Swimming World January 2022 Presents – The Top 5 Stories of 2021

Swimming World January 2022 -Top 5 Stories of 2021 - Caeleb Dressel and Emma McKeon
[PHOTO CREDIT: CAELEB DRESSEL BY PETER H. BICK, EMMA MCKEON BY ROBERT HANASHIRO/USA TODAY SPORTS]

The latest issue of Swimming World Magazine
is now available for download in the Swimming World Vault!

Non-Subscribers Can Download This Issue Here

 

The Top 5 Stories of 2021

By David Rieder

 

In 2021, major swimming competition made its triumphant return after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 canceled college swimming’s championship season and so many other meets while delaying the Olympic Games one year.

But while the pandemic and its massive effects on the sport were the lone top story of 2020, the action in the pool returned to center-stage in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the focus of the year’s top stories centers on Tokyo, where the Olympics produced some amazing performances and historic results.

 

1. CAELEB DRESSEL WINS FIVE GOLD MEDALS IN TOKYO
The dominant male swimmer of the past four years brought his talents to the Olympic stage and delivered as promised. Caeleb Dressel competed at the 2016 Olympics, where he won a pair of relay gold medals and qualified for the individual final of the 100 meter freestyle, but it was not until one year later that Dressel broke out. At the 2017 World Championships, he won seven gold medals, equaling the record set by Michael Phelps. Two years later, he captured six world titles and eight total medals, breaking the record for most total medals at a World Championships. Two of those medals were in non-Olympic events, but it was clear that Dressel was set up to excel at his second Olympics—and the one-year delay to 2021 did not affect him.

In Tokyo, Dressel won five gold medals. His first individual gold came in the 100 freestyle, when he held off a furious back-half charge from chief rival Kyle Chalmers of Australia to win by a mere 6-hundredths, 47.02 to 47.08. Dressel broke the Olympic record in the process. Two days later, he fended off another late push from Hungarian teenager Kristof Milak to capture gold in the 100 butterfly, and he clipped his own world record with a 49.45. Finally, he set another Olympic record on the way to gold in the 50 freestyle, and this one wasn’t close. His victory by 48-hundredths more than doubled the previous largest margin of victory in the event.

Dressel also led the United States to gold medals in the 400 freestyle relay (with the fastest leadoff split) and 400 medley relay (with the fastest butterfly split). His only blemish came in the mixed 400 medley relay, when the American lineup strategy backfired, leaving the Americans in a stunning fifth place. But otherwise, after years of hype around the American, Dressel lived up to every bit of it in Tokyo. Although Dressel himself shuns comparisons to Phelps, he has surely taken over the mantle of world’s top male swimmer, the one Phelps held for so many years.

2. EMMA McKEON’S SEVEN MEDALS LEADS AUSTRALIAN WOMEN IN STUNNING TOKYO PERFORMANCE
For two straight Olympics, Australia’s typically excellent women were underwhelming. At both the 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio Games, Australia won gold in the women’s 400 freestyle relay on Night 1, and then the women from Down Under were shut out from the top of the podium for the remainder of the Games. But this time, when another group of Australian women arrived in Tokyo with high expectations, they delivered.

The headliner was Emma McKeon, a relay standout for Australia every year going back to 2013 and the owner of one career individual Olympic medal prior to Tokyo, a bronze in the 200 free in Rio. She had never won an individual gold at a World Championships either. But in Tokyo, the 27-year-old McKeon stepped up and became the world’s best sprinter.

McKeon won gold medals in the 100 freestyle and 50 freestyle, just missing the world record in both events. She took bronze in a tight 100 butterfly final, and she led Australia to gold medals in the 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. She also was part of bronze-medal efforts in the 800 free relay and mixed 400 medley relay. That gave her seven total medals in Tokyo, breaking a record shared by Kristin Otto and Natalie Coughlin for most total medals at a single Games.

The other standouts for Australia were 20-year-olds Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown. Two years earlier, Titmus had uncorked a massive stunner when she beat Katie Ledecky for the world title in the 400 freestyle, and the two faced off again in Tokyo. The much-anticipated grudge match turned into a race for the ages, as the two went blow-for-blow. On the final 100, Titmus surged ahead, and Ledecky tried to respond, but the Australian hung tough. Titmus swam a time of 3:56.69, just 2-tenths off Ledecky’s world record, and Ledecky produced a 3:57.36, the second-fastest mark of her career. That was the moment when Titmus officially arrived on the Olympic stage, and she backed that up two days later when she won another gold in the 200 free, her time of 1:53.50 an Olympic record.

Finally, McKeown was this year’s backstroke queen. She broke the world record in the 100 backstroke in June, and she finished just off her own mark as she out-dueled two-time world champion Kylie Masse and former world record-holder Regan Smith for gold. Then, she finished 8-tenths ahead of the field in the 200 back for another gold.

