What Luka Mijatovic did this weekend was historic for many reasons. Not only did he put up all-time great swims in the 500 Free (#3 performer all-time) and the 1000 free (fastest time ever by anyone), he kept his star rising as a once-in-a-generation athlete.
At 16-years-old, he swam a time faster than the current NCAA record. The last male to do that? Michael Phelps. Granted, the 1000 isn’t swam at many DI conference meets or DI NCAA Championships, but it’s still a huge feat. He’s been consistently breaking age records in freestyle and IM events in SCY and LCM. And he’s still got a full year and a half of high school before he gets to go train with Bob Bowman at the University of Texas.
BTW can we give a little attention and love to Luka´s COACHES .. I mean Bob´s gonna inherit Luka and take it from there. .but Luka has basically had to compete with the clock in his head (on his best events) moving through age group meets. these coaches have done incredible getting Luka to this point (w/16+ months to go). Back in my day, it WAS the club coaches who brought the swimmers up and it was the lucky SOB university coaches who inherited their talent/disapline. .now, the university coaches get all the credit, love, MONEY and attention. But Bob has been on both sides of that equation.
I promise that you don’t want anyone to give love to his coach. Mentioning his name creates a shitstorm of responses that distracts and detracts from the accomplishment.
(But now you’ve done it so here we go. Just remember that you asked for this).
Great job Luka; great job Steve. Stick together until after the Olympics. Win the 1500 at worlds first. Stick with the 400 I.M. to keep developing and to stay fresh for the next many years. Enjoy the process — the product is fun too, but the process is key to the joy.
I hope this current WW3 doesn´t kill LA2028
Agreed, the best course here would be to stay with what works up until OG then make the adjustment move to college after that
What is Luka doing on a technical level that makes him so much faster than other top AG swimmers? Is his dominance more technical or physical?
I don’t think he kicks off the wall much… Bowman will totally fix that! Great question, though.
He’s probably even stronger in LCM in that case
actually, I think Leon will fix that
Am I the only one who thinks his 500 time is substantially more impressive?
I think this is actually going to be the poll of the week haha.
I think I agree. Is suspect the US Open Record in the 1000 would be 8:2-something if it was a standalone NCAA event. After Finke went 8:34 in the opening split of a 1650…
Every superlative that is sent his way is well deserved. But the 500 was way better. I agree, if it was a standalone event, the record would be under 8:30.
That’s allright. Finke going out in 8:34 always has to be weighed against how badly he crashes and burns in the latter portions of his races. …. (lol)
It is way more impressive indeed.
The actual context is that the “1000 yard free” isn’t a real event. Why not have a top 5 for the 150 yard fly while you’re at it?
What an odd statement. There are, like, American records for it and stuff.
And we all know that Trent Julian is the all-time 150-yard fly champion of the universe.
Please NCAA… gives us a 1000 in the championships… I beg…
It was a slow time, we all know it. That’s all the “contextualizing” anyone needs.
I see all these comments wanting to compare Luka to many other successful swimmers, but I’m reasonably sure he’s just focused on being the first Luka and not someone else. So far, so good.
smart words coming from the man who got him started!
Accomplishment wise he reminds me of Sam Ruthe from the running world.
Great wisdom Mark. 10x [email protected]. Nice set! Now let’s see if we can go 10×[email protected] 🙂 Stick with the process and dance with the one who brought you. College benefits twice as much from the 4×200 relay — that’s been the problem with Luke Hobson reaching his potential. He should easily have broken 4 in the 500, but the points aimed him at the 200. I gave him a plan to break 4 and it wasn’t instituted, but the math show was as definitive as Popovici is that college might just not be for everyone. Look carefully how Hobson’s stroke breaks down in 200 meters compared to Popovici and you’ll understand my opinion. He tougher and stronger —… Read more »