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Today • 2:07
Ledecky After Historic 1500: "That's a pretty crazy start to the year"
Katie Ledecky threw down a 15:23 1500 Freestyle tonight in Austin at the Pro Swim Series. At age 28, that was not only the fastest Ledecky has ever been in January, but it was the 2nd fastest time ever swum in the event (behind, of course, Ledecky's 15:20 world record). After the race, Ledecky said she had little expectation heading into the race, but didn't expect that.
Today • 0:50
Yesterday • 27:55
After Taking Month-Long Break in Summer 2025, Hannah Bellard is Back and Better Than Ever
Hannah Bellard turned heads last weekend when she topped the 200 fly field at the Indiana-Michigan dual meet. The reigning Big Ten Champion in the event, Bellard touched in 1:50.72, a Michigan school and Big Ten Conference record and the top time in the country by over a second, not to mention a huge PB for the junior. When we sat down with Bellard to discuss the swim and her season, we got an interesting piece of insight. In the spring of 2025, the rising junior felt like she was just going through the motions with her swimming. This was after winning a Big Ten Title in the 200 fly and becoming an NCAA All-American in the same event. After talking with her coaches, they decided it was best if Bellard take a month off and not compete in the summer. After coming back in the fall, the now junior felt refreshed and reenergized by her sport. After seeing this swim in January, it certainly seems like that break is continuing to pay dividends for the Michigan Wolverine.
January 9, 2026 • 1:02:04
Cody Miller Explains the Enhanced Games—Without the Spin
GMM by @SwimOutletGear I’ve been a Cody Miller fan for a long time, which comes from a deep respect for his commitment to the sport as a pro, and because I’m intimately aware of how much time, energy, and mastery it takes to produce his YouTube channel, CodyMillerAdventures. I know, for years, Cody has been working two full-time jobs. Signing onto to the Enhanced Games was a curveball, but not wholly unexpected when I thought it through, which is partly why I asked him to come on the podcast. For the record: SwimSwam has no commercial or financial affiliation with the Enhanced Games. We are covering it journalistically. That will make some people uncomfortable. But discomfort isn’t a disqualifier, especially when the moment is this consequential. The Enhanced Games represent a historic inflection point in sport. This isn’t a vanity league with a single benefactor. It’s backed by Peter Thiel, founder of Palantir, and by 1776 Capital, the venture fund associated with Donald Trump Jr.. Add a credible path toward going public, and you begin to understand the scale of capital, influence, and ambition behind this project. That context matters. In the podcast, Cody sheds real light on the financial side of the league without disclosing his personal contract terms (though I did just ask him to to just give it up). Instead, he frames the deal in practical, lived terms, comparing it to what his Olympic journey paid, demanded, and cost him. It’s not theoretical. Cody talks honestly about incentives, risk, and reality. He also answers the hardest question head-on: How do you explain this decision to kids who look up to you? No ducking that one. Cody airs it out. One question I pressed was personal. Part of the Enhanced Games messaging leans on the line that they’re “honest about performance-enhancing drugs,” which carries the subtext that traditional Olympians are not, that they’re all quietly cheating. As someone who mortgaged his life to become an Olympian, that framing hits a nerve. Cody responded, citing anonymous survey research suggesting that a meaningful minority of elite athletes admit to doping. He shared the sources, and I’m linking them here for transparency, not endorsement. - 2011 BBC-reported survey suggests roughly 30% admitted to doping at a World Championships event. LINK: https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/41084175 - 2025 Telegraph report found that 1 in 5 athletes admitted doping at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. LINK: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2025/10/16/one-in-five-2022-commonwealth-games-athletes-admit-doping/ - 2024 U.S. Athlete Doping Prevalence Study estimated 6.5% to 9.2% admitted to using at least one prohibited substance. LINK: https://www.norc.org/research/projects/us-athlete-doping-prevalence-study.html I don’t like those numbers. I don’t like those studies. But Cody provided, and I’m sharing here based on his podcast answer. One smaller but telling moment: neither of us actually knew the Enhanced Games’ age limit. Cody thought it was 21. I thought it was 25. We were both wrong. Based on current public information, the minimum age appears to be 18 (unless the league corrects that). The podcast runs an hour and two minutes. We covered a lot of ground, economics, ethics, messaging, personal cost, and the future of sport. If there are questions you wish I’d asked Cody, drop them in the comments. Many thanks to @SwimOutletTV for their 14 year partnership and support of this swimming news and media. Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (https://swimswam.com) Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGrNWoMK0RqWZCMbOwUPO?si=TeZ03KYLRbi7O6QJfWR6EA Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fish-out-of-water-the-swimswam-podcast/id1467108547 Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean https://swimswam.podbean.com/ Click here to listen and subscribe on Google https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9zd2ltc3dhbS5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS9mZWVkLnhtbA Follow SwimSwam on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swimswamnews/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/swimswamnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swimswamnews/ This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website. Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