Five women won double individual gold medals at the Olympics, and four of them were from Australia. Not a bad way to answer the critics after two profoundly disappointing Games in a row!

 

To continue reading the rest of the top 5 stories of 2021,
Click here to download the full January issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!

 

Swimming World January 2022 - Ariarne Titmus - Swimming Toward Greatness - COVER[Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro / USA Today Sports]

 

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!

Want more? Get a 1 Year ISHOF Family Membership With Swimming World Print AND Digital Subscription Order Now!

Non-Subscribers can click here to download this issue for only $5.94

FEATURES

012 THE TOP 5 STORIES OF 2021
by David Rieder
While the pandemic and its massive effects on the sport were the lone top story of 2020, the action in the pool returned to center-stage in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the focus of the year’s top stories centers on Tokyo, where the Olympics produced some amazing performances and historic results.

016 2021 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
by Dan D’Addona and Matthew De George

  • Diving: Shi Tingmao, China & Xie Siyi, China
  • Artistic Swimming: Svetlana Kolesnichenko & Svetlana Romashina, Russia
  • Water Polo: Maddie Musselman, USA & Filip Filipovic, Serbia
  • Paralympic: Jessica Long, USA & Maksym Krypac, Serbia

018 THE GREATEST WORLD RECORDS IN HISTORY
by John Lohn
As the 2022 campaign gets underway, Swimming World decided to look at the greatest world records in history. No, this is not a perfect science, but the eight records featured are—plain and simple—spectacular in nature and deserve all-time recognition.

020 ISHOF FEATURE: REMEMBERING SAN FRANCISCO’S SUTRO BATHS
by Bruce Wigo
Located on the ocean side of the southerly entrance to San Francisco Bay’s Golden Gate, the Sutro Baths—built in the 1890s by Adolph Sutro and eventually destroyed in the 1960s—was the world’s largest indoor swimming facility and one of the most amazing recreational and entertainment complexes ever built.

024 2021 WORLD & AMERICAN RECORD PROGRESSION
by David Rieder

026 SWIMMING TOWARD GREATNESS
by David Rieder
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus first beat Katie Ledecky, history’s greatest female distance swimmer, at the 2019 World Championships. She repeated the feat this past summer at the Tokyo Olympics, and now has her sights set on achieving even more challenging goals.

029 NUTRITION: CHILLED TO THE BONE
by Dawn Weatherwax
Bone broth is a home remedy worth adding whether you live in a cold or warm climate.

034 MENTAL PREP: BEFORE THE BEEP WITH MAX McHUGH
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COACHING

032 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 7)—OPTIMAL STROKE CYCLE FOR BUTTERFLY AND FREESTYLE
by Rod Havriluk
A swimmer who takes full advantage of the propulsive phase and eliminates the wasted time on the non-propulsive phase can optimize stroke cycle time. This article presents optimal times for both the propulsive and non-propulsive phases of butterfly and freestyle with corresponding predicted performance improvements.

036 COLLEGE SWIMMING POST-COVID
by Michael J. Stott
College swim coaches from around the country offer their thoughts on how COVID has affected their sport.

042 SPECIAL SETS: LETITIA SIM—DYNAMITE TALENT FROM TNT SWIMMING
by Michael J. Stott
Coach Jan Mittemeyer shares some sets he has given to Letitia Sim and her fellow senior swimmers at TNT Swimming in Daphne, Ala. Now swimming for Michigan, Sim was 2021’s No. 1-ranked recruit from Alabama and 15th nationally.

043 Q&A WITH COACH BRENT ARCKEY, SARASOTA SHARKS (Fla.)
by Michael J. Stott

044 HOW THEY TRAIN OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST EMMA WEYANT
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

031 DRYSIDE TRAINING: READY, SET, GO!
by J.R. Rosania
With the new year, it’s time to think about what lies ahead and how to begin preparation for winter and early spring racing. This month’s dryland article focuses on exercises for each stroke and some explosive and core training exercises.

JUNIOR SWIMMER

039 GOLDMINDS: THE ART OF SWIMMING
by Wayne Goldsmith
The key to fast swimming is to follow the coach’s leadership and guidance, but it’s also important to choose and make the workout special and unique just for you.

047 UP & COMERS: MAXIMUS WILLIAMSON
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

009 DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT OSCAR NORIN, CHAMPION HIGH DIVER OF THE WORLD?

041 THE OFFICIAL WORD

046 MOMS AT MEETS: BETH CURTISS

048 GUTTERTALK

049 PARTING SHOT

 

Swimming World is now partnered with the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
To find out more, visit us at ishof.org

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x