USA open water swimmer Ashley Twichell has been a pretty good run lately. A good part of 2013 didn’t meet her expectations, but that hasn’t stopped the 2012 national champion from regaining her footing and charging forward on her 2016 Olympic dreams. Following a successful period training under Coach Bill Rose at the Mission Viejo Nadadores – a program Twichell credits with giving her the foundation for her open water swimming success – she returned to the east coast to be near family and friends in North Carolina. Following her move Ashley hit water with a vengeance, winning the Tiburon Mile last fall and going on big wins earlier this year in Australia and the South Africa’s Midmar Mile. This past weekend she was back in the water in Ft. Myers at Miromar Lakes, the site of the 2012 USA Swimming nationals, to compete in the inaugural Crippen Cup 10K. Twichell was again victorious narrowly out sprinting Christine Jennings and Emily Brunemann for the title.
Ashley is obviously buoyed by her recent success and is clearly enjoying her time training with Coach John Payne and teammates Chloe Sutton and Charlie Houchin.
Thank you for this interview. Open water is a whole different world, very interesting stuff.