches Braden Holloway (NC State), Todd DeSorbo (Virginia), Matt Kredich (Tennessee) and Jessen Book (Kenyon) share their ideas on how they help their swimmers maximize turn speed.

BY MICHAEL J. STOTT

4:46.02 to 4:46.09. It was a mid-season 500 free more than a decade ago between two all-state and, later, NCAA D-I swimmers. My distance freestyler lost a minimum of nine seconds on his turns; theirs didn’t.

Neither athlete, who was never more than 67-hundredths apart at each 50, remembers the race...but both coaches do. “My guy came off the wall in a perfect streamline, launched his kick and powered home (26.46 to 26.78),” says Seton coach Jim Koehr.

Turns—from summer league to the Olympics—make a difference. Nowhere is this more obvious than in North Carolina State’s recent showings at the NCAA Championships.

“We work on turns every day,” says Wolfpack head coach Braden Holloway. “It begins in the weight room, working on explosive movements for explosive turns. We have turn work throughout all sets and all workouts. In a 3,000-yard workout, that could be up to 117 turns.”

For those of you at home, 117 turns in a 3,000-yard workout— just six workouts per week times 50 weeks—is 35,100 turns a year. With such repetition, one could get awfully good just concentrating on the basics. “For example,” says Holloway “we start in warm-up. We can go 600 as follows: • Loosen, doing the first 100 with underwater technique turns; • 100 with fast flips (just the flips are fast); • 100 complete fast flips putting your hands on the top of the deck to prevent deceleration; • 100 with fast flips and MAX DPS push-offs with no kicks— trying for max distance—then add four-to-six fly kicks into the breakout;

• 100 blast, flags to wall to fast flip plus putting hands on the deck and pressing body out, 100 blast flags into fast flip plus putting hands on deck and pressing body out of water completely to standing position as fast as possible.

“We also add turns into mid-pool, working on a fast somersault motion, staying tucked and asking the athletes to rotate more than one time around.

“Another way is to start or finish normal sets with flips. We could go eight rounds of a 100 swim plus a 50 kick with a board. Start the 100 with arms stretched out and feet out behind on the wall and then flip to begin the 100. The 50 kick ends with a pull into a fast flip, focusing on accelerating the feet around.”

Pack swimmers also do no-wall turns. Swimmers may float and do fast flips in place or build speed to a fast flip in place. “In shallow water, we often have them float-blast four-to-five strokes, flip all the way around to where they can stand up and press down with their feet to the bottom and jump high in the air. If swimmers are thinking to flip all the way around to stand up fast, it keeps their acceleration up and their rotation small,” says Holloway.

Russell Mark, USA Swimming’s national team high performance manager, has metrics on many aquatic elements. In timing turns, he says USA Swimming “always measured hand-to-foot touches and didn’t include feet contact time on the wall. For hand-to-foot, we used 0.65-0.75 as fast, 0.75-0.85 as OK, and 0.85+ as slow.”

Holloway doesn’t time flips, saying “FAST is FAST. The biggest thing is making sure swimmers don’t place their feet on the wall, but maintain speed from the flip all the way around, knowing that the water will slow their rotation when their feet enter the water at the end of the flip.

“Also, the wall never moves, so we want a flip fast and a maximized press against the wall. Too many kids actually slow their flip/rotation, trying to time their push-off or placing their feet on the wall for a push-off.

“As for timing a flip during a race, we tell our swimmers not to change their stroke dramatically, but to exit the hand a tad early to help speed their rate and judge the timing of the somersault. We never want them to slow the rate down into the wall.”

UP THE ROAD

Todd DeSorbo, now in his fourth year as head coach at the University of Virginia, worked with sprinters while at NC State.

“We work on turns every day. It begins in the weight room, working on explosive movements for explosive turns. We have turn work throughout all sets and all workouts. In a 3,000-yard workout, that could be up to 117 turns.” — Braden Holloway, head coach, North Carolina State

“We’ve put significant emphasis on the amount of power put INTO the wall, and how much speed and power is generated upon leaving the wall, working to minimize the loss of generated power. In doing so, we focus on lines, foot plant, body position, head position and dolphin kicks.” —Todd DeSorbo, head coach, Virginia There he stressed low, fast, tight flips. To encourage that, he used a long, red lifeguard buoy and had swimmers flip into it so that the heels pushed the buoy away rather than land on top. Then and now, he has his swimmers keep their feet/legs low in the water during the turn. “Getting the heels to touch rear ends helps keep turns small, low and tight,” he says.

“We concentrate on push-offs after the turn a ton—both in the weight room and the water, where we stress a tight streamline. We’ll do swims/sets, focusing on strong, explosive push-offs with no kicking until the feet reach the flags followed by six dolphin kicks before breaking out.”

He has ratcheted up his focus on the push-offs and turn speed. “We’ve put significant emphasis on the amount of power put INTO the wall, and how much speed and power is generated upon leaving the wall, working to minimize the loss of generated power. In doing so, we focus on lines, foot plant, body position, head position and dolphin kicks.

“At Virginia, we’ve done significant analysis with video and force velocity sensors to aid with this,” he says. “We are fortunate to partner with distinguished professor of mathematics, Dr. Ken Ono, who has worked with USA Swimming and national team members in this regard. He utilizes underwater video and sensors to help target inefficiencies in stroke and turn mechanics. We’ve incorporated his findings into verbal training cues for our athletes, and he has used his findings to improve our training practices,” says DeSorbo.

IN KNOXVILLE

At the 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Tennessee sprinter Erika Brown wasted no time on her turns, finishing second (21.23) and fifth (46.99) in the sprint freestyles.

“One thing we all agree on,” says her coach, Matt Kredich, “is that repetition is key. A turn done once per length is not a lot of repetition. Usually there is not a cost in doing a poor turn in practice—and there may be some benefit to the athlete—i.e., more breath, less uncomfortable, easier to streamline. But...by allowing swimmers to practice things we don’t want them to get better at, are we really furthering our cause?” he asks.

“At Tennessee, we have a high standard. In warm-up, we almost always do repeated turns per length—some in the middle of the pool—or start at the halfway point and do 20 turns in a row. We’ll also start on the wall and do underwater turns by: • Pushing off the wall underwater and turn, forward or back, at the second line, letting momentum carry you to the third line; • Pushing off the wall underwater, turning at the second line, unfolding and coming back underwater; • Pushing off on the surface, taking two strokes, doing a surface turn and returning.

“Sometimes swimmers go back and forth from the wall to eightto-10 meters, alternating a no-wall turn with a turn on the wall.

“Walls complicate things a little bit,” says Kredich. “If swimmers do no-wall turns, they can be more aggressive. When doing those, we eventually have swimmers come back and repeat the skill on the wall so they are doing a full turn.”

The Volunteers divide the turn into seven segments: approach, rotation, landing, jump (push-off), “flight” (the period after the jump and before creating additional propulsion), underwater propulsion and exit (breakout). Using both directions in an eightlane pool, athletes will jump to the second line, the third and fourth lines, where they are not allowed to create any propulsion until their heads (or feet) cross the third line.

The drill that the team does twice a week magnifies any number

“One other focus point is setting up a good rhythm of exhaling in the race in attempting to keep the CO2 levels down as much as possible. A big part of any turn is making sure the first breath out of the exit is minimally disruptive. Creating a good exhale pattern helps this, especially in the two-to-three cycles heading into each wall.” —Matt Kredich, head coach, Tennessee

“Try different things, make adjustments, see what’s faster. Play with wall foot placement: how high, how much of a rotation with flip. The best turners know how to time their turns—i.e., by hitting a consistent stroke count or by adjusting stroke length (slightly) the last three-to-four strokes into the wall.” —Jessen Book, head coach, Kenyon

of weaknesses. “If the approach isn’t good, then the landing won’t be good. If that is poor, athletes will not be in a position to jump,” says Kredich. “So, that exercise ensures a good turn setup. Without a good jump, swimmers will not make the third line without a dolphin kick or pullout.

“No-wall turns we do almost every day. At other times we’ll name a focus and ask athletes to compete. You can always place certain requirements or challenges on top of any set. We might be doing 20 x 100 on a pink pace (130-150 HR based on Jon Urbanchek’s charts), but within that set, have athletes race a teammate from the flags to the wall or stay underwater to the halfway point and so on. If we are coming off a meet where we were getting beat into the wall, the next week our focus is going to be on the approach,” he says.

“In warm-up, we may do 30 12-and-a-half-yard swims—i.e., jump off the wall, and at the seven-meter mark, race to the exit... or race to the exit and then stop. Instead of taking another stroke, people are usually in too much of a hurry to begin a stroke when they come to the surface. They just snap into a line at the surface and carry as much speed into it, and then glide to the end of the pool, go back and do it again. We call that ‘sliding the exit,’ slide into the middle of the pool and then go back. There are a lot of different exercises we create, especially in isolating one part of the turn. By doing that, we shorten later conversations,” Kredich says.

