The SwimSwam Podcast

Angharad Evans has had a heck of a summer, raking in 7 medals across the Commonwealth Games and European Championships. This included double individual gold (100/200 Breast) at Comm Games in Glasgow and Gold (100 Breast) and Silver (200 Breast) in Paris at Euros. Evans has not had a linear progression up to this point, and we dive into that journey in today's podcast. In 2021, at age 18, Evans came to the USA to train and study at the University of Georgia. Prior to her arrival, Evans hadn't visited UGA and didn't have much of a concept of what her experience there would be like. During her year on the swim team, she didn't make strong connections with the coaches, and the high-yardage program didn't seem to be a good fit. She left the program following her freshman season and stopped swimming altogether, staying in Athens and attending classes. However, without the structure swimming provided, Evans went downhill and ultimately wound up going back to Scotland in December of 2022. After slowly getting back into the water in the winter, training with her home club team through and spring and competing at British trials in April 2023, the breaststroke specialist decided to really give swimming another go. She ended up at the University of Stirling under coach Ben Higson, and it has been a strong fit for Evans ever since. In 2024, Evans qualified for her first Olympics and made the final in Paris in the 100 Breast. Last summer in Singapore, she made the final in the 200 breast at World Champs. After going best times in both the 100 and 200 at British Trials this April, Evans put immense pressure on herself going into a home Commonwealth Games. Even though she was able to get her hand on the wall first in both the 100 and 200, her times were well off her best. She completely changed her mindset heading into Europeans, trying to only focus on her execution rather than the race itself. This paid off, showing better times while she was still able to retain gold status in the 100, as well as earning silver in the 200.

Today, we are previewing the upcoming 2026 Asian Games in Tokyo, which start on Sunday, September 2026.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast we have Virginia Head Coach Todd DeSorbo. DeSorbo sits at the center of the most powerful women’s training group in swimming, led by Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass. We’ve already gone deep with both women. In this conversation, DeSorbo helps swim fans fill in the gaps, getting granular on training, tapering, and more coach-led details. We start with Douglass’ remarkable 2026 progression in the 50 free, going from 24.21 at the Fort Lauderdale Open to 23.59 at the Indy Pro Swim and ultimately 23.19 at the Pan Pacific Championships. DeSorbo breaks down what changed in training, why her 50 free speed appeared before the same breakthrough came in the 100 free, and what happened between Indy and Pan Pacs to unlock another level.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing Worlds medalist Shaine Casas leaving Texas, what Russian sprint star Egor Kornev could have done in the NCAA, and the 2026 ASCA World Clinic in Orlando.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast we have Olympic Champion, World Champion, and 6-time 2026 Pan Pacific Championship medalist Kate Douglass. Douglass built her career on versatility, but the 2026 season complicates—in the best way possible—an already crowded schedule of events. At the Fort Lauderdale Open in May, Douglass won the 50 free in 24.21. Six weeks later at the Indianapolis Pro Swim, she exploded to a 23.59 world record. Nine days after that, Virginia teammate Gretchen Walsh lowered the record to 23.55. Douglass answered at the Pan Pacific Championships, ripping a 23.19 world record in the 50 free, lowering the mark by more than three tenths and suddenly putting the once-unthinkable 22-second barrier into the conversation. And that one swim is the most impressive of an entire generation, according to SwimmingStats.

19-Year-Old Nikita Sheremet had just about as good a sprint season as one can have. After becoming an NCAA All-American for Louisville in the 50 free as a freshman, Sheremet came into this summer's European Champs as one of the premier sprinters in the psych sheets. However, many didn't see what would come next. After clocking a PB of 216 earlier in the season, Sheremet dropped a 21.5 in prelims of the 50 free at Europeans. In semis that night, Sheremet furthered his PB with a 21.3. But in finals, the Ukrainian dropped the hammer, clocking a 21.1 to win his first European title and etching his name in history as the #7 performer all-time. To top it all off, he got to share the podium with a former Louisville cardinal, Andrej Barna of Serbia, who tied for silver. Listen to Sheremet as he explains what has gone so right for him this year and his reaction to making his mark on sprinting.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing Tomoyuki Matsushita's medley magnificence, the recently announced 2026-27 USA National Team, and the SCM qualifier, Jose Finkel Trophy. In actuality, we spent 30 minutes debating who will be the top-4 male and female swimmers in the World going into 2027. Let us know your list!

