Features

Frederica Kizek: The Improbable Path to Dream NCAA Appearance At their peak, the NCAA Championships are the world's most competitive team-based swim meet. Tiny margins often determine the difference between championships and runnerup finishes, championship finals and consolation finals. Over a drama...

Bella Sims Building on International Success in Pursuit of Second Olympics In the first three years of her international swimming career, Bella Sims has raised her level of performance at each critical juncture. In that span, Sims has developed into a dependable member of the U.S. women’s relay corp...

Friday FunDay: Art and Swimming Have Always Shared a Connection There are lots of ways to find art in the water. The aquatic sports are full of artistic expressions from diving to swimming to artistic swimming. So for Friday FunDay, let's take a look at some art that shows the water and also some pl...

From the Bahamas to Small Town Arkansas: Lamar Taylor Challenges Division II Swimming Misconceptions When I mention I had a swimmer on my podcast who is a 19.04 in the 50 free, a 42.30 in the 100 free, and a 45.95 in the 100 back, one might assume he's swimming for one of the blue bloods in the spor...

Fun Friday: A Look at 10 Habits and Superstitions Shared By Swimmers Every swimmer has one or more habits, superstitions or rituals that they cannot live without. Some are simple while others are complex and drawn out. Certain ones may only apply to meets, while others could be a daily occurrence. A...

Throwback Thursday: Amid U.S.-Aussie Barbs, a Look Back at Legendary Relay and Air Guitar Performance The past week has seen debate between Australia and the United States over the medals table at the recent World Championships and barbs cast by Cate Campbell and Lilly King. So, it seemed an appropr...

Local Sensation to Global Stage: Alex Shackell's Remarkable Journey to the World Championships Team in 200 Freestyle Alex Shackell, a rising star from Carmel Swim Club, has defied expectations and secured her place among elite swimmers at this week's U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Her stellar p...

Paige Madden Returns to Nationals After 2022 Miss and Traveling the World Within a three-month stretch in 2021, Paige Madden had just about everything go perfectly in her swimming career. One year after a cancelled NCAA Championships thwarted Madden’s chance at individual national titles and her Vir...

Veterans Re-Emerge Ahead of the 2023 U.S. World Championships Trials Although USA Swimming is flooded with young talent, veterans always seem to emerge in the biggest moments. Over the last several months, a group of star-studded veteran swimmers have put together impactful races all over the countr...

The Process and Psyche Carrying Katie Grimes to International Medals That horrible, sinking feeling was all too familiar for Katie Grimes. She was racing the 800 freestyle at the U.S. International Team Trials, seeking a trip to the World Championships in the event in which she pulled off a stunner ...

Nic Fink After Superb 2022: ‘How Can I Possibly Stop Now?’ Early in 2022, Nic Fink admitted that his future in the sport was somewhat uncertain. He had left the University of Georgia, his training base for a decade, and moved to Atlanta for graduate school in electrical and computer engineering at G...

Favorite Pools. What are yours? As the swimming-less summer of 2020 draws on, the team at Swimming World will take a look at some of the great pools we love the most, why and what makes them so special. We’d like you to join in the fun and memories with your own suggestions, either by leaving a ...

Regan Smith Envisioning Return to World-Record Form After Outstanding U.S. Open It was the U.S. Open in early December, not exactly the cornerstone competition of an elite swimmer’s season, and Regan Smith was up against none of her main rivals in this 200 backstroke final. But after winning the rac...

Alex Shackell Emerging as Elite Butterfly Talent, Sights on Home Olympic Trials in 2024 In two years since moving to Carmel, Ind., a trip downtown to the IUPUI Natatorium has become a very routine experience for Alex Shackell. Most club and high school swimmers in the Indianapolis area are accustome...

How Carson Foster is Fulfilling Potential as Next American Medley Star It was the first long course World Championships final for 20-year-old American Carson Foster, and at the halfway point, he had the lead. Anointed a rising star five years earlier, Foster had been building since then toward this ...

Before the Heroics of Jason Lezak, American Bruce Hayes Delivered Gross-Busting Anchor for 1984 Relay Gold At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Bruce Hayes stood on the blocks awaiting the biggest moment of his swimming career with the hopes of an entire U.S. team riding on his swimming over the nex...

Shaine Casas Surging Toward Crucial Rebound Trials in Greensboro; Will Swim Backstrokes, 100 Butterfly, 200 IM For two years, Shaine Casas could do no wrong in the pool. He broke onto the national scene during the summer of 2019 when he captured national titles in both backstroke events, and he cont...

Nic Fink Better With Time After Becoming Olympian, World Champion in 2021 Get Swimming World Magazine and Swimming World Biweekly FREE When You Become A Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame New! 30 Day Membership to ISHOF AND Digital Swimming World Subscription for just $10 a month! Wan...

Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe Leading Tennessee Volunteers, Making History for Ireland When Mona McSharry began considering if she wanted to swim in college in the United States and where, she did not realize the history of Irish swimmers competing for the University of Tennessee. Universities bega...

After Struggles, Deferrals and Breakthroughs, Erica Sullivan Takes On NCAA Swimming At age 17, as Erica Sullivan represented the United States as a team captain at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Indianapolis, she immediately lit up the pool deck with her extroverted personality, her energy a...