After taking over the Auburn program in April, Ryan Wochomurka has quickly begun rebuilding his coaching staff. After hiring Abbie Houck as an assistant coach last week, the Auburn program has now brought in Vlad Polyakov to serve as the team’s associate head coach.

Polyakov will join the Auburn program after having spent the last eight years at Louisville, where he has served as an assistant coach and the men’s recruiting coordinator since 2012.

In joining the staff at Auburn, Polyakov will be coaching alongside Wochomurka for the second time in his career, as Wochomurka served as the Louisville associate head coach when he was first hired in 2012. Houck also spent time with the pair at Louisville, having swum there from 2013 to 2017.

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Music: Otis McDonald

While swims fans have been treated to some fast swimming this past week at the European Championships, top-notch US swimmers have been looking sharp three weeks out from the USA’s Olympic Trials. Case in point: tonight, former Texas Longhorn Madisyn Cox came up big with a 2:08.51 in the 200 IM. That time makes her the fastest women in the world so far in 2021, ahead of the 2:08.73 Australian Kaylee McKeown clocked a week ago at the Sydney Open. McKeown was slightly faster last December, having gone 2:08.23. Cox’s time tonight also moves her to #3 all-time among US women, jumping her up from #8.

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In a twist of events, The women’s 100 backstroke final at the 2021 European Championships had to be re-swum due to an error with the timing system. In the re-swim, Dawson got the job done again, this time in 58.49. Though she loses her official PB of 58.18 and that Championship Record, she still owns the record and keeps her European gold medal. Dawson was notably much more conservative on the first 50 in the re-swim, flipping in 28.47 compared to a blazing 27.99 in the first final. She closed faster, 30.02 to 30.19, in the re-swim.

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Hugo Gonzalez continued to perform unbelievably in Budapest, closing in a scintillating 27.76 to win the men’s 200 IM in a time of 1:56.76. Gonzalez demolishes his Spanish Record (1:58.03) by well over a second in 1:56.76, and falls just a tenth shy of the nine-year-old Championship Record. The 22-year-old now ranks fifth in the 2020-21 world rankings. This came after claiming silver in the men's 100 back just an hour prior in a new PR of 52.90.

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Heading into day 3 of the European Championships, Kliment Kolesnikov had already won 2 gold medals in the 4x100 free relay (Russia) and 50 back (world record, 23.80). He swam 52.2 in the prelims of the 100 back, seeding him first by over 1 second. In finals, he swam the 100 free, touching first in 47.37, a new meet record. 15 minutes later he was back in the pool for the semi-final of the 100 back. He would’ve qualified first for the 100 back final with his prelim time, but with the quick turnaround, he wasn't able to equal his morning effort and finished 16th in 54.86, missing the final altogether. 

Kolesnikov is candid about his double, admitting he is human and that quick of a turnaround is not something he trains for often. He did look on the bright side and say it was good experience, and moving forward he can adjust his training to be better prepared for races like that in the future.

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SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

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Music: Otis McDonald

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Music: Otis McDonald

Natalie Hinds dropped best times in both the 100 fly (58.6) and 100 free (54.2) at the Atlanta Classic this weekend and is feeling good about Olympic Trials. This is the 3rd year of Hinds' comeback, having left the sport after Olympic Trials in 2016 and coming back in the fall of 2018. 

Ryan Murphy took the 100 and 200 backstrokes easily this weekend in Atlanta, logging times of 52.9 and 1:56.1, a good spot for him heading into taper. A seasoned veteran in the sport, Murphy discusses why he likes taper, even when it can come with more extreme highs and lows than the normal season.

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Michael Andrew followed up his prelim PB in a big way, setting a new U.S. Open Record in the men’s 100 breaststroke in 58.67, just .03 shy of the American Record set by Kevin Cordes in 2017 (58.64).

The previous U.S. Open Record was set by Cordes at the 2017 U.S. World Trials in 58.74. Andrew’s swim is also another Pro Swim Series Record after he lowered it down to 58.82 in the prelims. The previous mark belonged to Adam Peaty at 58.86. Compared to his morning swim, Andrew was out .13 faster tonight in 27.32, and back .02 quicker in 31.35. Andrew now moves up fourth in the world rankings for 2020-21, leading the next-fastest American (Andrew Wilson, 59.58) by a full nine tenths of a second.