Courtney Mykkanen - (Author)

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A Letter To the Coach Who Left Me

A Letter To the Coach Who Left Me Throughout our careers, we will have relationships with a few different coaches. If we are lucky, we will get to know and be close to a few. Those relationships will be some of the most important and influential ones of your career and life. They mean a lot to you -...

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Olympic Trials Day 6: Regan Smith Returns to Top Seed in 200 Back

U.S. Olympic Trials Day 6: Regan Smith Return to Top Seed Position The American women are going to have to fight tooth and nail through the final of the event – just to qualify for the semifinals was a half of second faster than in was in 2021.  The semifinal just proved that fact – with the top thr...

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Notre Dame's Kelsi Dahlia Steps into Coaching Role with Humility

Kelsi Dahlia captured the swimming world’s hearts in 2016 when she qualified for her first Olympic team in 2016 in the 100 butterfly. Who can forget the moment that was captured of the Worrell family embracing her after her victory in the 100-meter butterfly in Omaha. On the flip side, who can forge...

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Our Away-From-The Pool Heroes: The Debt That All Swimmers Owe

Our Away-From-The Pool Heroes: The Debt That All Swimmers Owe By Jamie Kolar, Swimming World College Intern. Swimmers live busy lives. We never stop moving from the moment we wake up until the moment our head hits the pillow at night. We wake up, run to practice, run to class and then run to practic...

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A Conversation with an Unlikely Best Friend: The Black Line

A Conversation with an Unlikely Best Friend: The Black Line By Jamie Kolar Swimming is unlike any other sport. It is the only sport where you cannot talk to any other person or coach during most of the practice or during a race, allowing for a lot of time alone. Being alone for those extended period...

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Know Who You Are: Preventing Identity Crisis in Swimmers

By Jamie Kolar, Swimming World College Intern. Since the beginning of time, humans have been asking a simple existential question: Who am I? This question can be followed with subsequent questions of what makes me special? What is my purpose? These questions all get down to our deep desire to know w...

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The Confessions of a Back-Halfer

The Confessions of a Back-Halfer Swimming World continues a brief series from the archive that identifies confessions of specific types of swimmers. Previously, articles discussed the confessions of a distance swimmer and the confessions of a butterflyer. By Jamie Kolar, Swimming World College Inter...

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Two Lies And A Truth: How Individuals Can View the Sport

Two Lies And A Truth: How Individuals Can View the Sport By Jamie Kolar Being in the water in swimming can be seen as a blessing because it can block out the rest of the world for a brief two-hour period. However, every blessing has its curse. The water can trap us in solitary confinement with our o...

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Swimmers are Control Freaks: Inside the Paradox of Control

Swimmers are Control Freaks: The Paradox of Control What is control? Is it power? Is it dominance? For the majority of history, human kind has fought for control, and that is especially true for swimmers. While we have lost men, time and sometimes blood, we have stopped at nothing to deem ourselves ...