Knoxville PSS, Mewen Tomac, & NCAA Projections | SWIMSWAM BREAKDOWN

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the Knoxville Pro Swim, French record-holder Mewen Tomac committing to Cal for 2024-25, and the projected scores for the men’s and women’s 2024 NCAA Championships.

0:00 SwimSwam Breakdown Introduction
1:45 Knoxville Pro Swim Preview
16:46 Mewen Tomac Commits to Cal for 2024-25

SINK or SWIM
27:25 Will the 2024 Men’s NCAA Champs be an ASU Blowout (Win by 80+ Points)?
32:55 Will the 2024 Women’s NCAA Champs be within 30 points?
36:34 Will Anyone Break 20-Seconds in the 50y Back this season?
39:45 Will Adam Peaty win a 4th World Title in the 50 or 100 Breast in Doha?
43:29 Favorite Olympic Storylines

Welcome back to the swim swam breakdown I’m Coleman Hodges joined by yinan Lee from Evanston Illinois Evanston right yeah all right she’s at Northwestern I’m in Austin Texas uh Happy 2024 to all you swimmers and swimmers out there yinyan what was the best thing you got for Christmas this year uh what

Was the best thing I got for Christmas oh God like I forgot this is not that I’m ungrateful but I just don’t remember everything that I got from Christmas at the top of my head well I’m currently reading um American Prometheus which is the book that the movie offenheim based

On I got that book for Christmas so I’m reading it now so I like that gift that’s my brother talked a lot about that book and he would be very excited to hear that you’re reading it it’s a great book nice my my favorite Christmas script was also a book from my brother

Called lessons in chemistry which I’m uh I’m enjoying reading right now so look at us just a couple of bookworms Coleman you’re into chemistry no it’s a a little bit of a misleading title I mean it’s it’s a it’s a fiction book it’s sort of about chemistry but

Also like relationships and chemistry in that way but it’s about two chemists who fall in love or so far it is so I can I can see why he liked it because he is a scientist also all right well enough about literature let’s get down to

Swimming it’s uh it’s a new year it’s been kind of quiet and yet somehow we still have quite a bit to talk about uh which which I’m pretty excited to get into first of all the Knoxville Pro swim starts tomorrow Wednesday night with the distance events uh just we’ve got a

Stacked psych sheet coming into this tennessy Pro swim yinyan what are you most excited for heading into Knoxville I am already so annoying about this and I will continue to be annoying about this but you you already know what’s coming right K Douglas well I was going to say summer McIntosh versus Kate

Douglas versus Alex wal in the 200 and now I feel like it’s confirmed that summer Macintosh is actually swimming the 200 IM because it’s on the same day as the 400 free and she’s not swimming the 400 free so we’re finally going to get to see that summer Macintosh versus

Kate Douglas Showdown that we wanted to see for over a year but that has never happened because Summer McIntosh keeps on scratching it so I’m excited that we’re finally well hopefully G to see this event happen I really like and respect summer MacIntosh and her coach’s decision to

Basically every meet she swims she swims a different event lineup in some way right she switches up one or two or five events from Meet to meet and I really like how you can you can tell that she is honing her versatility and just swimming everything so that a she can

Have experience racing in a lot of events and B she can also not get burnt out on any one or two events which I think as a 17-year-old who’s already world record holder and World Champion is very very smart so yeah for sure but that also

Leads me to my question of at these big meets is she gonna be swimming all of those events at once like is that all going to come together or is she going to do what she does as smaller M and maybe like be selective which she hasn’t

Done her faux Lo of all five of her Main Events ever at a big me and I I’m just questioning like whether we’ll see a day where that happens and honestly like if that doesn’t happen I wouldn’t be surprised because again as you said like

It wouldn’t be great for her to burn out but then on the other head there’s always that like lingering question like what what could she do I agree I mean it’s interesting because we saw we saw Michael Phelps do something like this right and he was

Obviously one of a kind but I think pretty much since then we see many many athletes air on the side of caution when it comes especially when it comes to an Olympic games um to put their eggs in a few baskets like two to four Mo probably

Two to three rather than four or five individual events even if they can swim that many and it it would be awesome to see summer Macintosh swim five into individual events plus relays at an Olympic Games right but is it the smartest decision for her especially this being her first Olympics where she

