Canadian swimmer Santo Condorelli has returned to training under Sergio Lopez, who was his coach while he was in high school at the Bolles School.
While neither Lopez nor Condorelli are still in Jacksonville, Florida where the two first connected, Condorelli says he made the decision to switch from his prior training ground with Coley Stickels at the Canyons Aquatic Club in California. He said the move came after a “disappointing trials” meet in April at the Canadian Olympic Trials.
Condorelli says that his dad, Joseph, had been administering workouts sent to him by Lopez for the last several months, and working on his stroke back home in Oregon. Now, the younger Condorelli has rendezvoused with Lopez and his training group at the Arena Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis and will travel and train with them until Rio. That’s a group that includes American Record holding breaststroker Kevin Cordes, among others.
Condorelli sat out the 2015-2016 NCAA season (he swam his first 3 college seasons at USC) to focus on preparations for the Olympics. At April’s Olympic Trials he qualified for the Olympics as the Canadian champion in the 50 and 100 frees individually. He was on target to qualify in the 100 fly as well, but was disqualified in the preliminary rounds.
His biggest success of his new training program came in that 100 fly this weekend, which saw him break the Canadian Record in Indianapolis on Friday.
Lopez is finishing out his duties as the head of Singapore’s national swimming program through the Olympics, at which time he’ll return to the southeastern U.S. to take over as the associate head coach at Auburn.
Having been in the senior group of canyons for half a year with santo (and abbey Weitzel) just a few months ago, it’s interesting to hear that santo made his decision. At practice it seemed that coley and santo had a good relationship, tho it’s hard to say anyone has a good relationship with coley the way that guy throws temper tantrums. I do know that Coleman Allen moved in January to canyons to train with santo and coley but did not make the team at Canadian trials. Coley does have very unorthodox training Styles so it’s a little hard to really get in the groove with training and establish confidence since everything in the workout is always changing. Over… Read more »
Nothing new here. He (actually his father) did the same as a young swimmer in Oregon. They never found a team that was good enough for him and would move to the next (usually being banned from ever coming back). Eventually, he just swam unattached for the last year or so in Oregon. Some swimmers are never happy with their coaches and are quick to blame them for their own shortcomings.
Looks like Sergio Lopez is seen as a guru, a magician.
Maybe we should send him our French breaststrokers to work a miracle before Rio. 🙂
he sounds alot like schoeman….bad swim, bad coach….good swim, good swimmer
I think swimmers are absolutely entitled to be disappointed with their performances. Swimming isn’t a sport like football or basketball where you join an established routine and thrive. Swimmer/coach relationships are essential for peak performance. Phelps and Bowman don’t always agree, they have a partnership. They however are not a norm in swimming. Most athletes have multiple coaches throughout a career, high school, college, club etc. The longer a swimmers career the more likely he or she would’ve spent additional coaches.
Maybe you can clarify where exactly Santo or Schoeman referenced “bad coaches” for any bad performances?
Santo has worked with Dave Salo, most recently with Coley Stickels, under Coley he broke 48 in the 100 free and… Read more »
I think swimmers are absolutely entitled to be disappointed with their performances. Swimming isn’t a sport like football or basketball where you join an established routine and thrive. Swimmer/coach relationships are essential for peak performance. Phelps and Bowman don’t always agree, they have a partnership. They however are not a norm in swimming. Most athletes have multiple coaches throughout a career, high school, college, club etc. The longer a swimmers career the more likely he or she would’ve spent additional coaches.
Maybe you can clarify where exactly Santo or Schoeman referenced “bad coaches” for any bad performances?
Santo has worked with Dave Salo, most recently with Coley Stickels, under Coley he broke 48 in the 100 free and has… Read more »
i wouldn’t consider 4 months to be “quite some time.” it was a pretty knee jerked decision to move to Alabama just a month or two before his trials. But it does surprise me a little bit that he has not jumped ship again.
While he may have only been living in Alabama for 4 months, he’s been working with Jonty for well over a year. Hardly seems like a knee jerk reaction. Once again, someone makes an unsubstantiated claim about something they clearly have no idea about. It would seem apparent that you don’t understand the world of competitive swimming too well. Swimmers have a small window of opportunity. Some coaches programs work for the athlete, others don’t. If a swimmer joins a program (club or college) and doesn’t swim fast then they have every right to find a program where they can swim fast. Anthony Ervin is another example. He moved from Cal to USC, at USC he swam slower, then he… Read more »
you are the only one who seems to be judging, Steve. All I commented on is a pattern of behavior.
“A disappointing trials?!?!?!” I don’t think so
He qualified for the games!!!
I’m sure Lopez will help him out though
Santo wants to compete with Macevoy … he knows he can beat Nathan Adrian… no stone left unturned
I wouldn’t cast aside the defending Olympic gold medalist so easily. McEvoy is the clear favorite after his stellar swim, but if I were a betting man, I think Adrian will be quite fast in August. With that being said, Santo clearly has the potential to contend for the gold.