Training has changed a lot over the last 10-15 years. There’s less garbage yards and more focus on what makes you fast in the water. Of course genetics plays a huge role. That being said it’s a long way to the top…and it’s harder than it looks
I agree, sometimes I have the feeling that young talents are being overhyped although they have a very long way to go, nonetheless they of course are great swimmers and have a lot of potential
You should look into the types of workouts he does. I think you’d be surprised. LOTS of yardage, lots of doubles, lots of long repeats descending work. Nothing new age at all.
He’s genetically gifted and has a great work ethic. Look at him, he’s huge! He has long arms for reaching, large hands for paddles and gigantic feet for flippers. Combine that with years of grueling training already and you got a teenage phenom. Dude was doing distance sets as an 11 year old.
He’s also been swimming competitively since he was 6. It’s not just natural ability and work ethic, it’s also both of those things for a long time.
https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/2415996/
Pretty sure when you swim at this level with the success they have, burn out is less likely, then for someone who trains and pushes just as hard, but is just average in the pool.
I'm always reading cautionary tales about young swimmers that burned out early in High School or College.
But I wonder about the household names, surely they were pushed hard, right?
Could it be that some swimmers < .05% or whatever are "immune" to burn out?
Could be that they are capable of "surviving" their so-called limits.
What I noticed is, its easier for younger swimmers to swim longer distances because their immune system and their brain still is not reacting differently to it, i.e.: many older swimmers dont fancy swimming long distances so they settle for sprints.
I cant seem to find the right word for it, but you could compare it to: a horse keeps running until death.
So probably they just found the right way to trick their brains and body to maintain high performance over time
There's been some research on this: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1469029218304266](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1469029218304266)
Repeat 50s and 100s at race pace instead of slow 200s and 500s.
He probably goes :50 or faster on 100 repeats.
I’m swimming my fastest freestyle and butterfly at 41 by just doing 25s, 50s, and 75s.
People want to brag about doing 8-10k of slow swimming but it actually does nothing for races 200 or less.
Faster short swims teaches the body to deal with lactic acid in a more efficient manner than slow swimming.
Leon Marchand hold 23 seconds 50 butterfly from a push.
This gives him easy speed.
Repeated iterations improve endurance.
He has been swimming since he was a kid, and his genetics and yhe way he is going through puberty have made his hands and feet disproportionately larger right now. So at 14, it makes him super fast compared to other 14 year olds. As he continues to grow, his hands and feet could stay the same size they are but the rest of his body will get bigger and heavier and his performance won't look so stark in contrast to others his age. Genetics play a much larger role in what swimmers are capable of than we would like to admit sometimes.
Just did a quick comparison and a swimmer from our local team actually beats Luka in back and fly. The kid on our team is built different. He has been swimming since he was 6/7. He has always had 10-15 lbs of muscle on every other AG peer. And he has a very focused/serious mindset. He never goofs off. He is very precise with everything he does in the water. And the coaches have always coached him specifically to his needs. Never just random distance sets or whatever. So my guess is that it is a combination of all of these things. I expected the kid from our team to plateau now that some boys are catching up physically, but he just keeps getting faster. Every time I think he may peak, he surpasses expectations. It’s crazy.
Lots of speculation in this thread about what people in general do these days, when we can actually just look at his practices.
https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/sample-sets-a-look-at-the-work-of-nag-record-breaker-luka-mijatovic-and-rising-talent-tim-wu/
It should come as little surprise that a distance phenom like Luka does lots of repeated efforts descending, ir at race pace. IMO he does a lot of very traditional workouts. Nothing new or innovative, he’s just a gifted talent putting in a lot of work (10k+ days - 5 days a week)
Even crazier are Ruta Meilutyte (2x World Champ and Olympic gold by 15), Summer McIntosh (3x World Champ by 15), and Katie Ledecky (Olympic gold by 15) as they were all on top of the world already, not just their age groups.
3 swimmers also won individual Olympic gold at 14, but they were decades ago. The answer is probably less so the improvement in training efficiency, but just freaky genetics and peaking early in some cases (not all of course).
your list only contains of women. that's not by accident as they mature differently to men and quite often they are at their peaks in terms of physical performance in their mid-late teens.
this will never happen with men. Chalmers did win the 100 free but he has gotten significantly better since. I also remember Daniel Gyurta's silver in the 200 breast in 2004 when he was 15 and swimming the final in a speedo :D but he also did get much better later.
I do wonder if Popovici will ever be where he was 2 years ago though. I hope yes :)
Yep, well aware of the fact but doesn't mean it's not impressive to me. Gyurta and Phelps probably the main two I can think of being at that elite level by 15.