Is heavily favored to win multiple gold medals probably not right it’s probably a safer bet for her to focus on three individual Events maybe four and re really hone in on those and shoot for gold medals in those um which I can’t blame her and her coach’s decision on

That one but as a fan it’s like go for eight medals right like that would be awesome uh that would be something we have not seen at an Olympics or at a major meet at all in Long course in in a long long time right

But I just I don’t I don’t really see it happening yeah and I think this all goes to show just how extraordinary Phelps was during his 2008 run and the thing is like that’s supposed to be a measure of like greatness but it’s also like not the only standard for greatness like

There’s so many like there’s so many other ways of like achieving accomplishments in swimming without having to like do what Phelps did and Phelps he did burn out towards like the end of his career I’m not saying anyone who takes on a lot of events is going to

Burn out but like it is something you have to think about and just because you’re not you’re not doing and taking on the load that he’s taking on like that doesn’t make that doesn’t make you less of a swimmer and I think a lot of people are starting to realize that and

Like sort of like swimming is like becoming I feel like especially on the men’s side becoming more like compartmentalized absolutely and I think that’s I think when Phelps was at the peak of his career he had um you know he had a fair amount amount of demons that

Swimming was kind of his uh Sanctuary to combat and he’s discussed that you know um from his home life to his personal life um I think towards the end of his career when he did kind of have burnout and then he was having issues outside of

The pool and then he went to treatment and got in therapy and became a huge mental health Advocate and now I think in terms of mental health taking on such a huge event load is really really stressful right and like that’s probably outside of just your

Physical how how tired you will get in an eight or nine day meet it’s probably not mentally healthy to train your body and mind to to be swimming at a high level that many times in that many days in a row right it’s prob like it that probably will lead you

To burnout sooner rather than later so yeah it’s like it’s a feat that it’s really hard to do especially at an Olympic Games and he did it twice right he had two Olympics where he where he medled in eight events uh which is yeah again it’s just insane yeah anyo back to

Knoxville that’s gonna be super exciting just to if you’re still with us just to list some of the athletes that are going to be competing in Knoxville we got Kate Douglas Caleb dressell Bobby thinkink Tory husk Lydia jacobe Lily King Katie leeki Simone Manuel Maggie mcneel summer Macintosh Ryan Murphy rean not Reagan

Smith I think that’s one of the biggest stories right is that Reagan is now had Mono uh she’s out with sickness I I hope she’s doing better and I hope she’s on the recovery side in just kind of taking it easy yeah I do want to talk about

That like both Reagan Smith and Leon Marshon having mono because they’re two of the biggest stars of the Paris Olympic Games and we’ve seen in the past where like people like Gregorio Piner he had Mono and like it’s kind of assumed that that may have affected his

Performance in Tokyo and he did have mono a little later than when and the young got it but um I’m very interested into seeing how this affects both of their um buildups like into the Olympics especially for Leon because like if if something happens to him like that would

Be like really unfortunate because this is his home Olympics and you really only get a chance like once in your life to compete at home Olympics so I hope both of them recover from that but it’s definitely something to like look out for and Leon’s already competing in like

Dual meets and stuff but like I mean I hope like this doesn’t affect their performance in any way that’s what I meant absolutely yeah and I would I would think they’re G to air on the side of caution especially in terms of heading into conference and nc2a which is really a bummer because

Like I feel like this is probably going to affect the chance of him going best times and yards events um because a he just went completely berserk last year Inc D and B those times are just so hard to to match like he was he was on it at

NC’s last year right and that is a result of an entire season going pretty much perfectly and this season has not gone perfectly for him um when I was at ASU I think this interview is coming out within the next 24 hours um but he talked about he’s had sinus issues this

Season he we he had Mono he had his wisdom teeth removed oh no so it’s like things that he’s been able to recover from like obviously he was training well when I was there he was still kicking everyone’s butt but you know it’s it’s you don’t want to see that in an olympic

Leadup ever right you want everything to be as perfect as possible and obviously it won’t be and maybe this will be a good thing I don’t know but yeah I’m I’m hoping for the best for both of them um and really hoping that that we see Reagan and Leon at Future Pro swims

