Grayson Bloes - (Author)

Lani Pallister Set Up for Huge Medal Haul Between Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs In her first Olympics, Lani Pallister showed incredible resilience as she overcame a COVID-19 diagnosis to help Australia win gold in the women's 800 freestyle relay, and she turned around a day later to reach the indi...

Audrey Derivaux Heading to Texas This Fall, Reclassifies into 2026 Class One of the top-ranked high school swimmers in the country will begin her college career one year earlier than expected. Audrey Derivaux, who won four gold medals at last year's World Junior Championships, will join the Texas Lo...

Can Anyone Close the Gap on Leon Marchand in 400 IM? For the last four years, Leon Marchand of France has dominated rivals around the world in the individual medley events. Those races were part of his historic four-gold-medal sweep at the Paris Olympics, and he swept world titles in the 200 and 400...

Can Ahmed Jaouadi, Sam Short and Bobby Finke Lead Assault on Vaunted 800 Freestyle World Record? For almost 17 years, the world record in the men’s 800 freestyle has stood as an impossible challenge for the world’s best distance swimmers. China’s Zhang Lin achieved the mark of 7:32.12 at the 2009 Wo...

B Finals Back: Why NCAA Swimming Dumped Consols for 2026, Reinstated Them for 2027 For the first time, last season's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships did not include consolation finals. Athletes earned points for their teams based on their ninth through 16th-place finishes in prelims. The resu...

Why NCAA Swimming Championships Switching to Yet Another Event Order in 2027 Another new event order will await swimmers at next season's NCAA Championships, albeit a lineup bearing more resemblance to the traditional one from 2025 and before. For the 2026 season, nine of 13 events ended up on diffe...

Passages: Mike Stamm, 1972 Olympic Champion and World-Record Holder, 73 One of the world's top backstrokers in the 1970s passed away late last month. Mike Stamm died June 24 in Costa Rica following a brief hospitalization. He was 73 years old. Stamm, who swam at Indiana University, held the world re...

What if the Stroke 50s Were in Paris? Another Gold for Sarah Sjostrom? Last year, the International Olympic Committee approved the addition of the 50-meter stroke events to the Olympic program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. For the first time, there will be 43 sets of medals awarded in the pool,...

What if the Stroke 50s Were in Paris? France Would Have Challenged for Another Gold Last year, the International Olympic Committee approved the addition of the 50-meter stroke events to the Olympic program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. For the first time, there will be 43 sets of medals awarded...

Katie Ledecky Facing Incredible Competition in 800 Freestyle: How We Got Here Never in swimming’s history has an individual dominated an event the way Katie Ledecky has run roughshod over her competition in the 800 and 1500 freestyle. She has never lost either race at a major international competiti...

Marrit Steenbergen Swims 58.33 100 Backstroke, One of Three National Records on Night 1 at Dutch Trials Five days after breaking a long-standing world record in the women's 100 freestyle, Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands has produced another electric performance at her country's selection meet ...

NCAA Reveals Fastest-Ever Qualifying Standards for 2027 Swimming Championships The NCAA swimming qualifying standards for the 2026-27 season have been released, with each event requiring quicker performances than ever before to gain consideration for the national meet. For the second consecutive sea...

Latest World Record Continues Stunning Ascension of Gretchen Walsh A masterclass at the Sette Colli meet over the weekend in Rome has eliminated all qualifiers to the following statement: Gretchen Walsh is the best sprinter in the world. Not best short course sprinter, not best sprint butterflyer. B...

Sette Colli, Day 1: Sara Curtis Lowers 50 Backstroke European Record; Kristof Milak, Gui Caribe Impress On the heels of a stellar freshman campaign at the University of Virginia, Sara Curtis continues to record performances that suggest her ability to contend for medals in the sprint events at major...

Gretchen Walsh Swims Second-Fastest Time Ever in 50 Butterfly, Takes Down Own American Record in Win Against Sarah Sjostrom Two years ago, Gretchen Walsh broke the long-standing world record in the 100 butterfly held by Sarah Sjostrom, with the American going on to stamp her dominance on the event. ...

Kate Douglass 'Shocked' at 50 Freestyle World Record; Sprint Breakthrough Means Tough Event Decisions to Come A quick scan of the impressive medal record Kate Douglass has put together over the past six years indicates the 50 freestyle is her third-best event, at best. Few, including Douglass, would...

Van Mathias on the Cusp of Joining Elite 57-Second Club in 100 Breaststroke A rapid ascendance up the standings in the men's sprint breaststroke events is nearly complete. Van Mathias did not even compete at last year's U.S. selection meet for the World Championships, but now he holds national recor...

International Olympic Committee Announces $10,000 Grants for All Future Olympians On Wednesday, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry introduced the "Fit for the Future" initiative at the 146th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland. As part of the program, Olympic athletes will be...

American Women Poised to Topple Australia in 400 Freestyle Relay at Pan Pacs; Aussies Still Tough in 800 Free Relay One year ago, the American women had positioned themselves as gold-medal favorites in the 400 freestyle relay for the Singapore World Championships. Thanks to the speed of Torri Huske,...

American 50-Meter Specialists Ready to Capitalize on New Olympic Events In the United States, the 50-meter stroke events remained second-class races for years, even after their addition to the World Championships program in 2001. The Americans contesting the 50 butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke...