Commentary

Motivational Monday: Establishing Your Voice as a Swimmer As much as swimming is a team sport, most races are only completed by one person. However, the training often organized by coaches applies to many teammates instead of one person. Even though this practice is effective and makes sense for hel...

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...

6 Reasons Why A Training Trip Is Not A Vacation With many college programs recently venturing away from campus for a winter training trip, Swimming World offers this article from the archives. By Seren Jones, Swimming World College Intern Both swimmers and non-swimmers agree that it's a bummer colle...

Swimming fast requires intense physical and mental exertion, which is all the more reason for competitive swimmers to focus on what goes into their bodies. It’s no wonder then that providing your body with the proper nutrients it needs to perform, recover, and reset comes with a hefty reward. What t...

'We’re the Recruits Living This Nightmare'; How House vs. NCAA Reshaped College Recruiting A Firsthand Look at How House vs. NCAA is Changing Recruiting Away From D-I Programs The New College Recruiting Reality: House vs. NCAA and the Future of Olympic Sports Op-Ed: This article is an op-ed. The vie...

3 Reasons Age-Group Coaches Are Valuable in Molding Young Swimmers (From the Archive) By Julia Czentye (formerly Warnken) If you were a swimmer, you should remember your first coach, right? Or like any sport you played when you were young, some of the most memorable older figures were your first tea...

Is the NCAA Olympic Pipeline Collapsing After House v. NCAA?: What’s at Stake for Olympic Sports as College Athletics Restructures Part II in a three-part op-ed series Op-Ed: This article is an op-ed. The views expressed are solely those of the authors, Grayson Bloes and Atlas Metin, and do not nece...

Goal Setting for Age-Group Swimmers in the New Year  The first practice of the New Year always feels a little different.  The pool deck maintains the same chlorinated smell. The water is just as freezing. The beep from the clock on the wall still seems louder than it should. But something about Janu...

35 Things Swimmers Sometimes Take for Granted By Chandler Brandes, Swimming World College Intern We all have a love-hate relationship with swimming. Although we sometimes complain about the early mornings and the hard workouts, at the end of the day, we keep coming back. We can get caught up in the ...

The Hidden Cost of House vs. NCAA: Is America’s Olympic Engine at Risk? Part I in a Three Part Series Op-Ed: This article is an op-ed. The views expressed are solely those of the authors, Grayson Bloes and Atlas Metin, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine or its staff....

Invisible Injuries in Artistic Swimming: Awareness, Resources, and Safety Measures By Kate Mortell, MS Artistic swimming (formerly known as synchronized swimming) on the surface appears as a harmless showcase of extraordinary poise and talent—a dramatic display of master showmanship and athleticism ...

In Defense of Short Course Season For much of the year, beginning in September after the summer championship season, swimming swaps out 50-meter Olympic-sized pools for their shorter, 25-yard and 25-meter cousins. During this transition, times get faster while turns and the underwater phase of races...

What I Wish I'd Known As An Age Group Swimmer By Temarie Tomley After celebrating my recent birthday, I realized just how old I’ve gotten and how long I’ve been in this game. I’ve been swimming for 15 years, and in those 15 years I have learned so much. Everyone’s journey through this sport is diffe...

As swimmers, we can look for quick fixes. We know that we can adjust a flip turn here, tweak a breath there, and throw in a few extra dolphin kicks off of our start—and that could shave time off of even the shortest of races. However, we are not always eager to reach for the more long-term aids to o...

As holiday training prepares to ramp up, Swimming World is running this piece from the archive that emphasizes the connection between an athlete and the grueling nature of holiday work in the water and the weight room. The piece stresses the importance of this time of year, so get yourself ready to ...

Top Women's Performances of 2025: Summer McIntosh Tops List With Her First Record of the Year With the final days of 2025 approaching, it's time to look back on the year of swimming and determine the top performances in the pool. The list will emphasize long course and championship-winning performan...

Top Men's Performances of 2025: Leon Marchand Shines Again With 200 IM World Record With the final days of 2025 approaching, it's time to look back on the year of swimming and determine the top performances in the pool. The list will emphasize long course and championship-winning performances, and e...

Best of the Best: Stacking Up Summer McIntosh Performances From 2025 A run of world records at June's Canadian Trials gave Summer McIntosh numerous options to be considered as the top performance of the year 2025. The versatility of McIntosh is a trademark, and so is the dominance she has demonstrat...

Which Mile Are You Swimming? The Many Ways Distance Swimmers Count a Mile “50, 100, 150, 200… wait, was that the 200 or the 250?”  Whether we like to admit it or not, most distance swimmers have been there. You’re in the middle of racing a mile when your mind suddenly goes blank, and you silently th...

Cold Water and the Mind Behind Speed There is nothing worse than one of those first outdoor summer practices in May when the air has not touched 80 degrees yet. The pool sits there cold. Colder than cold. Jumping in feels like punishment, and getting through the set becomes the hardest part of the d...