Today on the GMM podcast we have Torri Huske, who walked away from the 2025 World Championships with two relay golds (including world records), a relay silver, and an individual bronze in the 100 free:
- 4×100 Medley Relay (Gold / World Record 3:49.34) — Torri anchored with a 52.52 free split.
- Mixed 4×100 Freestyle Relay (Gold / World Record 3:18.48) — she swam 52.44 in that world-record run.
- 4×100 Free Relay (Silver, 3:31.04) — Torri swam the second leg in 52.88 to help the U.S. touch the wall behind behind Australia.
- 100 Free (Bronze) — 52.89
Throughout it all, Torri battled an acute team-wide illness, that nasty gastroenteritis outbreak. In hindsight she said she wished she had handled the challenges a little better, and she explains why in detail.
Back home at Stanford, Torri’s facing significant change. Greg Meehan’s departure from Stanford to become USA Swimming’s National Team Director has ushered in Chris Lindauer as the new head coach. Torri opens up about that transition, how it’s shaping her training, and which direction she’s headed next.
If I missed any topics or questions, drop them in the comments below and we’ll follow up with Torri.
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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.
One of the wild things about that WR setting medley relay is I can talk myself into each leg of it not being on the finals relay in LA, either by swimming a different stroke OR by being just straight up beaten out for the spot.
Do I think it’s likely even one of them isn’t still on it? No! But legit, it’s plausible it could be any/all of em:
-Smith on back: Berkoff is p good! Only gotta switch a couple tenths for the both of ’em.
-Douglass on breast: Least track record of all of ’em – even tho she is the best and Rules – but still has only been on it once in… Read more »
Also I’m gonna bury this in a reply to myself but – Mel you mentioned the comments getting on her for that mixed medley relay split, but an unstated part of it was that she has bombed relays like that before, too.
Not saying it’s fair or what half of what anyone was saying about that one swim was somehow “warranted” given the circumstances, but it still sort of plays into a narrative. (Which, I feel like messing up on relays follows you around after a minute – poor Kevin Cordes just couldn’t catch a break, that kinda thing.)
Huske has obviously also had plenty of great relay swims, but it is a semi-trend that I think gets… Read more »
Could definitely see Huske displaced by Erisman
Her armpits are so beautiful!
Why bro, just why…
I kind of wonder about the people that upvoted this.
Whenever you interview an American swimmer, you always focus on their positive swims. Why no questions about the 4*100 free relay and her anchor? Is it because Australia won it ?
And you forgot the 50 free that she swam on the last day where she didn’t medal, but you chose to focus on the medley relay.
She did an interview two years ago after Fukuoka which was probably her worst meet ever with Yanyan and the entire thing was her addressing her bad swims and why she was off form. So go listen to that if you so badly want to hear her talk about something negative. Would you want to be asked about your bad swims instead of your good ones?
I disagree, what’s negative about a silver in the 4*100 free ? That’s not a bad swim.
We want to hear swimmers recap their meets as a whole and that includes the ones where they won something (gold or not) or didn’t even make a final.
That way we learn as fans more about the swimmers and their mentality going in and out of each race.
Your comment has a lot of down votes, but I agree w/you. I’ve been doing longer format interviews, up to 2 hours, with the intention of covering all swims. We were a little pressed for time on this one, BUT I could’ve easily asked her to recap each WC swim. Even 2 minutes from the performer is greatly insightful.
Thanks Mel, I love full recaps.
We love the longer interviews, I’d love to watch a 2 hour interview with these athletes, especially those like Regan, Kate, Torri, etc who are very lively and have good vibes
Interview was done well. Short and insightful You allowed her to speak and did not talk over her like others do when they are interviewing athletes.
I mean it’s pretty obvious the answer will constantly be because she was sick as a dog. She mentioned it multiple times in the interview the way it is
Sometimes they do. He asked Kaylee why she is always slower on the relay and Regan why she can’t beat Kaylee in the individual. I thought they were good questions that both swimmers gave interesting answers to
Again with the OCD from down under.
“If you don’t ask every swimmer the exact same 10 questions, you’re biased.”
Give
It
Up
When’s this going on Spotify?
@DK99 it’s up now.
It always amazes Australians that US swimmers do not earn good money. In Australia soon as you make an Australian team, the cash starts rolling in.
Money rolling in is a bit of an exaggeration! There is some Gina Rinehart money, and the sponsorship is good for our top tier (Mollie, Arnie & Kaylee are all regularly on commercial tv ads), but it’s not a level playing field, and individual gold + personality is where the money is at.
Some Gina money. Are you kidding. Tens of millions each year.
Nonsense. That’s not even true when you include funding across all sports Hancock Prospecting funds.
https://www.hancockprospecting.com.au/swimmers-say-gina-rinehart-financial-backing-key-to-success-at-paris-olympics/
The best figure I can find is $3.5 million of direct support to swimmers in 2023-2024.
And swimming gets most of it. And it all goes directly to swimmers
What are you talking about? That’s not true at all and Australians don’t think that. Are you even Australian? Lol
How much does Gina give each year?
