Today on the GMM podcast, we have Jack Alexy, a sprint star shouldering the hopes of Team USA fans in the run-up to LA2028.
If you followed Paris, you know the story: Alexy’s first Olympic Games were mixed. He led the world out of prelims in the 100 free, then faded to seventh in the final. It was a tough pill to swallow for a swimmer sitting on that much raw speed.
Fast forward to the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, and Alexy delivered one of the great redemption arcs, dropping a blistering 46.81 in the 100 freestyle, an American Record. Perhaps more importantly, when Team USA needed a hammer on the medley relay anchor, he uncorked a 45.95 split, the fastest anchor in American history. That bodes well for LA2028.
Today, we dig into how he processed Paris, his training over the past year, his sickness on the cusp of Worlds, and what it felt like to deliver swims that rewrote the record books.
This conversation runs about an hour. If I missed any topics or questions, drop them in the comments, and we’ll pick them up in our next Alexy podcast.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
Other news: What Chalmers was offered to join the Enhanced Games
Kyle Chalmers Enhanced Games: Australian swimmer rejects multimillion-dollar offer to defect
He’s King Kyle for a reason.
That initial offer definitely wasn’t good enough to get Chalmers.
They absolutely *could* make one that he couldn’t refuse, though. Turning down something like $10 mil would be tough
..I cannot reveal sources on this topic, but EG is a consideration for elites. I’m hearing it in the background and in conversations. They are thinking about it for one reason, financial security. And what’s driving it: elites know the Olympic industry is one where most of the money is paid to Olympic industry executives. That’s simply a fact, and it is a grievance. EG has positioned itself in an ecosystem that has not evolved as much or fast as we might think (or care to think), and they intend to take advantage of that fact. If we (fans, supporters of clean sport) want to counter EG, the first and fastest way to do that is by carving out a… Read more »
I completely buy this. I have no idea how it wouldn’t be a consideration for almost everyone. (If they offer a current WR holder $50k, no, they’re not taking it. But $25 mil? I think that might get almost everyone.)
EG does seem like a bigger “threat” to the status quo than ISL ever was.
ISL seemed like a supplement – which I think EG could and will most likely be – but it could also really screw things up if they poach enough athletes.
I hope this gets more athletes paid. I’m pessimistic, but you’re really hammering on how bad the status quo is and I hope it budges
Compared to ISL…EG isn’t one person financing it all. It’s a startup chancing a lot investors, and that will be ongoing. And it has a built-in biz model. “See this person do amazing things, and here’s the protocol that you can also do. Buy now.” And it’s pure spectacle in sport…and, as mentioned before (on comments on other posts), betting will be a part of this. I don’t know where it will all end-up, but we’re sliding into some weird places. I mean, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in EG, and EG is suing USA Swimming. Just so odd..
Is the great big money paid upfront?? Is there some sort of guaranty? In any case, it’s robber barons exploiting others for promises of money, and for entertainment for the masses. Not that far removed Roman Gladiators. That spectacle was all about self-promotion for owners and politicians. Did they really care about the gladiators? Hmmm..
In most countries it’s solved by the cash prize for international medals and high salaries while the athlete is active. A gold medal is worth the price of an apartment for example. Katinka collected an apartment complex during her career.
In a few countries it’s solved… FTFY.
Love watching Alexy race – he is so lon
Mel, what were the three changes Marsh made to your butterfly?
NOTE: I told him to f-off when he said he was changing my stroke….and then I changed my stroke:
1 – My hands were entering the water close together (like Michael Gross). Marsh widened my entry. I took 14-17 strokes per lap (like Gross), and Marsh had me taking 18-21 strokes per lap, but I maintained forward energy more efficiently.
2 – Marsh flatten out my stroke, less up and down. (Always said I was wiggling too much, and too much wiggle was swimming a longer distance.)
3 – Marsh pushed speed and strength more – and pushed me to turnover more (which might sound like 1 & 2, but was a separate wiring of my brain).… Read more »
Amazing content, thanks! Marsh’s advice reminds me of Eetu Karvonen’s recent Swim Rehearsal video about the key to Summer McIntosh’s strokes being continuous propulsion (flatter, higher tempo, immediate catch, etc.). See https://youtu.be/N8HJoyhZwQE?si=A6_iv8GS6mMZA-vs
All due respect to Marsh, but I wonder how many guys since Pankratov have gone under 52.5 in a brief…
16 final
Second lap 100 fly
Js 19 strokes
Laszlo 17/18
Chad 18/19
Mp 19
21
Caleb 19
Milak 17
Those hungo flyers can DPs
Laszlo had that long stroke like gross. Always wondered if the marsh method could’ve made him faster.
Alexy comes across as a thoughtful and articulate gentleman.
His family and his coaches must be very proud of him!
(As aside, I’d be curious to know what kind of relationship he has with Hunter Armstrong, and what their conversations about life and swimming are like.)
I’ll ask him…
Thank you for posting this.
Please consider using an automated transcription tool that could provide an alternative way for us to “hear” what SwimSwam’s interview subjects have to say. With the advances in speech recognition and AI there’s got to be one available. It would be more convenient and take less time for those of us who don’t have a spare hour or so to watch and listen to a video.
Agreed. Working on it….
I was just about to make the sme suggestion. It would also be good to have close captioning for hard of hearing and deaf people.
Take the SwimSwam YouTube link and use this tool. Will return you a transcript if you are a reader
https://www.youtube-transcript.io/
Mel
Cullen Jones, the first man who identifies as “black”? What are his other choices? Just curious
I haven’t watched the video yet, but I think this is kind of a reference to Anthony Ervin. He has some African heritage, but wasn’t comfortable identifying that way, from what I recall.
…ahhh, I don’t remember this being a part of my Alexy convo….
Towards the end of video
Just watched. Sorry. I did say that and I do say that. Some swimmers with black heritage do not identify as black–and some do. So, I strive to meet people where they are at with hope and trust they will do the same for me.