By Jake Bridges on SwimSwam
Olympic gold medalist Olivia Smoliga has introduced that the subsequent chapter of her swimming profession will happen at Texas Ford Aquatics.
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“These final eight months have been extraordinary,” Smoliga mentioned, referencing time spent away from swimming. “I’m not shocked they led me again to the pool, however I’m in awe of the trail getting right here.”
The 31-year-old has solely competed as soon as, on the Toronto leg of the 2025 World Cup, because the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
“Possibly it was from this area that I might hear myself higher and shed the issues that weren’t mine,” Smoliga mentioned in her put up. “I believed I’d find yourself shedding my id as an athlete utterly, when actually, I simply turned conscious of the ways in which I’d block me from myself.”
Smoliga will likely be trying to channel these insights right into a comeback much like the one she mounted in 2023, this time beneath the tutelage of Texas Ford Aquatics professional group coach Coley Stickels.
Smoliga strikes to Frisco from Tempe, Arizona, the place she educated with Bob Bowman’s professional group beginning in 2021.
Stickels has coached a number of high-profile swimmers all through his profession, together with Daiya Seto, Beryl Gastaldello, Ryan Held, and Blake Pieroni. Stickels coached at Indiana College from 2017-2019, and served as head coach on the College of Alabama for 18 months from April 2019 till December 2020.
Alabama carried out properly on the 2020 SEC Championships beneath his management, however he resigned in December to prioritize coaching athletes for worldwide competitors.
Smoliga launched herself on the nationwide and worldwide degree barely earlier, bursting onto the scene on the 2012 Quick Course World Championships, the place she out-touched Katinka Hosszu to take gold within the 100 backstroke. She then dedicated to the College of Georgia, the place she turned the NCAA Champion within the 50 freestyle in her freshman yr beneath the tutelage of Jack Bauerle.
Whereas coaching with Bauerle, Smoliga received two Olympic medals, together with a gold medal within the girls’s 4×100 medley relay on the 2016 Rio Olympics. She additionally owns 5 lengthy course World Championship medals, is a three-time particular person NCAA Champion, and received a record-setting eight gold medals on the 2018 Quick Course World Championships.
After becoming a member of Bob Bowman’s ASU professional group in 2021, Smoliga went on to qualify for relay spots within the girls’s 4×100 free relay and the combined 4×100 medley relay on the 2023 U.S. Worldwide Group Trials, and took residence two silver medals in these occasions on the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka.
Coaching beneath Stickels, Smoliga will see a stark change in coaching philosophy: from Bowman’s greater yardage system to a extra sprint-oriented strategy. It is going to be attention-grabbing to see if the 31-year-old can leverage the change in methodology into one other profession resurgence.
Learn the total story on SwimSwam: Olivia Smoliga Publicizes Return To The Pool With Coley Stickels at Texas Ford Aquatics