“One other focus point is setting up a good rhythm of exhaling in the race in attempting to keep the CO2 levels down as much as possible. A big part of any turn is making sure the first breath out of the exit is minimally disruptive. Creating a good exhale pattern helps this, especially in the two-to-three cycles heading into each wall,” he says.

IN GAMBIER

Jessen Book is in his 11th year at Kenyon College, winner of 57 men’s and women’s NCAA Division III national championships. He embraces the commonalities in good flip turns—i.e.: • Turn on a full stroke—not a half stroke, no gliding; • Eyes at the bottom of the pool or bulkhead where wall meets pool bottom; • Eyes open during the flip, feet slightly apart, cut the water surface with the heels; • Accelerate through the flip.

He also celebrates the differences and admonishes his athletes to experiment. “Try different things, make adjustments, see what’s faster. Play with wall foot placement: how high, how much of a rotation with flip.

“The best turners know how to time their turns—i.e., by hitting a consistent stroke count or by adjusting stroke length (slightly) the last three-to-four strokes into the wall,” he says.

“Another training concept we play with is swimming in a shortened pool. Training racing in a 15-meter (or shorter!) course is a great place to focus on turn efficiency, power and, ultimately, speed,” says Book. 

Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award.

TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE

Yes, COVID-19 has altered lives and how we do swim training. Thankfully, absent in-person instruction, swimmers and coaches have access to unending resources to hone aquatic skills. For one, YouTube offers a gold mine on turn intricacies from approach through breakouts. To learn more from Kredich and legends such as Eddie Reese, David Marsh, Frank Busch and Richard Quick, consult Championship Productions, whose videos offer hours of presentation and demonstration by world-class swimmers. 

DEATH, TAXES...AND INDIAN RIVER!

Indian River State College will be shooting for its 47th straight men’s and 39th consecutive women’s NJCAA team titles.

BY ANDY ROSS

NJCAA

April 28-May 1 Indian River State College Fort Pierce, Florida

In a year as weird as the COVID season of 2020-21, one thing is certain: Indian River State College is still the school to beat at the NJCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

IRSC was one of the few teams to get its hands on a national championship trophy in 2020, as NJCAAs were held just before the threat of coronavirus began to shut down sports competitions throughout the world.

This year, all systems are go for 2021, and Indian River’s men should garner their 47th consecutive national title. The Pioneers have six swimmers who lead the nation in at least two events: Luke Altmann in the 50, 100 and 200 yard free; Chance Conde (500 and 1650); Jhon Moncada (100-200 back); Michael Deans (100-200 breast); Brennan Hammond (100-200 fly); and Aramis Rivera (200400 IM).

It is safe to say that with this star power, Coach Sion Brinn will be hoisting the team trophy once again in his home pool. Last year, the team was pushed by Barton (Kan.) and Iowa Central, but this year, those teams aren’t expected to factor into the final score.

Even without 2020 Co-Swimmer of the Year Hannah Kiely, Indian River still has a stacked women’s team led by the likes of Taryn Dailey (fly/free) and Rylee Woelk (breast/IM). With a win over Barton last year, Indian River’s women extended their winning streak to 38.

It’s been difficult for NJCAA teams to compete in many meets this season because of the COVID restrictions. Only three NJCAA schools have even registered a time in the 200 medley relay, meaning this year’s national meet may look like none other before it. Still, based on its history and current roster, Indian River is the team to beat.

NJCAAs, which are being held in Indian River’s home outdoor pool in Fort Pierce, Fla.—nearly halfway between Orlando and Miami—should provide a good atmosphere for the swimmers. This year’s meet is being held nearly two months later than they were in 2020, with the 2021 version coming in late April versus 2020 when it was in early March.

Weather shouldn’t be an issue this year in terms of temperatures, although the only thing to worry about might be unpredictable rain showers. And perhaps the rain may not be the only thing showering, as plenty of records could follow. The sport has already seen a number of short course records fall in NCAA D-I and D-II venues, even in a year that was disrupted by the COVID pandemic. Swimming fans should expect more of the same at the NJCAA Championships. 

SPRINT TSAR

As Swimming World continues its "Takeoff to Tokyo" series, the opportunity to examine the career of Russia’s Alexander Popov—accomplishments and approach—is the chance to pay tribute to a man who might be the greatest sprinter the sport has ever seen.

BY JOHN LOHN

He knew how to play the all-important mental game of highlevel sports with the skill of a chess master. Every move was calculated. As Alexander Popov scanned the ready room before a major race, it was not unusual for the Russian star to chat up the opposition. He would throw out a joke or two, a few laughs generated along the way. But in the laughter he elicited, Popov was already gaining an advantage over his foes, as he planted a seed of doubt here and a distractive thought there.

