Anita Alvarez grew up on the pool deck watching her mom coach artistic swimming. Inspired by her mother, Anita developed a love for the sport at an early age and began swimming at just 5 years old.
After overcoming a frightening moment at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Anita persevered to earn Olympic silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Now, with LA28 on the horizon, she continues to build on her journey with her sights set on competing on home soil.
Anna Peplowski, Skyler Smith, and Isabelle Stadden debate whether height matters in competitive swimming, which strokes favor different body types, and whether shorter swimmers can compete at the highest level.
Most adult swimmers train harder every year — yet their freestyle speed barely improves.
In this video, Lukas Siska explains what actually creates real speed in swimming and specifically the freestyle stroke, why so many struggle with freestyle, and how elite swimmers are developed over time. Whether you are a beginner or advanced this video will help you
Learning how to swim as an adult can feel overwhelming.
In this video, Tom shares how he learnt to swim in his 20s to become a pro triathlete, breaking down what worked for him and what he would do differently if he had to start over. Plus, he speaks to other pro triathletes about their experiences, and a coach shares expert tips for beginner swimmers.
This time on SwimPad, James Gibson breaks down Cameron McEvoy’s 50m Freestyle!
From the importance of the start and first 15 metres to head position, shoulder and hip rotation, and his unique bent-arm technique, discover what makes Cameron McEvoy the fastest swimmer alive.
Ariarne Titmus, the four time Olympic gold medalist from Australia and a two time Olympic champion in the 400 freestyle, joins Katie Hoff Anderson to explain why she walked away from the sport after Paris, what racing Katie Ledecky for almost a decade really felt like, and why she agreed to swim with sharks on TV when her first answer was a flat no.
Arnie walks through the year that led to her retirement. After Paris she took a 12 month break, feeling like she was running on fumes, and started living the life she had missed: Sunday night dinners with her family, being there for her friends, and thinking about what she wants from the next ten years. She talks about telling her coach Dean Boxall in early 2025 that she was not ready to come back in May, why she was never willing to return just to make up the numbers, and how the decision finally came down to whether more medals would make her life better.
The deeper thread is her mindset. Arnie believes she was born relentless, never worked with a sports psychologist, and describes the thought she took behind the blocks in every final: “So these girls have to beat me.” She relives the 2019 World Championships 400 freestyle, the first time she beat Ledecky, from the commentary saying she would fade to the moment she got “a little sniff,” and explains why she is grateful Ledecky was her rival rather than someone who took it personally.
A Palm Bay man and his family were forced to swim to safety after a nearby canal overflowed, sending floodwaters rushing into their home and causing part of Fallon Boulevard to collapse.