I know it can be sensitive, but what does “the cash starts rolling in” mean? Endorsements? Or, a stipend from the governing body?
Any decent swimmer gets 60 thousand a year
Surprised Mel didn’t ask Torri about any financial stuff like he did with Regan, Kate, and Shane. Curious to see how she thinks about everything with that and everything with USA swimming unless she said off camera she didn’t want too. Just find it odd she didn’t talk about the stuff you talked to Kate and Regan about
I guess the difference is that Torri is still an NCAA athlete.
correct…
Didn’t think that was a problem tbh since NCAA athletes can get paid by Olympic committees, and with the NIL thing. My mistake
It’s a fair question, and I do ask elites off-camera if they want to discuss it. The topic is sensitive, Torri’s still NCAA/young, and she does not manage this part of her career. Most National Team members are not aware of the financial side because USAs does not educate them on this topic. You have to chase this information and dig it up as best you can with your own resources and contacts. HOWEVER, older National Team members do become aware as they enter adulthood and start considering their financial future… So, once again, I will note that APA, The Athlete Partnership Agreement (USA Swimming’s direct financial support to national team members) has been flat since 2010. This is unacceptable… Read more »
No they were not paid anywhere close to market value. Actually they haven’t been paid yet, think ISL, checks in the mail as they say
Didn’t think of her being an NCAA athlete being a reason due to NIL stuff, my bad Mel. Good interview nonetheless and I’m glad you’re very adamant about the money
No worries. It’s a good question!
my 2 cents on what i would have liked to have heard a bit more about
the build up to this past ncaa season?
training this past season? when greg left? more about the otc camp?
event selection this past season (at ncaas; at trials: 50 free over 200 im, 200 free over 50 fly; after trials: dropping 200 free; during worlds: dropping 100 fly)
this upcoming ncaa season / thoughts on the freshmen class?
event selection this upcoming season: at ncaas, pan pacs
Heard….
Torri did say her schedule would mirror past years. So, no changes/surprises there.
Will follow up with her mid-season and follow these topics.
fair! but i feel like this past season she demonstrated much more range than past years — 23 high in the 50 and 155 high in the 200. verrrry curious if she plans to continue to pursue the 200 free and where the 200 im fits into things.
agreed….will ask…
so many of the US women superstars are contemplating retirement after LA. gonna be kinda sad…
us fans should not take for granted the current us womens team….
just speculating but theres a lot of names who might not swim past 2028 — simone, douglass, torri, ledecky, alex walsh, weyant (and paige madden, jacoby, weitzeil who say theyre currently on breaks)
…I think about it a lot. We did face the same situation coming off LA84, and 1988 was the weakest US OGs performance compared to 1992-2024 (just on the women’s side).
And that was with peak Janet Evans. Minus her emergence 1988 really would have been a disaster on the women’s side.
Jacoby ain’t coming back.
us womens breaststroke does not look like its in good shape in a post douglass/walsh/jacoby world
Only upside is that breastrokers sometimes come out of nowhere as teenagers. So maybe we will see one show up in 2027/2028 to carry the torch. Are there any 12/13 year old girls that have that talent we know of?
theres actually a few interesting talents in the 2027-2028 hs classes. but hoping a teenager randomly turns into an elite talent does not seem like a reliable strategy lol
Breaststroke is the one stroke where you shouldn’t really worry about it for the Olympics until a year out. If you think about the US teams 3 years out, King was a known quantity headed into 2021 and 2024, but Weber wasn’t in contention in 2021 and Jacoby wasn’t really around in 2018. Then for 2016 both King and Meili were not the medal threats they eventually became back in 2013. Same thing for Breeja Larson in 2009 for the 2012 team.
Keep an eye on Mckenzie siroky, I think she has a lot more coming
Can’t swim forever.
Pretty sure Madden is retired
Yeah but good news is (hopefully) the women’s side is just turning out talent nonstop unlike the men’s side. But it’ll suck to see our favorites retire in only a couple years
I’m bullish on US talent, but over past decades the sport was growing in the US. Not anymore. That’s in question now. I’m hopeful an domestic OGs will change that fact–but, as mentioned before, still no marketing plan from USA Swimming. USAs is following the same playbook hoping for a different result. Hope isn’t a plan.
I think a lot of them have to think that way because contemplating the schedules they have is hard when you don’t take it day by day or week by week.It’s easier to think, let me just get through this week. Putting days and weeks together is somehow psychologically easier.
I feel the same way about the Australian swimmers
Sad, but not surprising. It’s the nature of sport. Especially for those who have already experienced individual Olympic gold, unless the financial rewards of swimming still make sense for them, which they may if these swimmers have a successful LA, it’s a hard grind and history tells us that the Sarah Sjöström’s of the world, winning gold in their 30s, are exceptions. If you’re a sprint freestyler, do you swim until 2032 hoping to maintain form and represent the USA individually or do you keep training hoping to be a relay swimmer? If they enjoy training and are paid well, maybe they try, but if not, I wouldn’t blame anyone for moving on. The youngest American stars, Huske and Gretchen… Read more »