With that part of his job done, he would then shift personas, the affable jokester replaced by a fierce competitor with an icy stare and a take-them-out mentality. The moment Popov walked onto the deck, it was all business. He knew his goal, and it was simple: Destroy.

From an athletic standpoint, Popov was the epitome of perfection in the sprint-freestyle events. He boasted a flawless stroke, one that is still revered. The relationship he shared with Coach Gennadi Touretski was as much father-son in its dynamic as it was mentor-pupil. Then there was his inner drive, so high in its intensity that it is difficult to describe.

THE RISE OF POPOV

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was no question that Americans Matt Biondi and Tom Jager ranked as the sport’s Kings of Speed. While Biondi captured the Olympic title at the 1988 Games in Seoul, Jager was a two-time world champion and the world record holder.

As dominant as Biondi and Jager were, though, there were rumblings that a young challenger was on the way. Of course, Popov was that man, and when he captured the European crown in the 100 freestyle in 1991, his presence became bolder. A year later, at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Popov fulfilled the expectations placed upon his shoulders.

In his first Olympic appearance, Popov swept the sprintfreestyle events, prevailing in 21.91 in the 50 and 49.02 in the 100. It was the one-lap sprint that truly solidified his status as the Sprint Tsar, as Popov beat Biondi and Jager in comfortable fashion. The

fact that there was a changing of the guard was not lost on the Americans.

“Popov obviously had the courage to stand up to Matt Biondi and Tom Jager and take them down,” Jager said. “The first person in the world to do that. I take my hat off to Popov. He has a great career ahead of him.”

Jager’s foresight was perfectly on target. After supplanting the American legends on the sprint scene, Popov sandwiched sprint sweeps at the European Championships around a sprint double at the 1994 World Championships in Rome. There was no letup from a guy who wanted to take his opponents’ will and desire with his mere presence.

As he surged to untouchable status, Popov also claimed the first world record of his career when he fired off a 48.21 clocking in the 100 freestyle in 1994, a standard that endured for six years. The work he put in came under the guidance of Touretski, who took Popov with him when he accepted the head-coaching position at the Australian Institute of Sport in 1992.

“When I go to competitions in Europe or America, or even here in Australia, I am always looking for potential challengers,” Popov said. “If I see any, I have to swim faster and make them feel sick. If they have a little potential, you must get on top of them and kill that enthusiasm right away so they will lose their interest in swimming.”

GREATNESS IN REPEAT

Ahead of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Popov was cemented as the heavy favorite to mine gold in the 50 free and 100 free. But repeating on the Olympic stage had proven to be one of the most difficult tasks in sports, and nothing was a given—even with Popov. Aside from the pressure of the situation, Popov had to deal with the latest American sprint star, Gary Hall Jr.

Hailing from a family with a rich lineage in the sport, headlined by Gary Hall Sr.’s three Olympic trips, Junior was armed with considerable talent of his own. At the 1994 World Champs, Hall Jr. was second to the Russian in both sprints, performances that noted he would be a factor in the ensuing years.

The first duel between Popov and Hall Jr. at the Atlanta Games was in the 100 freestyle, and while Hall gave his rival more of a push than expected over the two-lap distance, it was Popov who emerged on top, 48.74 to 48.81. Three days later, Popov got the job done again, this time winning the 50 freestyle in 22.13, with Hall grabbing silver in 22.26.

By retaining his 100 freestyle title, Popov became the first man to go back-to-back in the event at the Olympics since American legend Johnny Weissmuller doubled in 1924 and 1928. More, the rivalry with Hall Jr. was on, with the men exchanging barbs at various times. It was Popov who hurled the first grenade. Not only did he take umbrage with Hall’s relaxed and colorful style, one that included shadow-boxing routines before races, he took a shot at Hall’s family.

“He doesn’t work hard,” Popov said of his rival. “He’s doing 1500 meters? That’s what I swim in warm-ups. (Hall) says he will be at the Sydney Olympics and that he will win both sprint titles. I don’t know how he can say that. His father was never an

> In his first Olympic appearance in 1992, Popov swept the sprint-freestyle events, prevailing in 21.91 in the 50 and 49.02 in the 100. It was the one-lap sprint that truly solidified his status as the Sprint Tsar, as Popov beat Americans Matt Biondi and Tom Jager in comfortable fashion. [EPA PHOTO BY AFP/ERIC FEFERBERG/PB]

>The “changing of the guard” took place at Barcelona in 1992. (From left) Alex Popov is congratulated by Matt Biondi, who had not lost in the 100 free at a major meet since 1984. [PHOTO BY MASSIMO LOVATI ]

Olympic champion, and he never will be either. It’s a family of losers.”

