Dara Torres drops in on the SwimSwam Podcast to recap her first-year experience as head coach of Boston College. If you followed swimming at any point between the late 1980s and the 2000s, the name Dara Torres likely meant one thing: dominance. The 12-time Olympic medalist was a generational athlete whose longevity and speed redefined what was possible in the sport. Now, Torres is proving that greatness doesn’t stop at the water’s edge. In her first year as head coach at Boston College, Torres brought the same energy, excellence, and relentless drive to the Eagles' program that defined her Olympic career. While the men’s team went 2-4 and the women posted a 2-3 dual meet record, Torres’ inaugural season wasn’t about win-loss columns—it was about laying the foundation for the future, and that foundation looks rock solid.

In this marathon podcast, we go through the entire 2025 US Trials psych sheet and give an event-by-event preview of every upcoming race in Indianapolis.

After emerging as Team USA's top 100 freestyle relay option at the Paris Olympics, Hunter Armstrong had planned to take 6 months off of training before getting back into the pool with his sights set on LA28. Life had other plans. After suddenly getting dropped by his primary sponsor in late 2024, Armstrong had to stop training completely, working odd jobs, including swim clinics, construction, and substitute teaching, in order to pay his mortgage. He was going to Pro Swims, but really only competing for the fun of it, having little to no training under his belt. After the Ft Lauderdale pro swim in May, which he thought would be the last meet of his career, a new sponsor contacted him about a potential partnership. Now with renewed life in and outside of swimming, Armstrong is taking his time getting back into serious training. Not swimming all the time forced the Olympic champion to find out who he was without his sport, and he's still enjoying that process. Since he has almost no training under his belt, Armstrong is forgoing the US World Trials in Indianapolis, choosing to focus on the Pro Championships in Irvine at the beginning of August instead. Though it didn't all go to plan, Armstrong is now back in the pool with his sights set on LA28.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing the Enhanced Games, Braden Holloway as the single head coach for 2025 Worlds, and a potential new format for the NCAA Championships.

SwimSwam sat down with Greg Meehan, the newly named National Team Director of USA Swimming, to discuss his vision for the national team's future. When Meehan laid out his plan, his three key points were "winning" the 2028 Olympic Games, building a "team-first culture," and having transparency in the national team's methodology and communication. Meehan has already implemented significant changes in how the USA Swimming navigates an Olympic quad, including naming a single head coach for the 2025 World Championships (Braden Holloway) and having the results of the 2025 season determine the roster for the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing the 12-year-old Chinese phenom Yu Ziti (and swimming at the Chinese Nationals), Leon Marchand's spicy 4:07 400 IM, and Chris Lindauer going to Stanford.

Germany's Sven Schwarz is coming off a weekend that saw him break his first European Record, dropping a 7:38.1 in the 800 free. He also went a huge PB in the 1500, breaking 14:40 for the first time to touch in 14:36. Schwarz discusses his experience at the German Championships and what it's like when he gets to have training camps with fellow German distance titans Lukas Martens, Oliver Klemet, and Florian Wellbrock. 

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing the madness that occurred at the Ft Lauderdale Pro Swim.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we are discussing the newly announced dual meet tournament, several international meets around the globe, and the upcoming Pro Swim Stop in Ft Lauderdale.

On the back of winning the 50 free and 50 fly at the 2025 British Championships and qualifying for her first LCM world championships, SwimSwam sat down with Eva Okaro to discuss her swimming career thus far. Okaro dives into her experience at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2024 Short Course World Championships, where she won a silver medal with Britain's mixed 4x100 medley relay. She also talks about her training in Britain and what she's looking forward to about coming to the University of Texas in the fall.

SwimSwam sat down with the coaches behind the upcoming Dual Meet Tournament that will take place at Georgia Tech on October 17-18, 2025. Chico Rego of George Washington, Iago Moussalem of Georgia Tech, Cauli Bedran of Wisconsin (who is not participating in the tournament), and Steve Barnes of Florida State all contributed to this discussion and laid out how this event came together, what it will look like, and how they hope it will impact college swimming moving forward.

