Lani Pallister Shares Detailed Account of Getting COVID and Winning Gold in Paris

On the eve of the 2024 Australian Short Course Nationals, Olympic champion Lani Pallister was kind enough to sit down with SwimSwam and discuss her last 8 weeks of swimming and life. Pallister admitted that she pushed through the urge to take a break from training after Paris to prepare to compete in the Surf Lifesaving as well as Short Course World Championships (via AUS short course nats). On Day 1 in Adelaide, Pallister hit a lifetime best in the 200 free (1:52.73) to win the event. After 20 minutes of talking short course swimming, potato sack racing, and the weather in Australia, Pallister dives into her experience in Paris. After qualifying for 3 individual events, Pallister ended up dropping 2 of them. Her coach, MIchael Bohl, advised dropping the 400 free to conserve her energy for the 800/1500 frees, then she contracted COVID, which led her to drop the 1500 free a few days later. Pallister bounced back in time for the 4x200 free relay, where she swam prelims, earned a spot in finals, and swam a key leg in the final to help Australia earn their first gold in the event since 2008.

Todd DeSorbo is fresh off serving as Team USA's head women's coach for swimming at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The UVA head coach reflects on training camp, the Olympic Village, and the Games themselves, happy with the overall performance of the team and himself. DeSorbo also discusses the NCAA realm, including how he's navigating recruiting in the new NIL landscape and what the Virginia team has in store for this fall.

Florent Manaudou has medaled in the last 4 Olympic 50 Freestyles, winning gold in 2012, silver in 2016 and 2020, and now bronze at his home Olympics in Paris. It hasn't been an easy path for the sprint legend though. Florent starts by speaking honestly about his emotional highs and lows coming off of the Olympics. He is already back in the pool training with the goal of competing at the 2024 Short Course World Championships and ultimately the 2026 European Championships in Paris. He goes on to recount his 2023-24 season leading up to the Paris Olympics. Manaudou admits he had been miserable for much of his career, only focusing on the outcome of his performances and diving into a depression when they didn't go his way. This year, Manaudou took more ownership of his swimming, doing what he wanted in and out of the pool to keep his body and brain healthy and happy.

After only swimming in relay prelims at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Mollie O'Callaghan has been on an absolute warpath on the international swim stage since, capping it off by winning individual gold in the 200 free and relay gold in the 4x100 and 4x200 free relays in Paris. Just before Tokyo in 2019, O'Callaghan had considered herself primarily a backstroke swimmer who swam sprint freestyle. But as she's progressed under coach Dean Boxall, she's dipped her toes more and more into mid-distance freestyle training and racing. That was highlighted last year at the 2023 World Championships, where she won a world title in the event and broke a 14-year-old world record. Listen to how O'Callaghan reflects on her progression in the pool over the last 5 years and her experience in Paris.

Katharine Berkoff secured her spot in Olympic history by contributing to a USA 2-3 finish in the women's 100 back, earning a bronze medal with her third-place finish. The 25x NCAA All-American also earned Olympic gold as a member of the 400 medley relay prelims team. For Katharine, making her first Olympic team was a generational accomplishment, as her father, David Berkoff, was not only her inspiration growing up but also an Olympic swimmer in his own right. After the Paris Games, father and daughter got the Olympic rings tattooed on them.

Carson Foster finished his summer as a first-time Olympian and a 2x Olympic medalist. Returning to Austin this fall, Foster is going through a ton of change. His longtime coaches at Texas, Eddie Reese and Wyatt Collins, are now replaced by Bob Bowman and his staff. In his personal life, Foster just married his longtime partner, Meredith, and is now living with her. SwimSwam spoke with the world champion about his whirlwind summer and all the changes he's adapting to now in Austin.

Torri Huske finished 4th in the 100 fly at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. A year later, she won the world title in the same event. At the next year's world championships after taking on an extreme course load at Stanford, still managed a bronze in the event. And finally, in Paris, Huske topped the podium once again... plus much, much more. It's no exaggeration to say the Paris Olympics was Torri's best international competition to date. Not only did she score gold in the 100 fly (55.5), but she also won silver in the 100 free (52.5) and as a part of the 400 free relay (52.0) as well as gold in the mixed 400 medley relay (Free, 51.8) and 400 medley relay (Free, 52.4). Huske breaks down the training she did leading into the Games, how her less-than-ideal experience last summer helped her learn moving into this year, and what she did to improve her relay starts.

Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby recently announced her decision to forego her remaining 2 years of NCAA eligibility and transition to being a professional athlete. Jacoby will continue to pursue her degree in fashion at Texas and for the time being, train in Austin. However, this will allow her more flexibility to travel, rest in the fall, and compete in events like the World Cup and Pro Swim series. Jacoby openly discusses her decision in addition to her summer of travel, going to New York Fashion Week, and what her swimming might look like moving forward.

Antonio Lutula has been the head coach at the Swedish National Centre in Stockholm since January 2022 and has already accomplished what many coaches wait a lifetime for. He led sprinting superstar Sarah Sjostrom to Olympic gold in both the 50 and 100 freestyle in Paris, her first Olympic titles in both events. Lutula discusses what coaching at the National Centre is like, why Sarah Sjostrom has been so consistent in racing, and what were the keys to winning gold in Paris.

Fresh off of leading Arizona State to its first NCAA team title in program history, Bob Bowman announced he would be leaving to head up the swim and dive program at Texas. A number of athletes left Arizona State following this announcement, either to follow Bob Bowman to Austin or pursue their swimming at other programs. One athlete who had trained under Bowman and was expected to follow him (from the outside) was freshman Ilya Kharun. The Canadian national had seen vast improvement under Bowman in just one year, capping his season with an NCAA title in the 200 fly. However, having built a life and community in Tempe already, Kharun opted to stay and train under newly named head coach and ASU alum Herbie Behm. It seemed to work for the rising sophomore, as he qualified for his first Canadian Olympic team and left Paris with 2 bronze medals in the 100 and 200 fly. In this podcast, Kharun discusses his decision to stay at ASU, what training with coach Behm has been like, and how he managed his event load in Paris and wound up on the podium twice.