Not surprising, Popov’s words got back to Hall, who vowed to become an alchemist and turn his silver medals from Atlanta into gold at the 2000 Games in Sydney. He also felt the need to defend his family and father, an inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

“(Popov) is the epitome of unsportsmanlike conduct,” Hall said. “In the world of swimming, Alexander brings a new definition to the word, ‘shallow.’ What really upsets me is that in order to make himself feel better, Alexander must put down the Olympic accomplishments of his opponent’s father. I am embarrassed for this coward of a man. He ought to quit now because that road is going to be a long and hard one. Or, he can learn the words of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ because that’s what Olympic audiences will be hearing for years to come.”

BAD TIMING On the road to Sydney, Popov found that Hall was the least of his concerns. In August of 1996, just weeks after he swept the sprint-freestyle events at the Atlanta Olympics, Popov was walking with friends on a Moscow street when members of his party got into an argument with watermelon vendors. The exchange of words quickly escalated into a physical altercation, and one of the vendors stabbed Popov in the stomach. Popov was rushed to a hospital where he underwent a three-hour surgery to treat damage to his lungs and kidney.

Popov spent 45 days in the hospital and resumed training three months after the incident, with his return to major competition arriving at the 1997 edition of the Santa Clara International Swim Meet 10 months after the stabbing. After winning the 50 freestyle in northern California, the only hint of his near-death experience was the six-inch scar on his chest.

“You know, we probably could have gotten out of the situation if it had been handled differently,” Popov said. “But they approached us, and somebody started talking with them, and they ] misunderstood us and started to fight. The men didn’t know who I was. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Having dodged death, Popov went on to win gold in the 100 freestyle at the 1998 World Championships, in addition to earning silver in the 50 free. Meanwhile, just a few months before the Sydney Games, Popov crushed the world record in the 50 freestyle at the Russian Olympic Trials, going 21.64 to break Jager’s 10-year-old world record by 17-hundredths. In Sydney, Popov knew he had the opportunity to make history and become the first man to win the same event at three straight Olympics. It was a goal Popov wanted badly. “If you win the Olympics once, you’re good,” Popov said. “Win the Olympics two times, you’re great. Win the Olympics three times, you’re history.” Ultimately, Popov didn’t have the same magic he spun in Barcelona and Atlanta. In the 100 freestyle, Popov captured the silver medal behind the Netherlands’ Pieter van den Hoogenband. In the 50 free, Popov missed the podium and was forced to watch Hall Jr. claim the gold medal, which he shared with American teammate Anthony Ervin.

[PHOTO BY SIMON BRUTY/ALLSPORT “When I go to competitions...I am always looking for potential challengers. If I see any, I have to swim faster and make them feel sick. If they have a little potential, you must get on top of them and kill that enthusiasm right away so they will lose their interest in swimming.” —Alexander Popov (Pictured: Russian Rocket, Swimming World cover, March 1994) NOT QUITE DONE If it looked like Popov was on the downside of his career following the Sydney Games, the legendary sprinter, whose stroke has been described as a piece of art, proved otherwise while remaining in the sport. At the 2003 World Championships, Popov emerged once again as a double-sprint champion. With two more world titles collected, Popov figured to be a factor at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Instead, the meet was a disaster for the Hall of Famer, as Popov failed to advance out of the preliminaries of the 50 freestyle and was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100. As quickly as Popov moved through the water, his career was over.

DESIGNING & MANUFACTURING HIGH QUALITY POOL DECK EQUIPMENT FOR OVER 88 YEARS!

When he is remembered, Alexander Popov will be recalled for his perfect stroke. He will be lauded for his ability to deliver under pressure. He will be appreciated for etching himself as one of the greatest sprinters in history, perhaps the finest.Simply, he had a special relationship with the pool.

“The water is your friend. You don’t have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move,” he once said. “If you fight the water, it will defeat you. We were born in water. It’s like home to me.” 

>>China’s Yang Jian, Swimming World’s Male Diver of the Year in 2019, won two gold medals at the World Championships that year in Gwangju: 10-meter platform and mixed team (with Lin Shan).

COUNT ON CHINA

Based on the results of the last eight Olympics—and the most recent World Championships held two years ago—China would be a good bet to once again dominate the diving competition, July 23-Aug. 8, at the 2021 Games in Tokyo.

BY DAN D’ADDONA

The last Olympics in which China did not finish as the world’s No. 1 diving team was in 1984—thirty-seven years ago! And at that Olympiad, China finished second in the medal standings. In the eight Games held since then (1988-2016), the world’s most populous country has won 42% of all medals awarded for diving— and 75% of the available gold.

