Todd DeSorbo Sheds Light on USA’s Decision-Making for 2022 Worlds Relays

In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman HodgesGarrett 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.

We sat down with Todd DeSorbo, the head women’s coach for the 2022 World Championships team. DeSorbo takes us through the 3 weeks that began in Croatia with USA’s “training” (taper) camp and ended with USA winning the most medals of any country ever at a single world championships. DeSorbo breaks down specifics on how he keeps his energy up through long 8-day meets, his role as a head coach, and relay selection for Team USA.

SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

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.

27
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

27 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
HOOlove
1 year ago

So many athletes spoke about how great the team was this year- a true testament to the work Nesty and DeSorbo put in

Alex.S
1 year ago

When is Alex and Kate coming on the show?!!

Swimmer
1 year ago

Leah Hayes to UVA confirmed?

Gator Chomp
1 year ago

Every interview of Todd makes me like him a little more

Marklewis
1 year ago

The relays have become the highlights of the meet because the races are so competitive that the winner is a toss-up.

There’s the mystery of who gets to swim in the final, who is tired from an earlier race, who is going to surprise with a huge split.

The 4×200 relay has become one of the best and closest races of the meet.

Ghost
1 year ago

Interesting interview
Coleman I don’t get your initial question about the thought processes going into relays. Of course there are lots of different rationales going into the makeup of the relay but one is not, go 80% so we get an outside lane. Just a weird question.
Why wasn’t Kibler on the 400 free relay prelims or finals? Eddie was on staff so I am sure there was a good reason. He tied for 4th at Trials
Why did Caleb leave? Did Todd or Braden tell you not to ask that question?
Why was Alex Walsh used on the prelim relay for breast and not Annie Lazor?

Not for Todd, but I would like to see… Read more »

emma
Reply to  Ghost
1 year ago

regarding kibler, they said at the time that it was because of covid protocols

VASWAMMER
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

Did anyone else besides Kibler have COVID in Croatia?

Pez
Reply to  Ghost
1 year ago

In regards to Lazor when Desorbo was talking about safe swims in prelims, maybe he didnt wanna risk it with Lazor since she got DQd for swimming “not safe”

Swimmer
Reply to  Pez
1 year ago

I would’ve assumed Lazor would avoid that error again. She did earn her spot on trials. Desorbo said he intended for them to get the outside lanes so I’m guessing that applied to the medley relay

Admin
Reply to  Swimmer
1 year ago

I think that comment by Todd was tongue-in-cheek.

Swimmer
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

I see, I was just thinking since the men did well on the outside lane last Olympics and 9th place for prelims at this meet was 3 seconds behind anyways, maybe they were intending to grab an outside spot

Last edited 1 year ago by Swimmer
Meathead
1 year ago

At what point will they admit T Huske underperforms on relays and needs to either work on her start or get dialed in for relays like she does individual swims?

Entgegen
Reply to  Meathead
1 year ago

Name checks out

Swimmer
Reply to  Meathead
1 year ago

Some of those days, she had a crazy lineup for finals before relays. She’s one of the best in terms of the relay (fly in medley and free in relay)

njones
Reply to  Meathead
1 year ago

Not until she is on a limited event schedule. She more than performed well based on her heavy schedule throughout the week. And while she may not have hit best ‘relay splits ‘, she is/was still much better than the next best option. And she’s only 19….

timos
1 year ago

Two things that haven’t been discussed in the podcast but I’m curious to know:
1) Why Ledecky in 3rd leg instead of anchoring?
2) What was the original line-ups in mixed medley relay, since Todd said the absence of Caeleb changed it?

Emily Se-Bom Lee
Reply to  timos
1 year ago

given that dressel scratched between the mixed medley heats and finals, probably smith-fink-dressel-huske/curzan. especially since putting the no 1 mens backstroker in the heats suggests that there wasn’t supposed to be a man swimming backstroke in the final

Last edited 1 year ago by Emily Se-Bom Lee
Cdswimmer
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
1 year ago

Correct, Rowdy mentioned it was Smith-Fink-Dressel-Huske

timos
Reply to  Cdswimmer
1 year ago

That’s pretty bold as Smith had 200 fly and 50 back semis on the same day.
Maybe the forced change acutally did them good.

jim
Reply to  timos
1 year ago

100% did them good….honestly, the race is turning into the mixed 400 free relay…if you have a stud backstroker and honestly we got 2 guys now in breaststroke that can both go low 58’s and maybe pop a 57…..i don’t see how you don’t go with that blindly or not to your competition. Torrie Huske, despite what someone else just mentioned, was on fire at this meet (how can you not be if you break the American record and darn near the world record 100 fly)…and pretty much everyone has a female freestyler, so you’re in it to win it, why not get out into the lead?? The italians were fire but couldn’t keep up their females to ours, so… Read more »

Casual Swim Fan
Reply to  timos
1 year ago

I so badly wanted to know the answer to the first one!

Jason
Reply to  timos
1 year ago

Maybe so ledecky could give sims clean water? Because if it came down to it and the other teams were on their game ledecky would’ve been a good third leg to run down whoever was in front of them and let sims set sail. Normally letting ledecky anchor would be a good idea if you were confident that the first three could do the job, but I think given weinstein’s volatility at that point in time it wasn’t a bad choice. She obviously ended up pulling through very well, but if she hadn’t, putting ledecky on third leg instead of forcing her to run everybody down from way back like she tried to do in Tokyo was a nice decision.

green
Reply to  timos
1 year ago

Reading between the lines of Todd’s answer, he mentioned “It’s easy to get lost in the 4×2”–so it made sense that putting the reliable veteran Katie, who’s used to being far away from her competitors, as third, as opposed to Bella, who could have “gotten lost.” As anchor, I think he was hoping Katie would have given Bella a lead so Bella would have known where she was in the race and just been able to focus on racing (though I don’t know if he expected that big of a lead!).

Swam7
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

Also looking forward to the next 2 years, bella sims is now a reliable swimmer on this relay. Th could use her again as an anchor and this worlds was a good testing meet for that

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

Read More »