Swimming Press Convention | Prime opponents able to race in Singapore

The post-Olympic yr all the time brings a couple of host of latest adjustments to athletes’ lives. After a three-year buildup, the Paris Games delivered super outcomes – improbable racing, exuberant crowds and unforgettable moments and reactions.

France’s Leon Marchand rode that wave in the course of the nine-day programme within the French capital, profitable 4 particular person gold medals. The French individuals went ballistic every time he swam as he entered into super-stardom following the Games.

This yr, on the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Marchand is taking over an abbreviated program, solely racing the 200m and 400m IM, two occasions he received on the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, the latter by which he broke the world file that belonged to Michael Phelps for 21 years.

“I would say it’s more of a transition year for me after the Olympics, which was a big goal for me and a lot of athletes, mostly French,” Marchand informed reporters Saturday morning on the newly constructed World Championships Arena. “I would say it’s getting back into the game. I had a pretty good year of relaxing, getting back into it, but taking the time for it. I’m excited for worlds, I want PBs in every single one of my races. Of course, I want to break world records in the next few years, I don’t know when that’s going to happen. But I still have a lot to do in the swimming world.”

Marchand, who is among the star points of interest this week in Singapore, seeing his face plastered on promotional posters across the metropolis, commented on how his life has modified since a dream Olympics final yr.

“My life in France changed a lot,” Marchand informed reporters. “I’ve to plan issues. I can’t simply go alone within the metropolis and get some bread. I’ve to do various things earlier than, after, and through. It’s been quite a bit to deal with at first. I additionally benefit from the positives that occurred to me after that.

“I’m getting used to it, I know how to handle it better, I know how to say no better. It’s been different, but I’m also learning a lot. It’s been good. I got a lot more peace when I travel out of France. I was able to train better and just do my own things like usual.”

For Germany’s Florian Wellbrock, the Paris Olympics weren’t as magical. After coming into the Games because the gold medal favourite within the Open Water 10km, Wellbrock completed eighth within the River Seine.

“We didn’t achieve what we trained for,” Wellbrock stated. “I had a really long break after Paris, eight weeks. I had thoughts in my mind about retirement, and wasn’t sure to come back and go into the water again. But after eight weeks of recovering, I had the feeling that I wanted to be back in the water, with my group, with my coach. We decided, ok, let’s try and go all the way to LA 2028. I did a lot of work with a new mental coach, and I think I found a good way to be back. It’s so nice to be back on top of the podium.”

Last week, Wellbrock dominated the Open Water subject, profitable 4 of the doable 4 gold medals on the programme, profitable the 10km, 5km, the inaugural 3km knockout dash, and anchoring the 4x1500m blended relay group to the highest of the world.

Wellbrock will solely race one pool occasion in Singapore – the 1500m, which kicks off on Saturday, August 2. Wellbrock has the quickest time on this planet this yr forward of the likes of world file holder Bobby Finke, defending champion Daniel Wiffen, and his personal coaching associate Sven Schwarz.

Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi is coming into this week’s Worlds because the reigning Olympic champion within the 100m breaststroke. Like Wellbrock, he took an prolonged break exterior of the pool after Paris and enters these championships as one of many favorites for the 50m and 100m breaststroke.

“It was so tough after Paris,” Martinenghi stated. “It was like a dream come true nevertheless it was additionally a variety of problem in my thoughts. I ended, not for eight weeks, however for 5 months. I made a decision to alter my life. I moved to Verona…new coach, new life, new individuals. It helped me to find once more easy methods to take pleasure in my life, the swimming world. Now I can say that I’m prepared to return again to push once more. I really feel good.

“When you go out there to win a gold medal, you feel like no one can touch you or beat you, but it’s not like that. It’s just a medal. You have to push again, to push and start to work hard and win again. It’s difficult, but it’s our job. I’m here to do it again.”

Martinenghi received silver in each the 50m and 100m breaststroke on the World Championships in Doha final yr and will definitely be a favourite come the Los Angeles Olympics when the 50m breaststroke will make its Olympic debut.

“I’m happy about swimming the 50m,” Martinenghi stated. “Nothing’s changed. 50 is another race to prepare for. If it means for me to prepare more in the 50? No, I don’t think so. I’ll continue to do my job. My job is to swim from A to B in the least time possible. I’m really happy about it. That’s a new goal. You can be a two-time Olympic champion if you’re a sprinter. Nothing’s changed.”