But the last Olympics was five years ago. A lot could change in that time, you say. Well, the most recent international competition was the 2019 World Championships—and the results were even better: 44% of all medals...and 12 of 13 gold!

China boasts several generations of divers who have won medals in international competitions. Lin Shan, only 19 years old, represents the current generation. In 2019, she partnered with Yang Jian to a win a mixed team gold medal at the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

But the old guard is not to be overlooked.

Three Olympic gold medalists from Rio 2016—Chen Aisen, Shi Tingmao and Ren Qian—along with world champions Wang Han and Zhang Jiaqi, have performed well at national competitions in 2020 following the re-opening of pools during the pandemic.

Tingmao and Han placed 1-2 on the 3-meter springboard at Worlds, while Yiwen Chen captured 1-meter. Yuxi Chen and Wei Lu, who went 1-2 on platform, will also be hoping to represent their country at Tokyo.

For China’s men at Gwangju, Wang Zongyuan won gold on 1-meter, ahead of Peng Jianfeng, who captured bronze. They also added 1-2 finishes on 3-meter (Xie Siyi and Cao Yuan) and platform (Yang Jian and Yang Hao).

Among some of the world’s other top divers are Mexico’s Rommel Pacheco Marrufo, who was the 1-meter silver medalist in 2019, and Juan Celaya-Hernandez, who has been a factor on multiple boards as well. Great Britain’s Jack Laugher was a 3-meter bronze medalist at Worlds, and Aleksandr Bondar of Russia won bronze on platform.

South Korea’s Suji Kim was the women’s bronze medalist on 1-meter, while Australia’s Maddison Keeney won bronze on 3-meter.

AMERICANS HOPING TO MAKE THEIR MARK

The United States, hoping to improve upon its four-medal haul at Gwangju in 2019, will select its Olympic team at the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials, June 6-13, at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis.

For months, they have prepared for the rescheduled Olympic Trials and the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, only to see competitions pushed back with more pressure put on individual workouts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on diving, just as it has around the world, by sidelining competitions and closing pools for months at a time.

But divers have been able to continue strength and flexibility training on their own while waiting to get back in the water, which most Olympic contenders have been able to do at least in small chunks of time.

Most of the big names in U.S. diving are still around a year after the pandemic first hit, with David Boudia and Steele Johnson considered top contenders. Several divers who have had NCAA success—such as Jordan Windle (Texas), David Dinsmore (Miami), Andrew Capobianco (Indiana) and Michael Hixon (Texas and Indiana)—will be looking to make their mark at the international level as well.

Meanwhile, Purdue continues its strong diving tradition, and has Ben Bramley and Brandon Loschiavo as top challengers.

For the U.S. women, Kassidy Cook is a returning Olympian and has teamed with Sarah Bacon for some synchro diving events. Bacon won the silver medal on 1-meter in Gwangju.

Arkansas champion Brooke Schultz, Texas’ Alison Gibson, Stanford’s Carolina Sculti and Indiana’s Jessica Parrato lead another group of contenders. Arizona’s Delaney Schnell won bronze on platform at the 2019 Worlds. 

Lilly King has put together a remarkable swimming career in the years EVER THE Competitor nothing of her words. That’s when she realized her story had exploded and she since, and she could had gained 40,000 continue dominating for Instagram followers years to come, but she knows she may never Five years after her public introduction to the world at the Rio in the span of a couple hours. escape the memory of Olympics, little has changed about Lilly King. She will still speak “It was nuts,” the Rio Olympics— her mind, tell you how she really feels, and she’s still a winner, a King said. “It was and specifically, the women’s 100 breast dominant force in sprint breaststroke. a very early public introduction for me. semifinals on Aug. 7, ‘I’m going to create 2016, and the final the BY DAVID RIEDER the biggest spectacle next day. I can, on the largest scale.

Almost five years later, King’s name is synonymous with that I’m going to make this the hardest race anyone could ever win, and particular race. I’m going to go out there and win.’”

King was 19 and competing in her first international meet, and Thankfully for King, everything worked out in the pool the she told the world that she didn’t think Russia’s Yulia Efimova, following night. She won the final in 1:04.93, topping Efimova her chief competitor for the gold medal, should be competing at by more than a half-second and setting an Olympic record. The the Olympics because of her doping history. During the semifinals, exuberant teenager splashed the water in celebration and barely Efimova raised her finger as she recorded the top time in the first acknowledged Efimova. semifinal, and as King watched in the ready room, cameras captured In the aftermath, many accused King of poor sportsmanship her waving her finger back at Efimova. because she publicly criticized Efimova. She was labeled a bully.