Leading into these uh Olympic trials and Olympic Games so that we can kind of get a gauge at where they’re at yeah ultimately I think both of them all end up being fine Leon was going pretty fast at the ASU versus Grand Canyon duate last weekend he went 132 in the 2003 and

423 in the 1003 which are insane times right so fast um so yeah I think they’ll be fine but it’s more like I’m interested just to see if this might be like a one thing leads to another sort of thing which I hope hopefully it won’t

Be and also I looked it up but Paul triner he had Mono in June so that’s like a very different timeline right before the I I do feel like that getting sick is almost underrated in some senses because it forces you especially mono it just forces you to rest right like the

Only recovery for it is is to chill and let your body get over it um and so I feel like in that sense like a lot of times people will swim really really well when they’re either sick or they are just getting over being sick even if they haven’t

Like trained as hard and the lead up to that or they’re currently fighting off an illness because they’re taking extra good care of of themselves you know it’s basically like you’re on a taper and so obviously that’s not what you want six months out from the Olympics but maybe the extra rest was

Actually helping them or will actually help them moving forward you know maybe they’ll be able to work a little harder in this next training cycle or you know with Bob Bowman I think the fall is when they really put in a lot of their base

Work and I think for both of them a lot of the hay is probably in the proverbial Barn so if they’re able to make comebacks I wouldn’t be too worried about their aerobic capacity especially long course so back to Knoxville won’t see Reagan Smith um but one thing I am

Excited to see in this upcoming Olympic season is the athletes who will be competing in Doha just a few weeks after Knoxville um so we’ve got Kate Douglas CLA Ken Michael Andrew Nick Frink uh among others who will be swimming in Knoxville and then just a few weeks later heading

To Doha for a World Championships um I’ll be excited to see where they’re at a and just again just a few weeks out from a World Championships which we’ll talk more about later in the podcast but I think it’ll be interesting to see how they approach this meet versus everyone

Else who’s probably coming off a pretty hard block winter training um I’m guessing their winter training might not have been quite as intense um and I think nowadays winter training is probably different for every team and there might be a little bit of approach I think the days of like all right two

Weeks of just poundage is is maybe not the norm anymore yeah for sure but I’m also like not really expecting anything too different from the people who are swimming in Doha because I I don’t think Doha is a meat that a lot of people are tapering for I think it’s mainly to like

Get that kind of like International experience I’d be I’d be surprised to see if anyone was in like full full taper mode well the thing about a lot of those athletes is that they’re kind of always in taper mode uh not obviously not full taper mode but like the four I mentioned

Claire Kate Michael Andrew Nick Fink like they can pretty much swim fast anytime yeah uh which is great you know that’s what you want to see from pro athletes like that on and Claire who’s basically been a pro athlete since she’s freaking 16 years old not a pro-athlete

She’s a college athlete but um you know they all know how to kind of get it done in in season as well as in postseason and so again just excited to see them race and to to get their perspective in Knoxville about uh how they’re how they’re gonna prepare in that few weeks

Time all right that’s enough that’s enough about the pro swim uh are you going I am going I’ll be there on Thursday and Friday so I’ll be there at finals get an interviews I’ll be on deck if you if you’re there come say hi uh I’ll be the guy with the

Hair uh if you want to watch swim Swim’s got all the links for you um I’m I’m assuming USA swimming will be streaming prels and finals so head over to swim swam we’ll get you hooked up we’ll have all the results live Recaps uh you know

The drill and if you don’t just head to swim swam and you’ll figure it out if you wanna always the answer it’s always the answer uh all right next up hot ticket item Mian tomok has committed to Cal for the 2024 2025 NCAA season uh me

Mu tomok is preparing for a his home Olympics um he is French he’s a French record holder in the backstrokes and uh this was this took a lot of people by surprise because there’s a lot of factors that go into this we’ve seen Internationals commit to a college we’ve seen Internationals who

Are a bit older than your traditional 16 17 18 year old high school students commit to NCAA colleges uh and that has especially become we’ve seen older swimmers swimmers older than 22 years old compete in the NCAA that has become more common with with the covid Fifth

Fifth years and the effects of the pandemic but there’s a lot of factors here so let’s just break them down and have a conversation about this I think the the first thing is mien is four years removed from high school so he was 22 right now uh he also competed in the