January 7, 2026 • 8:11
Texas Women Run Through Wednesday AM Kick/Drill/Swim Quality Set | PRACTICE + PANCAKES
After the US Open in early December, SwimSwam stuck around Austin, Texas, and filmed a couple workouts on UT's campus. One was with the Texas women, who were in finals week and had just come off their mid-season invite and Thanksgiving break. On this Wednesday morning, head coach Carol Capitani and Associate Mitch Dalton were taking the women through a classic kick/drill/swim set, specifically looking for some fast efforts on the 'swim' portions. Watch as several national team members and NCAA All-Americans (Erin Gemmell, Campbell Stoll, Lillie Nesty, Kate Hurst) get to work on this sunny morning in Austin. Main Set: 3x 100 Kick @ 2:30 100 Drill @ 2:30 100 Swim, Desc 1-3 @ 2:30 8x 50 Kick @ 1:30 50 Drill @ 1:30 50 FAST @ 1:30
January 5, 2026 • 1:00
January 2, 2026 • 1:09:39
Coach Jake Gibbons: From Bolles Swimmer to Leading the Next Generation at Bolles
GMM by @SwimOutletGear On the GMM Podcast, we sit down with Jake Gibbons, a talented young coach at one of the most powerful prep programs in swimming history, The Bolles School. Jake’s connection to Bolles is personal. He swam for the Bolles Sharks from 2013 to 2015, absorbing the culture, the expectations, and the weight of a program that has produced Olympic champions and global stars. From there, his path wasn’t linear. He detoured briefly through Yale before landing at Texas A&M, where his career sharpened into leadership as much as performance. At A&M, Jake captained the team, earned multiple CSCAA Scholar All-American honors, and etched his name into the Aggie record books with a 9:05.38 in the 1000-yard freestyle. He was also awarded the Texas A&M Distinguished Letterman Award, the school’s highest recognition for athletics, scholarship, and leadership. After graduation, Jake stepped away from swimming and tested life in the real world. But the sport pulled him back quickly. During the 2020–21 season, he joined Texas A&M men’s swimming as a volunteer assistant coach, contributing to their most successful NCAA finish in program history. In 2022, Jake returned home. He came back to Bolles not as a swimmer, but as Senior Assistant Coach with the Bolles Sharks and Varsity Head Coach at the school, carrying the legacy of the program with pride and urgency. As an alum, he understands what Bolles demands. As a young coach, he’s fully leaning into the digital age, balancing tradition with transparency, and discipline with curiosity. Jake’s Instagram presence reflects that balance. With more than 58,000 followers at @coach_jake_swim, he shares workouts, ideas, and philosophy without gatekeeping. He’s a next-generation coach, very open-source in mindset and old-school in work ethic. Jakes believes culture comes before outcomes and that speed is built on skill, not shortcuts. In this podcast, we talk through Jake’s journey into coaching, the series the health challenge he has faced along the way, and where he sees himself and the sport heading next. I think you’ll enjoy this conversation. And if we didn’t get to a question you’re curious about, follow Jake on Instagram and ask him yourself. He’s an open book. Many thanks to @SwimOutletTV for their 14 year partnership and support of this swimming news and media. Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (https://swimswam.com) Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGrNWoMK0RqWZCMbOwUPO?si=TeZ03KYLRbi7O6QJfWR6EA Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fish-out-of-water-the-swimswam-podcast/id1467108547 Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean https://swimswam.podbean.com/ Click here to listen and subscribe on Google https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9zd2ltc3dhbS5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS9mZWVkLnhtbA Follow SwimSwam on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swimswamnews/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/swimswamnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swimswamnews/ This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website. Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
December 30, 2025 • 26:45
Erkhes Enkhtur: From Mongolia to Spire Academy
GMM by @SwimOutletGear There’s a certain quiet confidence that comes from longevity. You don’t need to thump your chest when the résumé does the talking. This GMM podcast brings together Thad Schultz, one of the most experienced coaches in swimming, and Erkhes Enkhtur, a rising international talent rewriting Mongolian’s swimming-history-books from the lanes of SPIRE Academy. Thad’s coaching career spans more than 25 years across club, collegiate, and national-team pipelines. As the Director of Aquatics at SPIRE he’s developed: 20+ Olympic swimmers 18 NCAA All-Americans Dozens of state and sectional champions Erkhes Enkhtur is carving a lane entirely his own. At SPIRE, Erkhes has become a record-breaking force for Mongolian swimming, competing internationally at events like the Asian Youth Games and setting national records across backstroke and breaststroke. Erkhes' journey is interesting. In Mongolia he trained in a three-lane, 70 meter pool with only one block. He’s forthcoming, funny and ambition about the future, and he credits Spire Academy with ramping-up his development and opportunities scholastically and athletically. In this conversation, we wrap-up Junior Nationals results, Spire's holiday training camp in St. Thomas, and their upcoming meet schedule over 2026. I hope you enjoy this conversation. Many thanks to @SwimOutletTV for their 14 year partnership and support of this swimming news and media. Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (https://swimswam.com) Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGrNWoMK0RqWZCMbOwUPO?si=TeZ03KYLRbi7O6QJfWR6EA Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fish-out-of-water-the-swimswam-podcast/id1467108547 Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean https://swimswam.podbean.com/ Click here to listen and subscribe on Google https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9zd2ltc3dhbS5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS9mZWVkLnhtbA Follow SwimSwam on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swimswamnews/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/swimswamnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swimswamnews/ This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website. Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
December 28, 2025 • 18:10
How Katie Ledecky is Inspiring Future Generations of Swimmers
Recently, at the Katie Ledecky Invite, a swim meet hosted by Nation's Capital Swim Club and named for their most notable alumna, history was made. Katie Ledecky herself participated in the last night of competition, swimming in the 1,650 freestyle. The 14x Olympic medalist wowed her hometown crowd as she threw down a monstrous 14:59.62, breaking her own American and US Open records in the event and making her the first woman in history to dip under the 15-minute barrier. This swim not only rippled across the entire current swimming landscape, but it will undoubtedly inspire swimmers for years to come. SwimSwam spoke with two young girls, Milly Birch and Emma Stein, who were at the venue during this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Milly, 14, swam in the lane next to Katie during the 1,650 while Emma, 11, was on deck watching with her friends. Listen to how Katie Ledecky is not only breaking down barriers for herself, but showing many more that they can do the same.
December 26, 2025 • 1:22:16
Is the College Swimming League the Future? Kyle Sockwell Answers the Hard Questions
GMM by @SwimOutletGear @SwimOutletTV Kyle Sockwell has long branded himself as the “CEO of Fun,” but anyone who has worked with him behind the scenes knows that label only tells half the story. Sockwell, now the COO of the newly announced College Swimming League (CSL), has built a reputation in aquatic sports for something that’s surprisingly rare in this industry: clarity. Behind the scenes, he’s direct about what he knows and what he doesn’t. Clear about what’s possible and what isn’t. And refreshingly uninterested in spin or “gotcha” communication. That matters when the topic is a massive structural shifts in college swimming. The CSL announcement dropped December 9th and immediately became one of the most discussed developments in our sport. The league named former International Swimming League (ISL) Toronto Titans GM Rob Kent as CEO, with Sockwell operating alongside him as COO. In this GMM podcast, we briefly cover Kyle's start and evolution in sports media, and then we dig into the details surrounding CSL --The CSCAA and Executive Director Samantha Barany? Were they involved in CSL’s formation or caught off guard? --How does CSL fits into a landscape where the International Swimming League is also reportedly planning a relaunch after a four-year hiatus? --Is ISL controlling the College Swimming League? --Will ISL’s legacy hurt CSL? --Can you preview the 12 universities participating yet? --What is the CSL business model, the committed Capital from ISL, and how will stakeholders - the swimmers, coaches, colleges - benefit financially or otherwise? ---What does it actually means for universities to be “founding members?” --The CSL has said matches will count as NCAA dual meets, times will qualify swimmers for championships, and formats like skins and super skins are designed to improve broadcast appeal. But how does that translate into financial benefit for programs and athletes? We cover the above and a lot more, like the crowed fall 2026 schedule with World Cup, ISL, and USA Swimming saying they will be launching a SCM World Champ Trials meet. How will the CSL manage that schedule? The podcast is just under 90 minutes, and Kyle does not have all of the answers. CSL is a startup, moving fast, and still in development, but I trust that Kyle will came back and unpack more as decisions are finalised. Many thanks to @SwimOutletTV for supporting the GMM podcast for 14 years. Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (https://swimswam.com) Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGrNWoMK0RqWZCMbOwUPO?si=TeZ03KYLRbi7O6QJfWR6EA Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fish-out-of-water-the-swimswam-podcast/id1467108547 Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean https://swimswam.podbean.com/ Click here to listen and subscribe on Google https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9zd2ltc3dhbS5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS9mZWVkLnhtbA Follow SwimSwam on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swimswamnews/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/swimswamnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swimswamnews/ This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website. Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