A rivalry instantly materialized. Even years later, King will have none of it. She sees a double

“Especially now that it’s five years later, it’s insane to me. I think standard in public expectations for male professional athletes versus about how young I was. Who let me go to the Olympics?” King said. females. King believes that if a prominent male athlete were to take “I was blissfully ignorant the whole time. I was so new to it that I a stand on an issue he felt passionate about, he would have been didn’t understand what was going on. I didn’t understand what I celebrated for his confidence and bravery, rather than chastised for had done. I didn’t understand the scale of what I had said. I didn’t being cocky and obnoxious. understand the scale that it would grow to.” King has seen improvement in recent years in the way female

That night, King returned to the Olympic Village, thinking athletes are viewed when they speak their minds on important

issues. She thinks the U.S. women’s soccer team paved the way for that change when they won the 2019 FIFA World Cup while in a dispute with their own national federation. “That was a big, pivotal moment for women in sports, in my opinion, because you see this whole group of super strong [PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK ] females, and they’re speaking their mind, and they’re fighting for equal pay,” King said.

Others, including Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and Olympic gold medalist swimmer Simone Manuel, have become more outspoken about issues they are passionate about, notably racial justice, and King sees that as positive progress, that strong female athletes are using their voices to impact change.

As for King and Efimova, that relationship has thawed significantly in the years since Rio. One year later at the FINA World Championships, the two >Lilly King has not been beaten in the 100 breast (LC) since she won gold at the 2016 Olympics, and her last loss came at the 2015 U.S. Nationals, when the then-18-year-old finished second to future Olympic teammate Katie Meili. King congratulated each other after King again (right) and Meili (left) went 1-2 at the U.S. Olympic Trials (pictured), then won gold and bronze, respectively, at Rio. took gold in the 100 breast, breaking her first world record in the process. And year after year, King still looks forward to the opportunities to race Efimova because she knows their clashes will bring out her best.

“We’re not besties, obviously, but I do love to race her,” King said. “That’s one thing that will never change. I love racing her.” A TALE OF TWO LILLYS

The Lilly King the world knows is the strong, outspoken woman and the fiery racer, the “Killer Lilly” persona. But King insists that the vast majority of the time—99% even—she is “Goofball Lilly.” She likes singing and dancing on deck at practice, and she has dressed up in costumes on deck at meets. Swimming fans get to see that goofy side in Cody Miller’s weekly blogs in which King typically guest-stars.

“Do we dial it up a little bit for the camera? Yeah, of course, but we’re pretty much like that every day, just goofing off and being crazy and just having fun,” King said.

But what’s not at all feigned is the close relationship King shares with Miller—and now Miller’s wife, Ali, and their son, Axel. After the two Indiana University breaststrokers (Miller, 2010-14; King, 2015-19) qualified for the Olympics together after King’s freshman year, they developed a close bond that has only strengthened since.

“It definitely started as a big brother, mentor kind of thing, and now he’s probably my best friend,” King said. “He’s definitely helped me evolve as a swimmer and has been one of my biggest supporters and mentors. I owe him so much. I can’t even begin to explain how much he has helped me along the road of navigating college swimming and Olympic swimming. He knows all my secrets, and I know his secrets. We’re family at this point.”

As for the competitiveness, the “Killer Lilly” persona seen so often on TV, that’s also very much genuine. King has a younger brother, Alex, who recently completed his own college swimming career at Michigan. Less than a year apart in age, Lilly called Alex “my best friend and my worst enemy,” and she added that the two are alike in almost every way, except that she is typically optimistic and Alex typically pessimistic. And growing up, the two constantly competed with each other in everything.

“Everything we did when we were little was a race. Everything was a competition. Whether that was piano lessons or cleaning our room or literally anything was fair game for competition. Except for running up the stairs.”

King sought competition from a young age, so much so that she avoided any game with no possibility of winning and losing. The sibling rivalry between the two helped instill the characteristic that has propelled King in her swimming career: the sheer hatred of losing.

A STORIED HISTORY

All her life, the message to herself has been “win, win, win,” be it against Efimova or her brother or anyone else. These days, King just does not lose, at least in her specialty event. She has not been beaten in the 100 breast (long course) since she won gold at the Rio Olympics, and her last loss came at the 2015 U.S. Nationals, when the then-18-year-old finished second to future Olympic teammate Katie Meili. King has admitted that she likes the feeling and the pressure of being the underdog, and in those situations, she consistently thrives.