ISL which was cons you know it’s a pro league and so that for for many of us it seemed like it was it it meant that you were a professional athlete and non-eligible to compete in the NCAA uh among others that’s why everyone thought summer Macintosh was not eligible slash

Not going to be competing in the NCAA uh muan did not get paid when he was in the ISL or so we’re told uh so perhaps that could be a loophole that makes him eligible for the NCAA he is always he is also only receiving two years of

Eligibility at Cal so assumably the 2425 season and the 2526 season so with all that being said yinan thoughts on mu and Tomac committing to Cal for 2024 well my first thought after reading this news wasn’t the age and it wasn’t Isel I was thinking is he

Actually going to show up at cow because we’ve already seen twice two International back Strokers uh Muk and then Peter coie both of them committed for 2024 and neither of them showed up I do think there’s a greater chance of him showing up to Cal than previous International commits because the 2024

Season is literally this year in a few months um but no that is my one main concern because we’ve seen especially recently how a lot of swimmers commit to colleges and they don’t show up or they only show up for a few months and never compete

Again like um Noy Ponte and then I met hewi who apparently is not on the Indiana Indiana roster anymore so that’s something and then when it comes to his age and his professional status I don’t think the age is as big of a deal as people think it is because

He’s only getting two years of Eligibility like someone said his last championships will be in 2026 and he’s 24 then yesterday in the college football national championship the quarterback at Washington Michael pedx Jr he’s 23 he’s like a sixth year senior I believe so this kind of stuff is

Pretty common in college sports so mu and Tomac doing it isn’t something that’s super out of the ordinary uh but I think ISL is the main concern and the main talking point here because I think this raises the question of like what constitutes a pro aete and it also like

Raises the question of like does does the NCA see like a professional swimming League like ISL being a legitimate League especially with people not being paid as well as Pro swimming and which is very Niche and um the fact that it was only around for

Like two or three years I think I think me and Tomac being allowed to compete despite being in the ISL sort of speaks the fact that like maybe the NCA or like people involved like they don’t really see the ISL as like a legitimate pro pro form pro league and obviously him not

Getting paid might have something to do with that so I just thought that was interesting I don’t know I could be wrong but Coleman I’d like to hear your thoughts on that like that talking point yeah I mean if the NCAA didn’t consider the ISL a pro league it

Wouldn’t be that big of a shock because again it was super novel and really cool for the swimming community but you compare it to an NBA or an NFL or you know even smaller Pro leagues um for other sports it’s just like yeah that’s not really the same you know it’s like

This is cute glad you guys are making some money but come on um so I yeah I wouldn’t be surprised who gets to decide that that like who gets to decide if he eligible that’s the NCAA yeah I don’t I don’t know um and I

I think you brought up a good point that the fact that it was only around for two or three years like maybe maybe they changed their mind recently about how they feel about it right like maybe while it was a thing they were like okay no you can’t do this but now

That it’s not a thing they were like well it’s it’s fine um especially if athletes weren’t getting paid um I think we’re trying to talk to someone about this um I know we reached out to C’s compliance person um but it hopefully we can get some answers in the near future

Because yeah it’s just it’s really interesting there there’s this situation is very nuanced and we don’t really know the people making the decisions and what their thinking is about about said decisions um but I I mean my opinion if you didn’t get paid in the ISL then yeah it’s like you

You participated in a pro league but you weren’t a professional in it because you didn’t get paid like that’s the whole definition of being a professional is making money off of it um I I don’t really have a problem with him wi with this situation in particular I think the

More people who can get exposed to NCAA swimming the better because I think it’s a really unique system and hopefully he gets an educational piece from it as well as getting to train with the best backstrokers in the world and you know I think we’ve seen the ASU has been the

Most recent example of this but when people get together and train at a really high level from around the world swimming gets better and I think that’s what we want to see that’s what I want to see uh oh of course but yeah referring to your point about summer

MacIntosh and how ISL has been our main argument against her not doing the NCA I don’t think she’s doing the NCA period like regardless of that I don’t think so either I don’t I I don’t think it would make sense for her where she’s at for her career I mean

