Swim coaches are always looking for ways to make their athletes better by studying videos of the best swimmers in the world, reading books by star coaches and trying to improve their knowledge about swimming in every direction. Sometimes the way to grow as a coach is right infront of their eyes.

The sport of swimming is becoming more competitive but also more diverse on an international level. The number of nations which were able to send swimmers into finals at World Championships and Olympic Games has been growing constantly over the past 20 years. Now one more player is trying to take on a bigger role in the game. But their eye is not set on short term goals.

Swim coaches on every level normally share one common quality: They are eager to learn from each other. At competitions you always see them chatting about the latest trends in training or about how they are dealing with certain challenges all for the purpose of bettering their athletes. Unfortunately the swimming world spins a bit slower these days due to the Corona Virus and lockdowns in various countries. Competitions are on hold and coaches have less opportunities to share their wisdom. But in the digital age, swim coaches can get together without beeing in the same room.

Leaving his teenage years behind, US sprint phenomenon Michael Andrew is setting some ambitious goals for the next chapters of his swimming career. As a junior athlete Andrew collected records and medals like eggs at Easter. But now the 20-year-old swimmer has to step up his game to set his mark on the “big” stage. In Gwangju, South Korea, Andrew will face some tough races at his first World Championships in the Olympic long course pool.

It’s a swimmers most important tool, an achievement and approval at the same time: The swimmer´s body. But just as for the development of a swimmer’s performance there is no perfect blue print for what their body should look like.

The Brazilian Coach Arilson Silva is one of the globetrotters of the international swimming circus. He worked with top-athletes in many countries. Among them are well-known names such as the Olympic champion Cesar Cielo and World Championships medalist Bruno Fratus. Arilson is always on tour, sharing his knowledge with other coaches and gathering inspiration for his work on the pool deck. It immediately becomes clear in our conversation: The coach is eager to share his knowledge, also with us and you.

The 400m IM - barely another event brings swimmers such pain as the combined fourfold 100m sprint of all swimming strokes. If you overpace on the first few meters you will die mercilessly on the last lap. No one ever forgets such pain.

We are BACK from our summer break to start the new season with some insights by Olympic Champion Chad le Clos. Before he beat Michael Phelps at London 2012 le Clos became one of the first Youth Olympic Champions in 2010. No suprise that he now has a role as Youth Olympics Ambassador. Last week he visited this years edition in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and the South African was very impressed with the times the young athletes posted. "I know I will be racing against one of those boys at the Olympics - and he is actually faster than me as we speak", le Clos says, probalby talking about Hungary's Kristof Milak, who swam a time of 1:52.79 Minutes this year in the 200m butterfly which ist 0.17 seconds faster than le Clos' best time (and winning time from the Olympics 2012).

For one year, a daily alarm at 8:00pm reminded Kathleen Baker of the 100 backstroke world record time: 58.10 seconds. At the 2017 World Championships, it was Kylie Masse from Canada who had set this record, while Baker had to settle for silver. The motivational trick seems to work out: At the US Championships in Irvine Baker snatched the world record in 58,00 seconds. The race analysis carried out by the sports scientists of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences (IAT) in Leipzig, Germany, shows that she was not just highly motivated during the past twelve months, but also worked hard in the pool.

In an interview the Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte recently said to reach the top the ability to motivate yourself, a high sense of duty and pronounced learning skills are more important than the physique of a swimmer. Ruta's assumptions are confirmed by a study for which Olympic champions were compared with less successful athletes. As the results showed top athletes tend to have higher mental strength, which means they are more able to cope with pressure and anxiety, they have improved attention and concentration skills, increased work ethic and, overall, are more optimistic.

Latest since the Budapest 2017 World Championships sprint swimming is all about Caeleb Dressel. With his explosive starts and his dominant underwaters the US athlete just seems like the perfect athlete for short distance swimming. But he’s facing some tough competition. In the 50m butterfly for example he had to settle for fourth place in Budapest and now one of his opponents is sending a loud message across the Atlantic Ocean:

Swimmers have a big heart. Not just because of their love for their teammates, coaches and family. This is meant quite literally. Studies have shown that regular swimming training can lead to a larger volume and a more powerful beat of a swimmer’s heart.