In 2017, Efimova threw down a huge challenge to King at the World Championships by almost breaking the world record in the semifinals (missing by just 1-hundredth), putting the pressure on King for the final. But she responded in striking fashion, dominating the heat and taking down the world record with a 1:04.13. King would add a second world record in the 50 breast (29.40) a few days later. No one has considered her an underdog in any sprint breaststroke race since.

“I’m going to say I’m the best,” King said. “I haven’t lost a 100 breaststroke (LC) in five years. I don’t think I need to defend myself on that one.”

However, her career path in the 200 breaststroke has been much less dominant. Days after winning Olympic gold in the 100 breast in Rio, King went all out from the start in her 200 breast semifinal, but ended up fading to 12th. By 2017, she had made a big jump in the longer event, finishing fourth at the World Championships in 2:22.11, missing a medal by less than 2-tenths.

In 2019, she swam as fast as 2:21.39 at the FINA Champions Series in Indianapolis, beating out Efimova, who would win her second straight world title in the event soon after. But King found herself unable to challenge her Russian rival at those World

>Lilly King and Russia’s Yulia Efimova have been international rivals ever since the 2016 Olympics. King won the gold medal in the 100 breast that year and at the World Championships in 2017 and 2019. She looks forward to the opportunities to race Efimova because she knows their clashes will bring out her best. “We’re not besties, obviously, but I do love to race her,” King said. “That’s one thing that will never change. I love racing her.”

Championships, a circumstance brought on, King believes, because she again chose to voice her strong opinions.

“This is my personal theory, completely and totally a conspiracy theory. I said FINA was corrupt the day before the meeting started because they let Sun Yang swim,” King said, referring to the Chinese distance swimmer allowed to compete at those World Championships despite a pending hearing for a doping violation. “And they said, ‘All right. You did an illegal turn in the 200 breaststroke in prelims.’ I think that’s what happened. I’m pretty confident that’s what happened.”

King was disqualified for a one-hand touch in prelims, and an appeals committee sustained the DQ shortly before the semifinals. That day, King admitted that she had committed a violation on her turn, but almost two years later, she said, “I’m sure I came out and said I did it so I wouldn’t get in trouble anymore.” She remains convinced that no one could have detected the illegal turn with just their naked eye and no frame-by-frame video replay.

So now, approaching the postponed 2021 Olympics, King remains the undisputed queen of the 100 breast and a complete wild card in the 200 breast. Her coach at Indiana, Ray Looze, called King’s 200 breast “still a bit of a work-in-progress.” She excelled in the short course meters version of the event during the 2020 International Swimming League season, and she trains at Indiana with Annie Lazor, the ninth-fastest performer in history in the 200 breast, but she has not had a chance to show her abilities in the long course event in years. On her strategy for the 200 breast for the Olympic year, King said, “I’ll probably decide behind the blocks.”

A DAY AT A TIME

King comes from a family of teachers, including her mother, father and grandmother, and in college, King majored in physical education. She student-taught third through eighth grade in the spring of 2019, and “Goofball Lilly” had a blast. “I feel like it’s easy to connect with the kids,” she said. “Talk to kids and get them going on silly conversations and just having fun with them—it’s just a fun group to work with.”

But any teaching, she insists, will be a long way down the road. When she does stop swimming, she wants to use her platform as one of the world’s best, although she doesn’t yet know how. She has no immediate plans to be done swimming anytime soon, either.

“For so long, I thought I (would be) done after 2024. I really feel like the quarantine and having everything taken away from me so quickly gave me a greater appreciation for what I’m doing and just kind of sparked that joy again,” King said. “I’m going to keep going until I’m not having fun anymore, and when I start saying I’m going to work and I’m not going to practice, that’s probably time to stop.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020 and the Olympics were postponed, King was fairly stoic. “I’m a serial under-reactor,” she said. Even as some of her teammates, including Miller and Lazor, became upset with the decision to postpone the Olympics, King calculated in her head that the postponement should not significantly impact her Olympic prospects, and that underreaction became her coping mechanism. “That’s just kind of how I handle things,” she said. “In situations where I’m literally shocked, I’m like, ‘I feel nothing.’”

As for any lingering uncertainty about whether the postponed Olympics will in fact take place this year, King isn’t concerned. She won’t let herself worry, just like she won’t consider the possibility of losing a race.

“I never think of what’s going to go wrong in my racing. Never. I only think of the best possible scenario. When I visualize my races, I never think of what can go wrong. I only think of the race I want to swim. For this summer, I’m trying not to think of what could go wrong, and only think of the best-case scenario.” 