In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges, Garrett McCaffrey, and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.
In just 12 months from July 2021 to July 2022, Zac Stubblety-Cook became Olympic Champion, World Champion, Commonwealth Games Champion, and world record-holder in the 200 Breast. One year later, he settled for silver at the 2023 World Champs and saw his world record get broken in that same race by Qin Haiyang.
Stubblety-Cook sat down with SwimSwam and spoke about struggling to find motivation after achieving every possible goal he had. The Aussie is now in the full swing of Olympic training with a new fire heading into the Aussie Trials and Paris.
And at the end of the podcast, we discuss one of his other passions: coffee.
- 0:00 Zac Stubblety-Cook Introduction
- 1:26 Getting Advice from Adam Peaty
- 4:20 Finding Motivation in 2023
- 8:15 Training for the 200 Breast
- 12:00 Racing Qin Haiyang
- 17:19 Spring Training
- 25:05 Training Camp in Flagstaff
- 28:15 First Race Since 2023 Worlds
- 36:47 Coffee Talk
- 50:32 Olympic Year
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Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com
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.
To everyone saying Marchand clearly won’t choose the 200 breast over the 200 fly in Paris, here ( https://swimswam.com/leon-marchand-commits-to-another-season-at-asu-keeping-400-im-wr-in-back-of-my-mind/ ) is a Swim Swam interview where he was asked about his schedule at 2023 worlds:
I believe there was also a statement about gauging the relative strength of 200fly and 200breast fields because the 200fly/breast are mutually exclusive in the Paris Olympics.
You’d have to think that without Milak, the 200fly is a weaker field than facing Qin in the 200breast
Qin stepping up on the blocks
He name drops the Coffee Commune as where he did his coffee course! That place is great!
He hated losing at the last world championships. That was plain when he did the post-race interview with Channel 9 (Australia). But even though he now has some serious motivation to win back-to-back Olympic gold and reclaim the 200m world record, he’s going to have to swim a flawless race to beat a breaststroking beast like Qin.
Zac talks about more front end speed is needed (obviously) and mentions like Nic Fink. It is a fine line because working on front end and ignoring back end speed can be dangerous too…ie Nic Fink. Zac and his coach are pretty aware I am sure.
Really enjoyed “Coleman Coffee Chat” with Zac!
Coleman Coffee Chat is such a mood
I don’t think Fink is ignoring back end, he’s just working a full time job and not training as much. Pretty obvious to see what’s happened to his 200 since he got deep into his masters program and work.
So he is ignoring back half speed then?
Haven’t listened yet but initial thoughts:
ZSC should go all in on the 200. Hopefully Williamson will have the 100 covered.
Qin Haiyang has to be the favourite at the moment but I think ZSC still has more left in him to give. Should be a good race.
Marchand is certainly in the conversation for gold if he swims this in Paris, but the multiple commenters saying Marchand would have easily won in Fukuoka and is favourite for Paris are delusional lol
I think Marchand runs into the same problem as ZSC against Qin. The difference in speed is massive.
In Paris, 200 breast is in the same sessions as 200 fly.
Will Marchand swim both? Would it affect his medal chances?
I don’t think Phelps ever had two 200 events in the same sessions.
Lochte attempted 200 back-200 IM in London and it wasn’t pretty.
He would have won either if he only swum 1.
No way he swims both, but he has to keep the 2 options very close to his chest. Depending on what Milak, Heilman and Kharun do, he could opt for one or the other late in the game.
Another thing to consider is if he’s gonna swim the 4×2 final which is back to back with the 200 breast semi. The schedule really does him no favours.
Very good point.
This is a big factor (beyond Milak’s troubles) for Marchand to swim the 200 fly instead of the 200 br.
Typically Phelps had in the same session the 200 fly final and the 4×200 free relay, and he swam both even at Rio, in his last Olympics at 31 (and that 200 free anchor after the 200 fly was painful)
And had to swim really hard in the relay because of the weak leg from Lochte.
Chiming in to say Phelps always had the 200 fly and 4×200 free on the same day and always performed in both. It clearly gassed him for the rest of the meet in Rio but Marchand isn’t 30 years old.
But the 200 fly was never right before the 4×200. Having two events in the same session and having an event 5 minutes before another event are vastly different.
Phelps usually went slower leading off the 4×200 than he went in the individual 200. It is understandable given his heavy schedule. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but he was typically about a second slower in that relay vs individual.
Haven’t listened yet but by “Fall training” I assume you mean September – December which is Spring training in Australia.
Some commenter on here said the main big meet of the year (July-August) was NOT held in the winter period for Australian swimmers. Sigh.
“Some commenter on here said the main big meet of the year (July-August) was NOT held in the winter period for Australian swimmers. Sigh.”
Must be the same people that think the earth is flat.
ZSC is an absolute beast at the 200 but he really does only know one speed lmao. Would’ve thought he would start training more speed for the AUS 4 med but here we are. 200 breast is a very hard event and vastly different from the 100.
Think you are wrong about him being “one paced”. He’s more a “steady build-up” pacer with primary reliance on his final 50.
What sank him in Fukuoka, apart from Qin NOT dying on the run home, and in medley relays are his shocking starts.