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with 8-time Olympic medalist Regan Smith after a 2026 season that has been fast, revealing and, at times, frustrating. At the Pan Pacific Championships, Regan came away with gold in the 200 backstroke, silver in the 50 and 100 back, and a fourth-place in the 200 IM. But the results don’t tell the whole story. In both of her signature backstroke events, Regan was faster in prelims than in the final. She went 57.86 in the 100 back prelim before finishing second in 58.11, then dropped a 2:04.13 in the 200 back prelim before winning the final in 2:05.57. For one of the most consistent swimmers in the world, that morning-to-night disconnect stands out. We dig into what happened at Pan Pacs and what Regan learned from it. And Regan is her on own harshest critic. In this podcast she's thinking through her season, noting her frustration that she trained repeated 8k color sets ahead of the Fort Lauderdale Open and ripped a 57.4 100m back--but tapers for Pan Pacs and doesn't get under 58 at night in the finals. Through that lens, we look back at 2026 and the bigger picture. Regan has been remarkably consistent in the 100 back, repeatedly racing in the 57-second range while carrying a heavy training load. In the 200 back, she is once again approaching the 2:03.35 lifetime best she set as a 17-year-old in 2019. And the most interesting developments happened outside Regan’s traditional events. She set lifetime bests this year in the 200 freestyle (1:56.9) and 400 IM (4:35.7), while also producing elite times of 55.94 in the 100 fly and 2:04.73 in the 200 fly. We ask about her expanding event range and how it figures into her training and schedule under coach Bob Bowman.

Lani Pallister had perhaps one of the most successful summers in history in terms of medals won. She went to the Commonwealth Games and was dominant, winning the 400-800-1500 Free and helping Team AUS to gold in the 4x200. She also earned silver in the 200 free behind her teammate, Mollie O'Callaghan. After her time in Glasgow, Pallister kept her momentum going in Irvine. On Night 1, she shocked Summer McIntosh by winning the 200 free, then finished 2nd in the 1500 Free to Katie Ledecky later in the same session. She went on to beat Ledecky in the 400 free and help Team AUS to another gold in the 4x200 free relay, but Pallister saved the best for last. On the final night of competition, in the final women's race, Pallister dove into the pool against Ledecky in the 800 free and came out on top. Pallister led the race wire-to-wire and touched the wall first in 8:06.10 to Ledecky's 8:07.26, marking the first time in Ledecky's career that she had lost the race at an international competition. Pallister ended her summer with 8 golds and 2 silvers from Comm Games and Pan Pacs combined, making history in multiple ways and asserting herself as arguably the best female distance swimmer in the world. SwimSwam was excited to have her back on the podcast in what ended up being a very fun, and perhaps a bit scattered, conversation. In this 80+ minute episode, we discuss her historic summer, along with many, many... many other topics.

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast we have Head Varsity Coach at The Bolles School Jake Gibbons. This is Jake’s second time on the podcast. We skip most of the biography this time, digging into what intelligence Jake has gathered developing high-level swimmers inside one of the most storied programs in the sport. We start with the rapidly changing landscape of college swimming and recruiting. Jake supports Bolles talent in navigating the college process, giving him a ground-level view of how roster limits, the transfer portal, recruiting, and the changing economics of college sports are impacting high school swimmers. We talk about what college coaches are actually looking for now and what swimmers and parents should be thinking about before choosing a program. From there, we go global. Bolles has always had a strong international footprint, and Jake has spent time studying how young swimmers are developed around the world. At Bolles, Jake is also wrestling with a challenge familiar to every program: how do you continue evolving without losing what made the program successful? We talk about building team depth while simultaneously developing top-end athletes, including Ethan Bathala, who became Jake’s first swimmer to make the USA Swimming National Junior Team. Then we get into training. Jake’s philosophy continues to evolve, and he is increasingly putting speed at the center. Instead of viewing speed as something added after building an aerobic foundation, Jake looks at aerobic development, skills, power and recovery as tools that ultimately support swimming fast. Finally, we talk about swim parents. Youth sports is becoming increasingly transactional, with recruiting, rankings, scholarships and outcomes dominating the conversation. Jake offers some perspective on what parents should protect along the way and why optimizing every decision around swimming success can sometimes destroy the very experiences that make the sport valuable.

This is a GMM takeover of the SwimSwam podcast. Joining us today is Van Mathias, one of the most fascinating comeback stories in American swimming. Mathias' path to becoming the American Record holder in both breaststroke sprints was anything but conventional. At Indiana, Mathias was primarily a butterfly and IM swimmer before breaking through in the 100 breaststroke, finishing second at the 2023 NCAA Championships in 50.60. Then he essentially disappeared for two years and eventually returned to Indiana as the program's director of swimming operations. In the summer of 2025, Mathias decided to race again. After roughly eight weeks of training, he won the 50 breaststroke at U.S. Summer Championships in 26.76 and finished second in the 100 breast in 59.74, putting himself back on the U.S. National Team. Over the next year, Mathias dropped his 50 breast from 26.76 to 26.57, then 26.39 and finally an American Record 26.30. In the 100 breast, he went from 59.74 to 59.45, then 58.19 before breaking Michael Andrew's American Record with a 58.01. At the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships, Mathias proved he could perform on the big stage. He won gold in the 100 breast in 58.02, took silver in the 50 breast in 26.42 and silver in the 50 butterfly in a personal-best 22.84. He also earned gold as part of both U.S. medley relays, including the world-record-setting mixed 4×100 medley. Beyond his breaststroke American Records, he's now been 21.62 in the 50 free and 22.84 in the 50 fly, which raises the question: Was Van Mathias training for the wrong events—or training the wrong way—for most of his swimming career?