Switzerland’s Noe Ponti, who dominated the latter half of 2024 with world data within the 50m and 100m butterfly on the World Short Course Championships in December, shared an analogous sentiment to Martinenghi concerning the alternative to swim the 50m butterfly on the Olympics in three years.

“50m means one more chance to win at the Olympics,” Ponti stated. “I don’t know if I’ll swim the 200m again, but who knows? LA… potentially three races where I can aim for a medal, but that doesn’t mean that my training has changed or anything. I’ve never trained for the 50m, so the focus has never been on the 50m for me. But I’ve always been able to swim a fast 50 metres. I’ll keep training for the 100, maybe the 200. The 50 will come with it. The 50s will gain more respect from people, from press, from everybody. I’m happy about it, and it’s going to be fun.”

Australia’s Cameron McEvoy, who received the 50m freestyle finally yr’s Olympics, is the heavy favourite to win the World title on Saturday, August 2, however with that being his solely race, he has one other week earlier than he’ll get on the blocks and race in entrance of your entire world.

“I’ve got my regular training cycle that I’m tapering down going into that race,” McEvoy stated. “I’ve got two suited-up sessions where I try to replicate what I want to do. Outside of that, it’s just relaxing, letting the nervous system come up, try not to get in my own way. Letting it go.”

McEvoy recently welcomed his first child, Hartley, into the world, as he’s racing in his first competitors as a father.

“It happened so fast,” McEvoy stated. “It was the blurriest yet clearest moment of my life. It’s really special. It’s definitely changed my perspective in the grand scheme of things. I’m also learning that you can hold that, but still maintain and go after your passions as well. I’ll continue to learn how to do that as we go forward. It’s been wild, I’m still processing a lot of the changes that come with it, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

One of the premier races of the week would be the girls’s 800m freestyle with the approaching matchup between the 2 quickest to ever swim the occasion – American Katie Ledecky and Canadian Summer McIntosh.

Ledecky has been actually unbeatable within the occasion at main meets since 2012, however is dealing with maybe the hardest take a look at of her profession in McIntosh, who obtained nearer to Ledecky’s world file in June than anybody has earlier than.

Australia’s Lani Pallister is ranked third on this planet behind them, some six seconds behind Ledecky, however her time from the Australian Swimming Trials in June was quicker than what Ledecky swam to win the Olympics final yr.

Pallister is having a profession yr, however so is Ledecky  and so is McIntosh, however that makes the prospect of these three racing within the 400m freestyle tomorrow and the 800m on Saturday, August 2, that rather more thrilling. 

“Katie’s done incredible things for the sport and arguably she’s the greatest distance swimmer of all time,” Pallister stated. “We have someone like Summer making waves in her events as well. For me, this is a meet where I want to see the training I’ve done with Dean (Boxall), being in a new programme. I just want to put together a time and race that I’m happy with. They’re both so close to the world record. There are goals and race plans in place, but it’ll be really cool to see from the outside as well as being in it.”

Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto can be entered within the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle occasions this week in Singapore, as she already received two medals in open water swimming final week, claiming gold within the 3km knockout dash and bronze within the 5km. It was the primary open water swimming medal for a Japanese individual, which has reached her home nation with delight.

She is ranked as excessive as eleventh within the 800m and 1500m amongst these certified for the championships.

“Right after finishing the open water swimming (OWS) events, and with hardly any time to pause, I moved straight into pool swimming,” Kajimoto stated. “Winning medals in OWS events gave me a huge boost in confidence. There’s absolutely no downside to it. I want to carry that confidence from winning medals in OWS into my pool races as well.”

One of the opposite premiere occasions this week is the boys’s 100m backstroke. Hungary’s Hubert Kos, who’s the reigning Olympic champion within the 200m backstroke, is ranked fifth on this planet this yr at 52.24, which might have received silver finally yr’s Olympics.

“I really want to do well in that event because I don’t want to be confined to one single event,” Kos stated on the press convention. “I want this to be the championships where I can show that I’ve been working on it a lot. The past couple months, everybody’s just sort of become a monster in that event. So we probably got like eight or nine people under 52.2 or something, which is unbelievable.”

Last yr in Paris, Ryan Murphy received bronze at 52.39, which six males have swum quicker than this yr, together with Pieter Coetze’s 51.99 from just a few days in the past on the World University Games in Germany.

“That might not even be enough to make the final this year,” Kos stated of final yr’s bronze medal profitable time. “So I’m really excited to do it, and I want to show in a field like that, where everybody’s really strong and everybody’s doing their best that I can still hold myself with these sprinters compared to myself.”