SW Contributor - (Author)

Commentary by guest author and leadership coach Jeff Raker “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was...

Sabrina Knoll, Swimming World's Germany correspondent, called Jacob Heidtmann at his base in San Diego with Coach David Marsh. It was 9.30am for the medley ace and normally he'd be in the pool working hard at that time of day. Not in coronavirus season. A member of the German Olympic team in Rio 201...

As the world awaits official confirmation of the postponement of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said was on the way Monday, American sports legends Donna de Varona and Edwin Moses put their support behind a postponement. De Varona, a two-time gold...

By Dave Crampton Swimming New Zealand is aiming to hold time trials for the Tokyo Olympics for a long list athletes on March 31 despite the New Zealand Government urging New Zealanders to limit non-essential domestic travel. The federation has asked athletes to tell it whether they would attend if t...

Editor’s Note: Given the devastation in Italy, Swimming World has taken particular interest in the circumstances surrounding aquatics sports in the country hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis. The situation in Italy is heart-breaking. The numbers as a result of the coronavirus devastation are star...

By Dave Bartlett and Brenda Borgh Bartlett “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” Loren Eiseley Great races are made of great racers.  Great racers start out with a dream.  That dream becomes reality through limitless training, never-ending miles, demanding coaches, and bone-a...

Ben Higson is the Swim Ireland National Senior Team Head Coach. He penned the following to his swimmers, Ireland's swimmers and all of their coaches at a time of great progress - and now uncertainty over the coronavirus (COVID-19) impact on Olympic season. Higson's aim was to help them see how they ...

During this unprecedented time, leaders still lead and one way you can do that is to grow YOU.  It’s not time we wanted but it is time we have.  How will we use it to grow? We hope that each of you is spending some extra time with family; sleeping a bit more; getting some projects done around the ho...

By  Dave Crampton Swimming New Zealand is the only federation worldwide that has announced this week that it will be holding Olympic trials this month. In an announcement today, Swimming New Zealand said the New Zealand Open Championships, due to start in Auckland on March 31, will be held but with ...

By Sabrina Knoll Florent Manaudou crowned himself the fastest swimmer in the world with gold in the 50m freestyle at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Then it was silver at Rio 2016. Time to towel down, hang goggles up and call it a day in the fast lane. It was not until he stepped awa...

Just when Florent Manaudou thought he'd done talking to Swimming World's Sabrina Knoll in Marseille, the reporter put the sprinter through a last speed test of the day: [caption id="attachment_421620" align="alignright" width="365"] Florent Manaudou - Photo Courtesy: @Les Impatients Productions...

Having been life-long athletes themselves, filmmakers Eriksen and Soren Dickens, otherwise known as the Dickens Brothers, were drawn to making films about athletes. They had done a documentary on their high school football team in 2016. They made a short documentary on a golfer they met while in col...

By Dave Crampton New Zealand's Erika Fair-weather, who turned 16 on the last day of 2019, raced inside the qualifying time for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at the weekend. She is the second of only two New Zealand-based swimmers to achieve the Games standard in individual events in the past year. At the ...

Gail Bristow, 60, & Midmar founder Mike “Buthie” Arbuthnot, 87, are the only two swimmers to have raced the biggest participation mile swim in the world at all 47 events since 1974 Report by Karien Jonckheere More information on the aQuellé Midmar Mile. While much has changed over 47 years of aQuell...

Mary Dowling, Head Age Group Coach at Nations Capital Swim Club, on what parents need to know when it comes to knowing what their children want from them at a swim meet: “Love me and support me and my teammates - and that is it.” Recently I asked my swimmers what they wanted their parents to do at a...

“I was stuck, where a lot of people get stuck, thinking that by feeling like this or blaming other people, it would somehow change the outcome ... Maybe 18 months to two years after the race I had a significant realisation that I was was making a conscious decision to focus on what I’d missed out on...

The USA Swimming Foundation starts 2020 with six new members on its Board of Directors, the body announced in the following press release today: USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport of swimming in the United States, announced today that its Foundation, the USA Swimming Foundation...

Defending conference champion and NCAA runner-up USC placed on top of the 2020 MPSF Women’s Water Polo Coaches’ poll, collecting 33 points and four first-place votes. Winners of four of the last seven conference titles, the Trojans return senior All-Americans Denise Mammolito (29 goals) and Kelsey M...

WADA wasted no time in reminding the worldwide sports community that the latest anti-doping list of prohibited substances and methods comes into force on this first day of 2020 and a new decade. The WADA Statement: Montreal, 1 January 2020 – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announces that its 202...

Sabrina Knoll, a leading German sports writer and Swimming World contributor, hones in on the same theme for her number 1 pick of the year as that chosen by Andy Ross at the helm of his 2019 favourites: the Athlete Voice speaking its  truth to power. A foreign correspondent, Sabrina focusses not ju...