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Kristen Stege Describes the Upside of Switching From Sprinting to Distance

In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges 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 sprinter turned distance ace Kristen Stege. Stege, now a sophomore at Tennessee, just dropped a PB 9:40 1,000 free in a dual meet against Georgia. She made headlines in February when she won the AAC title in the 1,650, which was her first time ever competing in a 1,650. Stege takes us through her last year of swimming and why she has actually warmed up to distance swimming after adamantly opposing it as an age group swimmer.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

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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.

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3 years ago

What I gathered from interview she has been training distance program but thought to be sprinter, so it is not like she trained sprint program before? And I wonder what kind of devils those ECU coaches were as now everything is all roses….

SwimFani
3 years ago

Sprinters who can not make in the the glory events switch to boring distance races.

free the MAAC
Reply to  SwimFani
3 years ago

sure, and swimmers that can’t manage to split within four seconds on a 200 become sprinters

Last edited 3 years ago by free the MAAC
Mr Piano
Reply to  free the MAAC
3 years ago

Hey, Townley isn’t a sprinter!

PVSFree
Reply to  free the MAAC
3 years ago

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bobthebuilderrocks
3 years ago

This kind of stuff is my favorite. I find it so cool how the bodies/physical composition of swimmers can alter in a way that they begin to specialize in different events/strokes. I’ve noticed distance freestylers, IMers, and butterfliers are the most likely to have their specialty change as they grow.

collegeswammer
3 years ago

Swimswam will the SEC pre-meet predictions be coming out soon? My favorite time of the year <3

Hswimmer
Reply to  collegeswammer
3 years ago

I hope they still have it

Dan
3 years ago

Which is more common, sprint to distance or distance to sprint (Tom Jager & Ryk Neethling)?

Thezwimmer
Reply to  Dan
3 years ago

Distance to sprint definitely seems like it would be more common.

NCSwimFan
Reply to  Dan
3 years ago

I’d say distance to sprint. See it a lot from older guys who return to the sport. Austin Surhoff is a recent example with his success in the 50 and 100 free after years as an IMer. Justin Ress went from training distance (arguably his best event in high school was the 400 IM, where he was 3:50 in yards and 4:24 in meters) to winning the national title in the 50 back in less than two years.

bobthebuilderrocks
Reply to  NCSwimFan
3 years ago

I agree, the two sprint to distance guys that come to mind off the top of my head, would be Casas and Clark Smith.

HJones
Reply to  Dan
3 years ago

It has to be distance to sprint. The majority of the age group clubs I know of work with a top-down approach, where the philosophy is that it is critical to ingrain the muscle memory and aerobic base of distance swimming at a young age, or they’ll probably never be able to catch on at all.

Questionable
3 years ago

@Coleman yall should interview Geena Freriks who swam at Kentucky about this same topic.

Bruh
Reply to  Questionable
3 years ago

Ok

Last edited 3 years ago by Bruh
Sun Yangs Hammer
3 years ago

Upside of Switching From Sprinting to Distance

100s are my distance event

HJones
Reply to  Sun Yangs Hammer
3 years ago

Yea, I really need to work on the back half of my 50.

Sun Yangs Hammer
Reply to  HJones
3 years ago

Chad Sprinter gang says just go faster the first half

Sigh
3 years ago

Incredible story

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 …

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