We sat down with British record holder and ISL standout, Abbie Wood. We talked through Abbie's career, especially how hard the transition can be from being a fast swimmer as an 18-under to trying to compete on a national and international stage at the senior level. Wood also takes us through her ISL season and what went into the stellar results that she posted in Budapest.

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Music: Otis McDonald

At the Pro Swim Series in Mission Viejo, 2016 Abbey Weitzeil dropped a 24.57 in the 50m freestyle. In her post-race interview, Weitzeil revealed that in prelims, when she went 24.80, it was the first time she had done a no-breather 50m free during a race. She admits that it gave her a lot of anxiety and in finals instead of focusing on not taking a breath, she instead put her energy toward having a good race, which seemed to pay off. However, Weitzeil does give us the details on how she's been preparing for a no-breather 50 in practice.

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Big announcement!  Olympic swimming champion Caeleb Dressel will be producing another Dressel Dissects video, and it will be his 100 scm IM World Record from the ISL. So, stay tuned. He feels guilty for not producing one for awhile, but he assured me that episode is coming. See his YouTube channel here.

Caeleb was nice enough to drop-in for 15 minutes of conversation, and he unpacks his ISCA meet swims.  If you missed it, ISCA ran yards in the morning and meters at night. Caeleb popped a 1:40 200 yard fly and 3:44 400 IM just to let you know he still loves yards, and he was happy with his 48.8 100 meters free. He felt those swims were on-point for in-season races.

I tried to get to him to say he could drop a 1:36+ 200 yard fly shaven and suited, but he wouldn't go there. I think he's got that swim if he wants it. What do you think?

Caeleb's got a mutual partner, SPIRE Academy, and he has high praise for their upcoming summer camps. You can see them here to sign up.

I play the U.S. Olympic Trials prediction game, but I'm going to play again after the Mission Pro Swim as well. My predictions might change a little. I think I played it too safe below. I'm curious if commenters will change their predictions between now and next week.

PREDICTIONS FOR U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

Dressel is the master at double tapers. His Olympics will be faster than the US Trials. BUT AT TRIALS I SEE:

• 50 free - 21.3 (maybe a little slow)

I want Caeleb to swim the 200 free, at least in prelims. I don’t know if he will. If he does, I see a 1:45 point 8 or 9, enough speed to show he’s a strong option for the 4x200 US relay. But who cares what I think? It is all about  what you think. Give me your best swimming analysis.

We sat down with Ryan Spoon, a name you may not be familiar with... but you should be. Ryan is the current COO of BetMGM as well as the former Senior VP of Digital and Social for ESPN. If that didn't sell you, he's also a Duke Swimming alumnus, so he's got chlorine in his blood. Ryan knows how to draw a sporting audience and hold them, and he shares his thoughts on what swimming can do to boost their audience, in a non-Olympic year especially.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Camden Murphy, the Georgia butterflied who was a big contributor in UGA's 4th place finish at the 2021 Men's NCAA Championships. Murphy takes us through his senior season, starting with having an extended period of time out of the water due to COVID and nearly deciding to not come back at all. Ultimately, Murphy did come back to complete his 4th year on the team and ultimately go personal bests in both the 100 and 200 fly.

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Music: Otis McDonald

Olympic swimming star Simone Manuel delivered at the recent San Antonio Pro Swim, sweeping the 50m and 100m free:

• 50m free - 24.70

Simone said she wasn't happy with her races, saying "there were goal times I didn't hit." However she felt there were positives she could takeaway from the competition.  Considering the masks, no fans, and that she hasn't raced during COVID, she was satisfied with her performance overall.

Simone sweeps the 50m and 100m free at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials. She's not messing around. This is a full rest to test her flat-out speed, and she will go faster in Tokyo.  At U.S. Trials  I see a 24.2 50m free and a 52.4 100m free. I think she swims the 200 free as well, dropping a 1:56.8 to make the 4x200 free relay.

We sat down with Andi Murez, the 2016 Olympian and Stanford All-American who is now training in Coronado, California. Murez takes us through her swim journey, most recently recapping the 6-week ISL Budapest bubble as a member of the LA Current. She also takes us through what it was like training as a professional as well as going to medical school, balancing two activities that take a huge amount of time and dedication.

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Music: Otis McDonald

We sat down with Jozsef Nagy, the breaststroke coach extraordinaire to talk about all things breaststroke. Nagy goes into detail on how the stroke has changed and what methods he thinks are best for training the stroke. One of the most interesting things Nagy brings up is the fact that in his opinion, the 100 breast world record has taken leaps and bounds in the last 20 years, while he thinks the 200 hasn't quite matched up. The Hungarian native thinks that if athletes really focused on the event, the 200 Breast world record could be as low as 2:02 currently.

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Music: Otis McDonald

Olympic Champion and Youtube star Cody Miller partners with the world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo, a SwimSwam partner. This has been in the works for awhile; however, for Cody fans, it might be the worst kept secret in swimming. He’s been wearing Speedo in his last few video episodes. In this podcast Cody unpacks the industry details behind the partnership, and he PLAYS THE PREDICTION GAME for his own events at the U.S. Olympic Trials -- sort of.   Cody's got an interesting take on the run-up to the big show this June. See the official Speedo press release about the partnership here.  Subscribe to Cody's Youtube channel here. 

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Music: Otis McDonald

I sat down with #12 ranked recruit in the class of 2021, Arsenio Bustos. Arsenio swam a troth of lifetime bests this past week at the ISCA Senior Cup in St Petersburg, Florida, including 1:43.94 200 IM, 53.57/1:02.95 100 Breast, 1:59.03 200 breast, 19.96/23.02 50 free, 46.51 100 fly, 1:36.31 200 free, and 43.27/49.25 100 free. Bustos breaks down his racing at the ISCA Cup, what made racing Dressel so exciting, and how he's been training for the last year.

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Music: Otis McDonald