Interview and video capture courtesy of Giusy Cisale. Editing courtesy of Coleman Hodges.
Sprinter Olivia Smoliga was a workhorse for the Cali Condors in the first ISL meet. There’s not much time to breathe between 8 swims in two sessions. But the Condor says her Naples strategy is breathing less.
Smoliga was the second-busiest swimmer in Indianapolis last weekend, logging 8 swims (50/100 Free, 50/100 Back, 4×100 Free, 4×100 Medley, 50 Free Skins prelims & semifinals) for the Condors. We caught up with Smoliga in Naples ahead of the International Swimming League’s second stop to ask about her strategy with one meet already in the books.
Smoliga says she hopes to perform better in the skins race. She was third overall in Indy, which isn’t a bad result, and she also had the lowest percentage time gain of any swimmer from round 1 to round 2, swimming with only about three minutes in between. On the other hand, Energy Standard went 1-2 in both the men’s and women’s skins race, and that was the deciding factor of the meet. Smoliga breaking up the Sarah Sjostrom/Femke Heemskerk duo in that race could flip things for Cali in Group A’s second meeting.
Smoliga says she plans to breathe less in that race, one key takeaway from our interview.
You can check out Smoliga’s full interview below:
That’s a bold strategy cotton
*bold move
Doing my part to watch Coleman eat one million pancakes. That’s just about two pancakes per minute continuously for a year. #IDidTheMath.
I had already begun my training without doing the math… a novice mistake. I’ll have to completely revamp my regiment now. Barry, you’re a true hero