This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Gretchen Walsh becoming an All-Time great swimmer, Chris Guiliano & Caspar Corbeau's NCAA debuts with new teams, and if Swimming is a bad product.

SwimSwam caught up with 2x Olympian and 14x World Champion Olivia Smoliga, who has been taking an extended break for competition since the 2024 US Olympic Trials. Though Smoliga has been out of the pool, she's still had chlorine on her mind as she announces her brainchild, In Depth Swim Academy.

After serving a 2-year ban for a rule violation related to the unintentional use of Ligandrol, Shayna Jack was on a mission to prove that she could once again rise to the top of the world in swimming. Flash forward to the end of 2024. Jack amassed 17 world championship medals and made her first Olympic team, where she won double gold as a part of Australia's relays and qualified for 2 Olympic finals in the 50 and 100 free. Sitting down with the 26-year-old now, Jack has taken a significant amount of time to give back to the community that got her through the last 5 years and on top of the Olympic podium. She's also taken time to say yes to as many opportunities as she can, including walking in Brisbane Fashion Week, riding horses, and getting engaged to her longtime boyfriend. The St. Peters West athlete is only now starting to rekindle the fire to train and compete again. But this time, she is working to do so without a chip on her shoulder or something to prove.

Gabriel Jett is off to a sizzling start in his senior season but not in events you might expect. At the Minnesota Invite, Jett posted top-10 times nationwide (and huge PBs) in the 100 back, 200 back, and 200 IM. Jett also swam the 3 events that he's competed in at his last 3 NCAA Championships, the 200/500 Free and 200 Fly, but was well off of his personal bests in all 3. The Cal senior explains that for his senior year, he wanted to leave no stone unturned and fully commit to whatever plan head coach Dave Durden had for him, which ended up meaning training much more with the distance group than in previous years. It also meant putting a heavy emphasis on Jett's underwater work, which may explain his drops in backstroke and IM events. Either way, it seems like Jett is going in a positive direction heading into the rest of his last NCAA season.

Director of Swimming & Diving at the University of Texas Bob Bowman returns to the SwimSwam Podcast and we cover a lot of ground. In the last month alone, we've seen Bowman-trained swimmers have a myriad of highlight moments at competitions ranging from the Texas Elite Invite to the Short Course World Championships. Bowman addresses all of these meets as well as the recent news that Leon Marchand will go to Australia to train with Dean Boxall for a few months starting in January.

Regan Smith and Kate Douglass combined for 14 medals, 8 world records (9 unofficially), and $261,000 in earnings at the 2024 Short Course World Championships. Both swim stars came on the SwimSwam Podcast to debrief their historic performances.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the 2024 Short Course World Championships, where we saw a whopping 30 WORLD RECORDS get broken.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we preview the 2024 Short Course World Championships in Budapest December 10-15. 

Rex Maurer is coming off of the meet of is career, going 6-for-6 in lifetime bests across freestyle, backstroke, and IM events. This of course was highlighted by a 4:04.45 in the 500 free, which broke the hours-old American record set my his Texas training partner, Carson Foster. Maurer gives perspective on why he left Stanford to come to Texas, what training with Bob Bowman is like, and how the longhorns look to approach the rest of the NCAA season.

SwimOutet.com launched their Tech Suit Review November 19th.  Joining me on the SwimSwam Podcast to breakdown the behind the scenes process we have Olympian and 3x World Championships medalist Mary-Sophie Harvey, and we have the Director of Social Media & Influencer Marketing Reese Gonzales.  All of the major tech suit brands were tested.  How the elite swimmers, on behalf of SwimOutlet.com, maintained an unbiased opinion providing their essential feedback is interesting--adding clarity and insight to anyone making the decision to invest in their racing swim-tech. I hope you enjoy the pod!