Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One year after winning World Championships bronze, Leah Hayes will be one of the big names at the World Junior Championships.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One year after winning World Championships bronze, Leah Hayes will be one of the big names at the World Junior Championships.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ef4e84c32e2bc4f10b0e5ed1fda25d04\"},\"headline\":\"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/\"},\"wordCount\":418,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Leah Hayes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"-Home Slider\",\"Americas\",\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/\",\"name\":\"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"One year after winning World Championships bronze, Leah Hayes will be one of the big names at the World Junior Championships.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ef4e84c32e2bc4f10b0e5ed1fda25d04\",\"name\":\"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3055ac6ff59b58e41ba8bffac00fb751?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3055ac6ff59b58e41ba8bffac00fb751?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor\"},\"description\":\"Dan D'Addona is the managing editor and lead college swim writer for Swimming World. He has covered swimming at all levels since 2003, including the NCAA championships, USA nationals, Duel in the Pool and Olympic trials. He is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a graduate of Central Michigan University. He currently lives in Holland, Michigan, where he also is the Sports Editor at The Holland Sentinel.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/danield\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships","description":"One year after winning World Championships bronze, Leah Hayes will be one of the big names at the World Junior Championships.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships","og_description":"One year after winning World Championships bronze, Leah Hayes will be one of the big names at the World Junior Championships.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@swimmingworld","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ef4e84c32e2bc4f10b0e5ed1fda25d04"},"headline":"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships","datePublished":"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/"},"wordCount":418,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg","keywords":["Leah Hayes"],"articleSection":["-Home Slider","Americas","World"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/","name":"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg","datePublished":"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-29T12:13:31+00:00","description":"One year after winning World Championships bronze, Leah Hayes will be one of the big names at the World Junior Championships.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg","width":1000,"height":750,"caption":"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ef4e84c32e2bc4f10b0e5ed1fda25d04","name":"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3055ac6ff59b58e41ba8bffac00fb751?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3055ac6ff59b58e41ba8bffac00fb751?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Dan D'Addona \u2014\u00a0Swimming World Managing Editor"},"description":"Dan D'Addona is the managing editor and lead college swim writer for Swimming World. He has covered swimming at all levels since 2003, including the NCAA championships, USA nationals, Duel in the Pool and Olympic trials. He is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a graduate of Central Michigan University. He currently lives in Holland, Michigan, where he also is the Sports Editor at The Holland Sentinel.","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/danield\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leah-hayes-2023-US-Nats-2321-Enhanced-NR.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-2nSM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":568464,"date":"2023-08-29T05:13:31","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T12:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=568464"},"modified":"2023-08-29T05:13:31","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T12:13:31","slug":"leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leah-hayes-refocused-heading-into-world-junior-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leah Hayes Refocused Heading into World Junior Championships<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a breakout season in 2022 where she made the World Championships for the U.S., teen Leah Hayes<\/strong> was flying high after claiming a bronze medal on the world stage in the 200 IM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But going back to high school can be tough after a performance like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a little bit of a lull after Worlds,\u201d Hayes told World Aquatics<\/a>. \u201cI did not know how to carry myself with the success I had had. Going to a local meet with not as much pressure, I still felt pressure to be the best that I could any time and all times I was competing. I felt the same way at practice. I went back with a different mindset feeling that I had to be perfect every single day to maintain my status in swimming and get better. It was very stressful and not good for my mental health and so with some time, it really just did not work well.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually I realized I needed to go back to my roots and that I enjoyed swimming by itself and everything else was just perks. Swimming and competing, I had to go back and realize it was just simple. It was something I enjoyed doing and I couldn\u2019t think about the pressure or the eyes around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

One year after her global breakout in Budapest, Hayes finished third in the 400 IM in 4:28.45 at 2023 U.S. Nationals, then fourth in the 200 IM in 2:10.42, just missing out on Worlds roster spots. Her times were not as fast as they were just two months before at a midseason TYR Pro Swim Series meet, so she took a break and recharged, something she needed to refocus for Junior Worlds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Nationals, I decided to go to Florida for a few days for a fresh restart and just relax a little bit,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t too happy with my performance (at Nationals) so my coach and I went back to the drawing board and made some new plans and things have been going really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

She will swim the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 free at the meet in Netanya, Israel.<\/p>\n

Hayes is hoping to take the positives from 2022 Worlds and the learning experiences from 2023 to put a flourish on her season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really was able to understand the impact of believing in myself,\u201d Hayes told World Aquatics. \u201cI am physically and mentally prepared for this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"