She’s yeah I I I understand if if she had a desire a personal desire to swim on a college team because again that’s a really unique experience it’s it’s kind of once in a-lifetime thing and if that’s something you want I totally understand that to this point up to this

Point it doesn’t seem like something she wants and it professionally it doesn’t really make sense um especially if she goes to this Olympics and wins three gold medals right uh so don’t totally don’t blame her if she doesn’t or if that’s not what she wants because yeah it doesn’t make a

Whole lot of sense for her swimming wise but you know if she was also like hey I want to break a break a bunch of short course yards records then it’s like dude yeah do it I mean if she wants to do that she can just pull up to us open next

Year I love that people got so excited for that meat to go back to yards yeah that was um that was really great uh so yeah and I think my last talking point for mu and tomak is like we saw with Noe ponti if he wins a medal

At a home Olympics that could change the trajectory of his career so it will be to mean you said what did I say you say no Ponte so similar to what happened with oh okay I see he he won a medal at an Olympics wasn’t even a home Olympics um

And I think that changed the trajectory of his career right it changed how he was perceived in his home country he came to NC State for a month or two and then was like I need to go home this this isn’t right I want to be I want to

Be at home and totally understandable um so if if mean wins a medal at his home Olympics he could be a freaking superar star and then he you know he might have it made for the rest of his life and it’s like well I don’t really need to go

To Cal now so circling back to your original point it will be interesting to see how he does in Paris as well as if that affects him actually showing up so only time will tell but with that let’s move on to a whole bunch of sink or

Swims first up today on Sinker swim swim swam published the 2024 NCAA mid-season scoring updates for the men and women we’re going to start with the men on the men’s side we had ASU coming in at 566 Florida coming in second at 340 and Cal third at 281.50

Now we know that these must be taken with a grain of salt we know this is not totally accurate however ASU leading by over 200 points is is quite staggering so Sinker swim in men’s nc2a will be a blowout win for Arizona State how do you define blowout 80

Points 80 points okay I think they’ll win by a hundred but no more than a 100 cuz I’m not surprised I’m not surprised that they’re leading by considerable margin but I do think it’s important to consider that Cal always shows up with March magic and I don’t think it’ll get them

As far as it has in previous years just because ASU is so good in every category zealan s saran’s 1428 mile just gave them another extra 10 or 20 points I mean he scored last year I believe but now he’s like a NCA title favorite um but I do

Think that Cal didn’t show all of their cards during mid Seasons Jack Alexi wasn’t swimming at his fast this um I think Destin Masco got DED in an event there are a lot of factors and I ultimately think that they’re going to be considerably better than they were in

Mid Seasons like they usually are but I do think like ASU star po power is just too much this year but it it will be close closer than 200 points uh so you’re swimming you’re swimming a blowout I’m swimming a blowout but not in a way that not not like that wait no

No no actually I’m thinking it I think they’re going to win by like around like 70 80 points but not 100 cuz I’m realizing that UV the UVA would but won by like 100 points last year so I think the margin will be less than the ubaa woman won NCA by last

Year I’m sinking it as well I do think this is asu’s year they’ve kind of put a lot of eggs in this basket we don’t know what Leon’s future holds after this NCAA season but we know that his goal as well as the team goal is getting that in

Historic NCAA title for Arizona State and I I think they’re going to do it I think uh the addition of I mean ilot karun has just been a I can’t think of the word but Paramount you know he’s just like oh my God three event score plus relay you

Know four relay swimmer just like that um and and like Cal doesn’t have anyone like that and they really needed one I think to be competitive uh I see the meat being somewhere between and 70 points you know I think Cal always has a great last day but especially with the

Addition of uh Zaron now for ASU in the mile where Cal doesn’t have anyone super strong in those in that distance event I think asu’s depth is is gonna you know their their their top end depth they have eight to 10 guys who who can all score in two plus events and Cal

Always kind of has those sleeper swimmers that end up scoring in one or two events but like you said I don’t think it’s going to be quite enough this year yeah and the fact that they lost Aaron shakal who’s one of their most promising freshman that doesn’t really help their

Cause either it does not I forgot about that but um yeah and I think Cal can have some impact freshman who maybe even score individually again in one or two events but they don’t have you know an Ilia karon who’s just comes in and immediately notches in in seven events

