2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Torri Huske has been on fire so far this week in Budapest, breaking the American Record in the 100 fly en route to a gold medal, finished on the podium in the 100 free and now has broken her second American Record of the week in the women’s 50 fly with a 25.38.
Following her breakthrough performance last summer, where she qualified for her first US Olympic team, Huske moved west to train at Stanford University with coach Greg Meehan, and the change is clearly paying dividends. In her post-race interview, Huske discussed how she changed her breathing pattern from her pre-Stanford days to help maintain a better rhythm for the 50 and helped her to take the second seed into tomorrow’s final.
In her 100 fly, Huske breathes every other stroke, while historically in the 50 she breathed much less frequently. Working with the Stanford staff, Huske and her coaches decided to prioritize rhythm over limiting breathing, and made the switch to breathe every other stroke, the same as her 100.
After today’s 50 fly semi, Meehan told SwimSwam that they don’t spend much time focusing on the 50 fly in her training. Instead, the focus is on her first 50 speed for the 100, and knowing that she can take out the 100 in 25.7 gives them confidence in that breathing pattern for the 50 as well, with just a slightly increased tempo.
Huske will have one more opportunity this week to display the change, with the women’s 50 fly final slated for tomorrow night. She enters tomorrow as the second seed behind Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, the current World Record holder.
