Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. Motivational Monday: Race Videos Provide Perfect Pump-Up Before Competitions Do you have an important championship race coming up? Perhaps a particularly challenging practice as the high school swimming season gets underway in certain states or the club swimming season soon after? Get fired up for training or competition by watching the best in the world perform on the biggest stage. The advent of online videos made gave swimming fans around the world the ability to watch races and marvel at how great athletes performed in key moments. Surely other millennials have watched the men’s 400 freestyle relay from the 2008 Olympics, the race where Jason Lezak notched the fastest split in history at 46.06 as he overtook France’s Alain Bernard to win gold for the United States. Perhaps you’ve replayed the video enough times that you know the call from NBC Sports announcers Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines from memory? Elite swimmers show all the qualities that age groupers and high school swimmers hope to emulate. After qualifying for the U.S. World Championships team last month, Thomas Heilman said that he fired himself up watching YouTube videos of Michael Phelps and Caeleb Dressel in some of their best races, and the videos of Phelps in particular provided a chance for analysis in addition to encouragement. “Partially to get excited,” Heilman said for why he watches race replays. “Obviously [Phelps] has some of the best technique we’ve ever seen. Just trying to take bits and pieces of that. I don’t have specific details I’ve taken from him, but just watching him and subconsciously emulate that in practice.” If you’re looking for race videos to watch, the completion of the World Championships in Fukuoka means there’s an entire library of 42 finals from which to choose. NBC Sports uploaded most races to YouTube for fans to enjoy, and most of those races included the commentary of Hicks and Gaines, reunited at a meet for the first time since calling their sixth Olympics together in Tokyo (while Jason Knapp joined Gaines before Hicks arrived from calling golf’s Open Championships in Britain). Inspired by greatness? Look no further than the collection of world-record swims: Leon Marchand’s record-smashing mark in the 400 IM was perhaps the single best performance of the meet, and American commentary features the voice of the all-time great whose record he broke, Michael Phelps. Find that video here. Ariarne Titmus — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto You cannot go wrong with Ariarne Titmus’ win in the ‘Race of the Century’ women’s 400 freestyle (video) or Mollie O’Callaghan’s come-from-behind effort in the 200 free (video). Want a peak at all-time greatness? How about Katie Ledecky’s dominant victory in the 800 free that secured her sixth consecutive world title in the event? And of course there’s Sarah Sjostrom’s world title–world record back-to-back performance Saturday night (50 fly video and 50 free video). Do you think distance swimming is boring? A replay of the men’s 1500 free final should change your mind as you watch Ahmed Hafnaoui and Bobby Finke go toe-to-toe for 14-and-a-half minutes, only for a margin of five hundredths to determine the victory. And for American fans hoping to relive the impressive ending to the meet with a pair of medley relay wins, you can find the men’s race here and the women’s here. Watch these races. Marvel at the best of the best swimming in this year’s most significant competition. Keep an eye on their technique and details, especially their turns, to see what works so well. Or not so well — think about the poor start that almost cost Jack Alexy a spot in the 100 free final. Look at his mistake and how it cost him but also how Alexy did not quit and fought to catch up with his rivals, doing just enough to secure his spot on the way to an eventual silver medal (video). An afternoon diving into World Championships highlights should provide a sufficient jolt before your next hard practice or race. Watch one race enough times, and soon enough, you will be reciting the commentary in your head as you show off your much-improved underwater dolphin kick while running down teammates… in the last lap of warmup.
