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Over the past few days, the #bubbleringolympics have been taking over Swimstagram. In the end, we saw dozens of incredible entries from swimmers with an obvious future in professional ring-ing.
In the end, only one could take home the gold. The top honors went to Rio 2016 Olympic finalist Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands for obvious reasons (see the picture above), but we’d like to showcase our honorable mentions in some categories we completely made up.
Best Artsy Photography
Not all of us can be as incredible at swimming photography as the great Mike Lewis, but these submissions sent to us by Jack Melnick, Laura Quilter, and Ellie Keck show that their photographers have the makings of greatness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJyHP_wjGWD/?taken-by=lauraquilternz
Best Object Work with a Ring Bubble
Here, we see ring bubbles being creatively used as other items. Austin Hirstein of the University of Tennessee makes his as a hula hoop, while Ella Eastin, Bridget Boushka and Megan Byrnes of Stanford use a ring to frame a photo souvenir from the team’s training trip to Maui.
https://www.instagram.com/p/fQU9_sgVYJ/?taken-by=swimhirstein44
Best Bubble that Defies Time and Space
Australian national teamer Andrew Abood created the ring bubble that disregarded the laws of physics by becoming larger and lasting longer than any other bubble dare try.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGGXY8pnkRM/
Best Cinematography
Ohio State Swim Club’s Mia Lachey threw it into reverse for her entry. It’s even better with the sound turned up.
Best Ring Bubbles from Actual Olympians
Roy Burch of Bermuda and Team USA’s Jimmy Feigen are well known across social media for their ring bubble galleries on Instagram. SwimMAC is obviously coaching their swimmers as multi-sport athletes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/zOaB3Kk7LX/
Best Performance: Threading the Needle
Jordan Portela of the Lawrence Aquahawks and Lawrence Free State High School adds a performance aspect to his artistic creation by swimming through his ring bubbles.
Meanwhile, Theo Zatterstrom threaded his bubble with– you guessed it– another bubble.
Most Versatile Bubble Blower
The one and only Michael Andrew started it all earlier this week, astounding us with his horizontal ring bubbling. Then, as the competition rolled on, he stepped it up a notch, blowing his ring bubbles downward.
The How-the-Heck-Did-He-Do-That Award
Australian masters swimmer Nicolai Morris created a figure-8 of absolute perfection. How? No idea; please let us know.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKX28dMgv2T/?taken-by=nicolai.swimming
Best No-Blow Ring Bubbles
Think that you’ve conquered the art of the ring bubble? Think again. Brandon Heredia of the Kansas City Swim Academy can create perfect ring bubbles without even using his lungs. Between Brandon, Jordan, and Michael, the swimmers of the Missouri Valley LSC are showing true mastery of the sport.