That are you know and I’m like well Cal’s relays were really good last year and then I’m like oh yeah Arizona State’s relays were also Elite also top one or two last year and so I I think uh yeah I I don’t see it being a blowout

But I see it a Sun Devil win yeah all right going to the women’s side it is Virginia leading but it’s close so right now Virginia 423 Texas 44.5 these are projected scores well UVA also doesn’t have a proper 800 free relay it’s true they don’t swim the 800

Free relay at midseason this is a documented phenomena they skip it they’re like we don’t we don’t want to bother we’d rather our kids get an extra hour of sleep we’re not doing the eight- free relay at midseason and you know what I like it I

Can’t I can’t fault them one bit for skipping this because there’s no real reason to swim it I don’t they don’t need the practice in my opinion uh so sink or swim for the women’s in c2a the meat will be within 30 points I’m gonna s it I think Virginia

Is going to dominate like they have every single year since 20121 and my evidence Alex Walsh Gretchen Walsh Jasmine notini Ella Nelson Amy Kenny I could go on and on and on these are good points he raise um I think it it is a bummer for Texas that Jillian Cox ended up red

Shirting because she could have been a significant scorer I think if it was I would swim it if it was 40 points um I think it’s gonna be close I think Texas is going to lay it out there uh they have a lot of really good

Swimmers and they have a lot of really experienced Swimmers at this point along with a couple really solid freshmen who I think might have some surprising swims come conference and NC’s uh you know what I’m just going to swim it for fun I think I think Texas

Will get it within 30 and you know what maybe UVA Dees a relay and we have a 2016 situation where Texas like pulls out a pulls out a pulls out a win who knows I mean I wanted to be close I think close NCA meets are fun I agree um

But I think just oh another factor for mid-season was that Jasmine notini didn’t really go all out in mid Seasons because she was preparing for uh short Coursey Ros um but yeah I I just don’t I think it’ll be closer than last year but it won’t be

Decided by 30 points like I think that’s just too close to margin with like the death that U has and I’m also like more confident in Uva performing well at ncas cuz we saw last year a lot of the Texas swimmers laid egg at ncas after like being really

Promising in season so like whereas like most of Virginia’s top swimmers like I know they’re like saving everything for the end of the year that’s that’s where I have some confidence is that I think the Texas Texas swimmers will will learn from last year and I think I’m hoping they will be

At their best at n’s we’ll see we’ll see all right next up on Sinker swim will any man going back to men’s in c2a uh we saw Aiden Hayes go a 2036 50 backstroke suited in practice during winter training no this is not a stopwatch time there were touchpads in

The pool there is video evidence you can watch it on swim swam 2036 it is legit from Mr Aiden Hayes of NC State defending nc2a champion in the 200 fly and he rips a 20350 backstroke sink or swim we will see any man go under 20.0 in the 50 yard backstroke at

Nc2 a it’s so funny because I feel like in short course yards backstroke freestyle and Butterfly are all just interconnected because I thought Aiden Hayes was a flyer but I didn’t realize he could do all that in backstroke I mean oh I guess he he has a 20.7 um 50

Back but like I always thought of him as a flyer and then Luke Miller like I thought of him as like a 200 freestyle 100 freestyle guy but then he just like pops a 441 or 100 fly so it’s all interconnected as long as it’s not best unless you’re K Douglas

Um um but I think we are going to see a sub 1950 back at NCA is cu it’s just bound to happen bjor Seeliger went 20.02 years ago I believe and and NCA is just getting faster and faster so it’s about time I’ve been saying this was going to happen since

2016 and uh I told Dave diron in 2016 it’s happening Ryan Murphy’s going 19 and a 50 backstroke and Dave Duran said no he’s not and Dave Duran was right he didn’t was really disappointing he went 20.2 and since then we’ve seen Bjorn go 20.08 we’ve seen Casper sokowski and Adam cheny go

20.1 I don’t think it’s gonna happen Okay okay I’m sinking it it’s uh you know I think think people are getting people are becoming better swimmers they’re they’re going really fast it helps that the 200 medley relay is the first event of the first day of conference in