In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we have Gretchen Walsh, fresh off her haul of seven medals at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships: five golds and two silvers. And Pan Pacs was arguably her weakest overall competition of the year. In 2026, Gretchen made the choice to travel and race fast everywhere: Beijing, Rome, Fort Lauderdale, U.S. Nationals and Pan Pacs. She noted that she took for granted all the racing she did as an NCAA star, and she wanted that experience back. The results were impressive, but Gretchen is candid that she was not satisfied with her times at Pan Pacs. She talks through that frustration and explains how she evaluates a meet where the medal count says one thing but her own expectations say something else.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing how likely it is to see Leon Marchand competing in freestyle at LA28, US Pro's finding new training bases, and the return of the International Swimming League.

2024 Olympian and recent Pan Pacs silver medalist in the 200 Breast Josh Matheny has announced he's leaving Indiana University in search of a new training home. In June, after having a rough first season as a pro swimmer and not performing how he'd hoped at the Pro Swim in Indianapolis, Matheny decided he needed a change. He asked USA Swimming National Team Director Greg Meehan if he could train at the Olympic Training Center until Pan Pacs, to which Meehan agreed. After discussing this change with Indiana coach Ray Looze as well, Matheny spent his last 6 weeks of summer preparing for Pan Pacs in Colorado Springs. In Irvine at Pan Pacs, Matheny neared his best time in the 100 breast, 59.2, making the final and ultimately finishing 4th, and set a PB in the 200 Breast at 2:08.2, earning silver. In the coming weeks, Matheny will talk with numerous teams throughout the country and hopes to find a good training fit for the next two years in the lead up to LA2028.

Hungary's Hubi Kos had a triple-crown performance in Paris at the European Championships. Winning the 200 Back and 200 IM individually, Kos also swam on Hungary's winning 4x100 free relay. Kos' Hungarian teammate, fellow superstar swimmer Kristof Milak , anchored that relay in a historically fast split, 46.2. Before the meet, Kos had publicly voiced his frustrations about Milak sitting out of the relays in the past. Kos wanted to earn a medal for Hungary in a relay badly and knew that Milak would be key to that success. However, to Kos' surprise, Milak ended up swimming on Hungary's free relay, netting not just a medal, but gold. Kos reflects on what winning a relay gold means to him and the historic times he posted in both the 200 Back and 200 IM.

Jack Alexy joins this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast to break down his Pan Pacific Championships performance and where those swims place him in a very elite, very crowded global sprint field. Alexy won the 100 freestyle in a Pan Pac Championship Record of 47.14, took silver in the 50 free in 21.42, and delivered a pair of sub-47 relay anchors for Team USA. He split 46.78 on the winning 4x100 freestyle relay and 46.97 on the winning 4x100 medley relay. And, of course, Alexy owns the 100 free American Record at 46.81, set at the 2025 World Championships. But the international competition has only gotten faster.

2x Olympic medalist Carson Foster returned to the SwimSwam Podcast to debrief the recent Pan Pacific Championships and the 2025-26 season. At Pan Pacs, Foster hauled in 3 silver medals, taking 2nd in the 200 Fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM. He was notably left off of USA's 4x200 free relay, a relay he's been a big part of for Team USA for the last 4 years. He isn't shy about his desire to be on the relay, but also defends Team USA's decision. Foster also speaks on tapering with Bob Bowman and what the mood of the Texas Pro Group was like when not everyone was having the meet they had hoped for in Irvine.

Sam Short had a historic summer that saw him break numerous barriers and top the podium nearly every time he got in the pool. At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Short swept the 400-800-1500 freestyles and led off Australia's winning 4x200 free relay. Two weeks later, at the Pan Pacific Championships, he swept the same three events, breaking Ian Thorpe's 400 free meet record from 1999 and Grant Hackett's Australian record in the 1500 from 2001. Today, Short sits down with SwimSwam to reflect on his remarkable consistency throughout the season and dissect his best races. We also speak about Johannes Liebmann's newly minted 14:26 world record in the 1500 and which world record Short would break if he could pick one.

Join as we go IN DEPTH and discuss everything European and Pan Pacific Championships.

Join as we go through the psych sheets event-by-event and preview the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships that start this Wednesday, August 12, in Irvine, California