After training for 5 years in Italy with some of the best breaststroke specialists in the country, 20-year-old Anita Bottazzo needed a change. She wanted new stimulus both athletically and academically, so she decided to come to the University of Florida. Flash forward one year: Bottazzo has become an SEC Champion, NCAA All-American, and Italian champion, and is pursuing a degree in biotechnology. Listen to how Bottazzo has flourished in Gainesville and what tools she's gained since her arrival in the USA.

Stephanie Balduccini finished her second college swimming season as a Big Ten Champion and NCAA All-American. The Michigan sophomore has found her groove in Ann Arbor, but it wasn't a linear path. Coming into Michigan, Balduccini was actually quite unhappy with her swimming and was considering retirement if she didn't enjoy Michigan. However, the coaching staff and family dynamic of the team helped her to rediscover her love of the sport. Specifically, she learned to focus on small wins in her day-to-day training and racing, not solely focus on times or results. The 2x Brazilian Olympian discusses the NCAA season, her Olympic experience, and what it means to be "Elite".

SwimSwam sat down with Bob Bowman, the Director of Swimming at the University of Texas, who delivered the Longhorns a national title in his first year at the helm. Bowman, who was coming off of winning a national title with Arizona State the year before, discussed the similarities and differences of winning national titles at ASU and UT, noting that Texas has a storied history of national success that gives a confidence boost to its athletes. Bowman also addressed Leon Marchand's scheduled return to competition, the Pro Swim Series in Ft. Lauderdale, confirming that we may see the 4x Olympic champion in some freestyle events. To round out our conversation, Bowman told a few stories of watching his grandchildren (Boomer, Beckett, and Maverick Phelps) play on their respective soccer and baseball teams, the latter of which their father, Michael Phelps, is the coach of.

Cal Baptist junior Remi Fabiani was a 3x conference champion this year, qualifying for NCAAs and finishing 13th in the 100 free. After NCAAs, Fabiani announced he would be transferring to ASU for his final season of eligibility. SwimSwam sat down with Fabiani to discuss his journey from his home country of Luxembourg to Riverside, California. The sprinter takes us through leaving home, his Olympic redshirt season, and what scoring at NCAAs as a Mid-Major athlete was like.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Lukas Martens' huge world record in the 400m Free, 50s of stroke in the Olympics, and USA Swimming announcing Greg Meehan as the new US National team director.

We sat down with Jassen Yep, the Indiana Hoosier who came into Bloomington with a 1:57 200 breast and recently won an NCAA title in the same event with a 1:48. Yep takes us through his journey at Indiana and how he made the progression from barely recruited (he was not a walk-on, but he did come in with very little scholarship money) to #4 performer all-time in the 200 breast. While Yep planned to retire after NCAAs, this wave of success and enjoyment of his sport has led Jassen to reconsider. The Hoosier will now keep training while he finishes his Master's degree in sociology with US Trials in June in his sights.

Aurora Roghair showed out in the last meet of her swimming career, notching 2nd place finishes in the 500 and 1,650 free, 11th in the 200 free, and swimming a massive 1:41.8 leg on Stanford's winning 800 free relay. After officially announcing her retirement, the US National Team member reflected on what being a Stanford women's team member has meant to her and how she grew during her four years on the Farm. She also speaks about her future, looking to pursue grad school at Notre Dame.

Olympic champion in the 200 back Hubi Kos carried his success over into the yards pool last month, going 3-for-3 in his individual events at the NCAA Championships and breaking NCAA records in the 100 and 200 back. Kos explains the confidence that being an Olympic champion has given him and how Bob Bowman's training prepares him for moments like this.

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the recent Pro Swim Series stop in Sacramento, numerous high-caliber NCAA transfers, and the House Settlement's final hearing.