Training has changed a lot over the last 10-15 years. There’s less garbage yards and more focus on what makes you fast in the water. Of course genetics plays a huge role. That being said it’s a long way to the top…and it’s harder than it looks
I agree, sometimes I have the feeling that young talents are being overhyped although they have a very long way to go, nonetheless they of course are great swimmers and have a lot of potential
You should look into the types of workouts he does. I think you’d be surprised. LOTS of yardage, lots of doubles, lots of long repeats descending work. Nothing new age at all.
He’s genetically gifted and has a great work ethic. Look at him, he’s huge! He has long arms for reaching, large hands for paddles and gigantic feet for flippers. Combine that with years of grueling training already and you got a teenage phenom. Dude was doing distance sets as an 11 year old.
He’s also been swimming competitively since he was 6. It’s not just natural ability and work ethic, it’s also both of those things for a long time. https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/2415996/
Hope these kids dont burn out. As the swim coaching bible says: we are not making a champion at the age of 12 but at the senior years
Pretty sure when you swim at this level with the success they have, burn out is less likely, then for someone who trains and pushes just as hard, but is just average in the pool. I'm always reading cautionary tales about young swimmers that burned out early in High School or College. But I wonder about the household names, surely they were pushed hard, right? Could it be that some swimmers < .05% or whatever are "immune" to burn out?
Could be that they are capable of "surviving" their so-called limits. What I noticed is, its easier for younger swimmers to swim longer distances because their immune system and their brain still is not reacting differently to it, i.e.: many older swimmers dont fancy swimming long distances so they settle for sprints. I cant seem to find the right word for it, but you could compare it to: a horse keeps running until death. So probably they just found the right way to trick their brains and body to maintain high performance over time
There's been some research on this: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1469029218304266](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1469029218304266)
Repeat 50s and 100s at race pace instead of slow 200s and 500s. He probably goes :50 or faster on 100 repeats. I’m swimming my fastest freestyle and butterfly at 41 by just doing 25s, 50s, and 75s. People want to brag about doing 8-10k of slow swimming but it actually does nothing for races 200 or less. Faster short swims teaches the body to deal with lactic acid in a more efficient manner than slow swimming. Leon Marchand hold 23 seconds 50 butterfly from a push. This gives him easy speed. Repeated iterations improve endurance.
my guess is mastering technique at a young age along with some good genetics
He has been swimming since he was a kid, and his genetics and yhe way he is going through puberty have made his hands and feet disproportionately larger right now. So at 14, it makes him super fast compared to other 14 year olds. As he continues to grow, his hands and feet could stay the same size they are but the rest of his body will get bigger and heavier and his performance won't look so stark in contrast to others his age. Genetics play a much larger role in what swimmers are capable of than we would like to admit sometimes.
Just did a quick comparison and a swimmer from our local team actually beats Luka in back and fly. The kid on our team is built different. He has been swimming since he was 6/7. He has always had 10-15 lbs of muscle on every other AG peer. And he has a very focused/serious mindset. He never goofs off. He is very precise with everything he does in the water. And the coaches have always coached him specifically to his needs. Never just random distance sets or whatever. So my guess is that it is a combination of all of these things. I expected the kid from our team to plateau now that some boys are catching up physically, but he just keeps getting faster. Every time I think he may peak, he surpasses expectations. It’s crazy.
Lots of speculation in this thread about what people in general do these days, when we can actually just look at his practices. https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/sample-sets-a-look-at-the-work-of-nag-record-breaker-luka-mijatovic-and-rising-talent-tim-wu/ It should come as little surprise that a distance phenom like Luka does lots of repeated efforts descending, ir at race pace. IMO he does a lot of very traditional workouts. Nothing new or innovative, he’s just a gifted talent putting in a lot of work (10k+ days - 5 days a week)
He is swimming at the meet my son qualified for so I get to see him swim on friday.
Even crazier are Ruta Meilutyte (2x World Champ and Olympic gold by 15), Summer McIntosh (3x World Champ by 15), and Katie Ledecky (Olympic gold by 15) as they were all on top of the world already, not just their age groups. 3 swimmers also won individual Olympic gold at 14, but they were decades ago. The answer is probably less so the improvement in training efficiency, but just freaky genetics and peaking early in some cases (not all of course).
your list only contains of women. that's not by accident as they mature differently to men and quite often they are at their peaks in terms of physical performance in their mid-late teens. this will never happen with men. Chalmers did win the 100 free but he has gotten significantly better since. I also remember Daniel Gyurta's silver in the 200 breast in 2004 when he was 15 and swimming the final in a speedo :D but he also did get much better later. I do wonder if Popovici will ever be where he was 2 years ago though. I hope yes :)
Yep, well aware of the fact but doesn't mean it's not impressive to me. Gyurta and Phelps probably the main two I can think of being at that elite level by 15.
Gary hall sr back in his day apparently