Nc2a I think I said nc2a in the question but we’ll we’ll include conference meets in this in this too I I see some 20 point lows coming in uh and I don’t see a 199 happening but I hope it does Coleman hoders doesn’t like fast swimming I hate it I hate fast

Swimming it’s the antithesis of my existence uh all right next up on Sinker swim um chin hayang not going to the 2024 Doha world championships for China that means he will not defend his world titles in the 50 or 200 breaststroke but you know what breaststroke world champion will be in Doha Adam

Py will Adam py win a fourth world title in Doha in the 50 or 100 breast I’m going to sick it because you know who else is also in do niga Martini Nick Fink Aro kaminga all of them have been pass faster than adpd in 2023 and I

Just don’t see anything from Adam py that’s convincing enough for me to think that he’s going to win a world title like I I just don’t see it it’s hard because uh for where Adam py is in and coming back to the pool as well as this

Olympics he’s he’s gonna B he is going to want to be trending in the right direction right and not to say that the other Summers won’t be but for Nick Fink he’s getting kind of old and I want to see him flourish this year obviously but he worries me a

Little because he’s getting kind of old uh nicoo Martin Angi is has been really good lately but I don’t think he’s unbeatable same with Arno Arno has has certainly been less consistent in the past 18 months than he has the prior 18 months before that of his career um

So I think it’s I think he has as good of a shot to win one of those events as any of those other swimmers and it will be really exciting to see what happens because I’m sure at least one of them will be swimming quite

Well so I’m going to swim it I think he can win at least one the 50 or the 100 um I and I think it will be interesting to see where each of those events is at for Adam especially because I’m guessing he’s focusing more on the 100 because of

The Olympics and because the 50 breast is not at the Olympics uh but it’ll be interesting to see if he’s got that back that patented PD back half down or if that’s coming along or if he’s got more speed at this point in his preparation and maybe the 50s a little

Bit better I think yeah I think he’s going to do better in the 50 just cuz like again basing this off a past evidence like at the World Cups like he was consistently like only losing the chin in the 50 breast whereas like in the 100 I think there’s maybe more

Competition like I’m pretty sure sure his season best in the 50s like right around what got bronze at Worlds last year so I think he has more of a chance in the 50 but I’m not I’m not entirely sure if he’s going to win but it’s definitely

More likely in the 50 than the but I’m gonna think s it just because like there’s a lot of competition in both events X Factor he’s got more tatos than anyone else in that field so think on that swimmers and swammer and finally uh we wrote several articles and

Had two polls asking what your favorite storyline for the men and women’s side heading into this Olympic year were so yinyan what is what storyline most excites you heading into these 2024 Olympic Games I think the story line that most excites me is how the Americans will perform because last year

Was their worst showing at an international meet worlds or Olympics since I believe 1994 and headed into an Olympic year that isn’t great cuz not just for team morale but just because in general like I feel like to a mainstream audience like they want to

Like in the US like they want to see swimming succeed because swimming has historically been one of the American’s best sports they know about Michael Phelps Katie Lei it’s always like you turn on the TV and like it’s the US US dominating and I feel like there’s a lot

Of pressure put on them every four years and I feel like people are kind of like it’s going to be a bit of a culture shock for like four year only viewers to see that like the Americans aren what they typically are in past years so I’m

Really curious to see like if that happens and how the public will react to it it’s a good point uh I mean I think there’s a good chance that the Americans could be what they normally are but that you know the Olympics is always kind of a

Crapshoot um because there it’s a very high pressure situation there’s lots of factors happening especially in a foreign continent but that is that’s a great storyline um I think think what I’m looking forward to is the contrast I’ll I’ll say a bigger picture answer as well the contrast between Youth and Veterans

So seeing the storylines of swimmers like Katie L Dei Caleb dressle Sarah schrom unfold and seeing how they perform versus upand cominging swimmers such as summer Macintosh David papovich um and the Emma mckian can be thrown into the veteran side um I think chin hayang is one who I’m really excited to

See how he performs because he’s not necessarily young but he is very new to this this level of uh swimming in terms of like being on podiums and winning and breaking World Records so um I’m excited to see the contrast between swimmers that we’ve seen perform really well once

Or twice versus swimmers who have performed at multiple Olympics um and and to see how both sides react to this Olympic Games