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By David Rieder.
Nathan Adrian is plenty used to coming to a National Championships the year after the Olympics at the IUPUI Natatorium—and winning.
In 2009, one year after making his first Olympic team as a teenager, Adrian won his first two National titles in Indianapolis in the 50 free and then the 100 free. He won both again four years later. In fact, he’s won the national title in the 100 free at every Nationals with international qualification at stake going back to 2009
Now, just one day before he aims to win that race yet again, Adrian has a basic concern he wants to mark off his checklist, a simple task not quite as simple as one might expect: Just get into the final.
“I’m just excited about the race,” he said. “Tomorrow’s prelims is going to pretty interesting. I think there’s just enough quality that someone good is going to be stuck in the B-final.”
Surely not Nathan Adrian, though. Not the uber-consistent 28-year-old who won Olympic gold in the 100 free in 2012 and a bronze last summer in Rio.
But the prelims could be cutthroat, particularly with six World Championships spots on the 400 free relay up for grabs. Since there are no semi-finals at this year’s meet, there’s no margin for error in the morning with a host of outside contenders going all out.
Compared to most years, Adrian’s 2017 has been a little different. After the Olympics, he didn’t race until March. He messed around with new training techniques and race strategies with his longtime coach at Cal, Dave Durden. He got engaged.
Photo Courtesy: Nathan Adrian (Twitter)
“It’s good to happen this year,” Adrian said about his engagement to Hallie Ivester. “Hallie and her mom have been doing an incredible job of planning everything. I give input when asked, but I’m certainly along for the ride in terms of being in control.
“It’s definitely different, just having someone else who’s significant in your life that you’re caring for each and every day, where before it was me, me, me all the time—what am I going to do to recover, what am I going to do to get myself ready for the next practice or the next meet? It’s no longer just me alone anymore.”
In the pool, it’s been a process of experimentation. In training, he and Durden have pushed limits, to see how much Adrian still responds well to and what constitutes too much—better this year than any other, right?
As for racing, Adrian has swum the 100 free four times this year, and each time he focused on holding back a little bit on the first 50 so that he could come home under 25 seconds. That came after watching young Aussie Kyle Chalmers finish in 24.4 to overhaul the field—Adrian included—to win Olympic gold in Rio.
Photo Courtesy: Stan Szeto/USA Today Sports
But now that it’s crunch time, Adrian thinks he might end up going back to what’s worked so well for him over the past eight years.
“Everything is kind of normalizing back out to going out fast and just trying to come back. As I rest, I get a little more speed, and that back end falls off a little bit,” he said. “Unfortunately, (during the race when) when I came back in 24.7, I think I went out in 23-high, so that’s not going to get it done.”
Even with some young, hungry sprinters awaiting him in the 100 free—see Dressel, Caeleb—Adrian still is the man to beat in the 100 free. His trip to Indy is of the business variety, with World Champs spots in his signature events on the line.
But after the 100 free on day one, the 50 doesn’t come around until day five, Saturday. So aside from swimming, Adrian’s immediate future includes plenty of television.
“I’m probably going to see more of the inside of my hotel than I want to,” he said. “I started Troll Hunters on Netflix. It’s a stupid animated show, but it’s pretty interesting. I’m looking for suggestions—I’m probably going to run out of episodes. We’ll see what the next show up is.”
Watch a full replay of Adrian’s pre-meet press conference at U.S. Nationals:
Watch more pre-meet press conference videos by clicking here.
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