On Tuesday, USA Swimming CEO Kevin Ring sat down with SwimSwam Editor-in-Chief Braden Keith for an honest conversation.
Keith was able to ask Ring 10 of the ‘hard’ questions about the current state of swimming including the lack of APA increase, his non-swimming background, and whether swimming can really be a professional sport.
Ring gave honest answers, and dropped a few breaking news items, which we have already covered separately. The first breaking news item came about 10 minutes in, and was the fact that for the first time in 15 years, the APA support for professional athletes will be increasing by 15% in January.
The 2nd was about 40 minutes in, and is the creation of a SCM qualifying meet for the 2026 SC World Championships.
He also discussed some burning topics in the sport such as the USA illness during the 2025 World Championships, the lack of USA Swimming membership increase in an Olympic Year, and foreign athletes training in the United States.
You can watch the full interview on Youtube now.
Breakdown
- 2:26 — Katie Ledecky Invite
- 5:18 — Not Having a Swimming Background
- 8:30 — Bringing Diversity to USA Swimming
- 10:25 — Raising Salaries for USAS Athletes
- 13:33 — Generating Revenue as a Professional Sport
- 20:50 — Repairing Relationships with Athletes
- 28:11 — 2025 World Championships
- 33:09 — USAS Membership Decrease
- 42:10 — Membership vs Olympic Success
- 45:24 — SCM Qualification Meet in 2026
- 46:44 — USAS Relationship with the NCAA
- 49:05 — Foreign Athletes Training in the USA
Braden, could you please do something like this with the USA Diving CEO? I know its mostly a swim website, but I think the other side of the bulkhead would love to see you do something like this with USA Diving to figure out what is happening.
I can try.
PLEASE make the fall 2026 short course selection meet SCM and NOT yards! We need to play the meters game now and get rid of yards top level meets!
We need to play the Long Course Only Game now(for top level events). Short Course is great for High School and D2 – D3
I am wondering if I am the only one who thinks that the stock photo of Kevin Ring makes him look a contestant on the game show Jeopardy?
Way too soon to crown anybody. But the Tom Dolan name drop landed very well.
Yeah. I mean…there were a lot of good name drops in here.
Everyone I’ve spoken to that’s worked or interacted with Kevin at length says he’s a fast learner. He doesn’t know swimming, but he’s learning quickly.
Janet Evans
He’s slick and he has lots of great answers. Feeling optimistic, we’ll see how it all develops.
The primary focus should be the delivery of one Huge event per year. The goal should be to make this annual event better than the Olympics. Build from the Top-Down.
…Did you just wake up in a mountain cave after sleeping through Hinchey’s tenure?
If you listened to the entire interview, you will notice that they are considering a 2026 Short Course event. This is far from what is needed(another diluted half-court swimming event). Hinchey never attempted any effort towards a major annual event better than the Olympics(not sure to what your comment is referring?). Build something massive for the professionals at the TOP(a top professional swimmer should earn 3 million by age 30 – not including sponsors). The base memberships will start to naturally increase over the course of time as soon as motivating monetary benefits are seen at the TOP(until this happens, membership declines are justified).
Cautiously optimistic after this interview because he was willing to do the interview and not just let it be a puff piece. He showed he’s willing to start steering USA Swimming in the right direction, but wasn’t going to trash the past leadership (even if it could have been warranted). I’m excited by the APA increases and the Short Course trials, but I feel like those were extremely easy wins for an incoming CEO to build some quick goodwill with the diehard swim fan community and athletes. I feel like his true tests will be in the next 2 years, with the response from the coaches, membership numbers, the sponsorship outlook, and how much of a media push we start… Read more »
What’s this feeling that the right hire was potentially made? This isn’t normal and it’s new to me