We sat down with Emily Escobedo, the breaststroking machine that has been on fire this past year. Escobedo had a successful season in the ISL Budapest Bubble, helping a rebuilt New York Breakers team to a semi-final appearance. Less than a month after that, Escobedo suited up in practice and came within .2 of a lifetime best in the 200-yard breaststroke. But she wasn't done there. At the January Pro Swim in Richmond, she topped the field in both the 100 (1:07.11) and 200 (2:23.46) breast, going even faster than the likes of Lilly King, who competed in San Antonio.

Escobedo talks about all of these swims as well as her breakout into the pro swimming scene, making the national team in 2018 after not expecting to. Escobedo walks us through the process of trying to make things work as a pro swimmer without having a ton of resources readily available to her at that time.

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Music: Otis McDonald

Matt Biondi, an 11-time Olympic medalist, details his progress to further athletes’ rights as the manager of the International Swimmers’ Alliance. The Alliance, an association of the world’s top 120 elite swimmers, is ready to officially get down to business after 20 months of development. For Matt, a three-time Olympian, this journey has been far, far longer. The Olympic icon has been a pioneer in this effort going back to the 1980s when Olympians were not allowed to earn endorsement dollars until after they officially retired from competition. Matt fought the system ultimately winning the right to earn endorsement revenue as an active swimmer, but not until the twilight of his career. His efforts really benefited the stars who followed him, like Janet Evans, Michael Phelps and Caeleb Dressel.

While the Alliance is not a union, it is an association of elite swimmers and a potentially powerful voice in negotiating improved economic conditions. In this SwimSwam Podcast Matt shines light on the Alliance’s first steps, the baby steps in his words, toward a new future of improved athletes’ rights.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with 2 of SwimSwam's Co-Founders, Braden Keith and Mel Stewart, to discuss the recent news that the 2021 US Olympic Trials will now be 2 meets. We discuss whether this was the right decision, what led to this choice behind the scenes, and if there may be a better solution out there. Braden and Mel also dive into what this means for Olympic Trials moving forward, with the potential for this "2-meet system" being a recurring theme for trial meets to come.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with David Curtiss, the 18-year-old national team member that logged a PR in the 50m free at the Richmond Pro Swim. Curtiss revealed that he had only been in the water for 2 1/2 weeks before the Pro Swim, being forced out of the pool for a month prior due to COVID restrictions. Curtiss explains that he's focused a lot on power and strength work outside of the pool, which he's been able to translate into the pool.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Grant Shoults, the NCAA All-American who recently took to twitter to give a personal update. After recovering from shoulder surgery a year ago, Shoults was back in the pool training toward the beginning of quarantine. However, he started having shoulder pain and realized he would need a 2nd surgery on his other shoulder. We go into the details of how it went and what recovery looked like. Shoults also explains the environment that has been created within the Stanford men throughout the COVID pandemic, saying everyone is just happy to be at practice every day because it may very well be their last. 

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Music: Otis McDonald

Karl studied biology and exercise science at Iowa State University and received his medical degree at the University of Iowa. With his coaching and swimming background, Karl is the intersection of theory and practice, the book and the real world.

Karl still swims almost everyday and competes multiple times a year. His daily interaction with the water gives him new ideas and insights into how we can all help to improve our swimming.

Michael Peterson is currently the head coach of ACAC in Iowa, and prior to that he was the top assistant coach with the Colorado Stars.  While with the Stars he helped in the development of Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin and Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce.  As the head age group coach Michael was a major contributor to the Colorado Stars winning 6 consecutive Colorado state titles and 2 Junior National Championship team titles.

As an athlete, Michael was a standout prep swimmer at Ames High School where he earned 9 high school All-American certificates. He continued his swimming career at the Denver University where he not only served as team captain, but also set 4 school records.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with NCAA-champion Austin Surhoff, who turned some heads by racking up 2 lifetime bests at the Richmond Pro Swim. Surhoff went 22.5 in the 50 free and 49.6 in the 100 free, very solid times that put him on the list for potentially finaling at Olympic Trials. As someone who was always a grinder in practice but didn't necessarily love it, Surhoff takes us through the process that has helped him embrace and enjoy swimming again. This routine includes 45-minute workouts, just enough to make gains and keep his attention. Surhoff emphasizes that what he's doing is manageable and sustainable for anyone at any point in life to see success.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with British music producer and activist Ed Accura, who recently announced a sequel to his wave-making documentary “A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim", scheduled for release in May 2021.

The new film, titled “Blacks Can’t Swim The Sequel,” will feature scripted scenes combined with real interview footage of 14-25 year olds from the Black community talking about why their generation doesn’t swim. This is an evolution of the original film, which included interspersed interview footage and animation about Accura’s own fear of water, which eventually led to him taking swim lessons.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Olympic champion and swim-vlogger Cody Miller after the breaststroke had a strong showing at the Pro Swim in San Antonio. My favorite part about Cody is his vulnerability; his honesty. We get into the nitty-gritty of being a new father, training through a pandemic, and being someone people look to for hope and excitement in a time of uncertainty. Cody shares that through these ups and downs of the last year, he's gained perspective and is now training the best he has in years.

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Music: Otis McDonald

If you didn't see our first talk with Matthew Marquardt, you can revisit that conversation here, when he was in the middle of cycling across the United States. Marquardt recently finished his trek, 3 days ahead of schedule, and was kind enough to sit down with us and break down what he gained from the ride. Matthew goes into details of where the hardest struggles came, how his diet changed, and being too sore to even sleep some nights. But all in all, he was able to complete the ride. Matthew is still raising donations through the end of January for children's cancer treatment from St. Jude's, with links to donate below.

• A link to his fundraiser is available here.

Matthew rode to raise money for pediatric cancer treatment through St. Jude. His goal is to raise $23,000 over the course of his ride, $1000/day.

You can follow Matthew’s progress during this ride on Facebook Here and Instagram here.

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Music: Otis McDonald