We sat down with Claudio Battaglini, the coach and father of age-group breakout swimmer Luca Battaglini. Claudio has been a coach of elite athletes for decades, originally training the world's top triathletes in his home of Brazil. He eventually got his Ph.D. and became a teacher and researcher, letting coaching go to the wayside a bit. However, as his son started to become a better and better swimmer, he started to get involved on deck and is now training a small group in North Carolina. 

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with World champion James Magnussen... again. We had already spoken with James before but only got through the first year of his career on the international stage. So this time we covered another couple of years, including the lead-up to the 2012 Olympic Games. After his big breakout at the 2011 World Champs, Maggie says he had no major racing until the 2012 Aussie Olympic trials, where he dropped a legendary 47.10, the fastest time swam in a textile suit at that point by a longshot.

Maggie admits that this swim hid some of the doubts he had at the time about his Olympic prep and therefore he just continued on in the same fashion. Maggie also says that even though it wasn't his best race, he's extremely proud of his silver medal performance in the 100m free final in London.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Jr World and Pan Pac champion, Lani Pallister. Lani is just coming off a very successful short course championships where she broke the Australian record in the 1500. Pallister talks about how her recent move to train with Michael Bohl, along with her mom, has gone thus far and leading into those championships. Pallister has been coached by her mom from a young age and explains the ups and downs that can come with your mom being your coach.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Carle Fierro, the head coach of Westchester Aquatic Club. She explained her philosophy on training club swimmers, which might differ from a typical, high-yardage program. Carle has had successful age swimmers at young ages, including current Virginia super-star Kate Douglass and breakout 13-year-old Claire Weinstein.

You can check out what a week of Carle's training looks like here.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with World, NCAA and SEC Champion Zane Waddell. Waddell recently announced his retirement, to the surprise of many, as the Olympic year is around the corner and he seems to be in his prime. Waddell discussed not being able to financially support himself with only swimming and why he wasn't able to make the trip to Budapest to compete in the ISL as he had planned. 

Waddell has stayed exceedingly optimistic throughout this process however and is embracing his new journey into the corporate realm of finance as his new challenge in life. He expresses extreme gratitude for everything swimming gave him, especially the relationships. Waddell is excited to give back to swimming in the future while wearing a different kind of suit.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Swimming's favorite Harvard swimmer, Dean Farris, along with the head and associate head coaches of the Harvard Men's swim team, Kevin Tyrrell and Sam Pitter. We started the conversation by getting a good look into what training has been like for the Harvard men this semester, which is very different than a lot of other college programs we've talked to.

I think one of the most exciting parts about the Harvard swimming tradition is the HYP (Harvard-Yale-Princeton) tri-meet at the end of January, effectively the start of the 6-week taper for Ivy League Championships and NCAAs. Dean, Kevin, and Sam all give their take on what makes HYP such a fun and exhilarating event.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with National champion and Olympic hopeful, Ally McHugh. Ally documents what her training has been like in and out of the water since quarantine began when she was actually on a training trip at the Olympic Training Center. McHugh has become a student of the sport, trying to pick up tricks and tips in any way she can. This includes watching race video of her competitors, like Ariarne Titmus. McHugh describes what her takeaways were from Titmus and how she has implemented them into her training.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with swim-photographer extraordinaire, Becca Wyant. Becca has documented World Championships, US Nationals, and Pro Swim meets all over the country and photographed swimmers all over the globe. Becca's origin story is similar to many who now work in the swim industry: it started with swimming. But the rest is very unique in that Becca worked to follow her passions and carve her own path for herself, seeking fulfillment through creativity in whatever she was doing. This led her to a position at FINIS, one that evolved over the years and allowed her to get behind not only a computer screen but a camera as well.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Pavel Sankovich, the Belarusian swimmer who just had his 2nd child. Pavel takes us through how fatherhood changed his perspective on swimming as well as how he's tried to get back into the water the last several months. He's carried this new perspective into the pool as well as his teaching as he coaches young swimmers full-time. Sankovich also recalls highlights and stories of his career, detailing the intense training he put in while living in Europe and the US.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Olympic hopeful and NAG record slayer, Claire Curzan. Curzan has been ON one this quarantine, dropping best times seemingly every time she hits the racing blocks. Most notably, she registered a 56.6 100m fly at the US Open site in Greensboro, becoming the 3rd fastest woman in the event in American history. Curzan breaks that swim down, revealing that she actually wrote down '56 100 fly in Greensboro' in her goal journal before the meet even happened.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald