Katie Ledecky literally has a long way to go at the Paris Olympics.
As perhaps the greatest distance swimmer to ever hit the pool, Katie Ledecky’s Paris Olympics schedule is understandably packed with long events. But those events add up, leading her to compete for a ridiculous number of meters over the course of about a week at the 2024 Games.
The 27-year-old titan is now a four-time Olympian and looking to add to her Olympic medal count with seven golds and three silvers. But she literally has a long way to go to get there and could end up racing a total of 5,600 or 5,800 meters.
“I care a lot about the 800 and the 1500, and then the 400 is a great race,” Ledecky said at U.S. Olympic trials in June. “I want to be right in there, and same with that relay. I know how to train for all those events. Everything we do has a purpose. Every training set we do has a purpose. So I feel very confident in my training and my training group and my coaches that I’ll be ready for the 200 through the 1500 in Paris.”
She qualified for the 2024 Games in the 200-meter race with a win at U.S. Olympic trials in June, but after finishing fifth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics — she won gold in 2016 in Rio — she’s opting to skip the individual 200 and just swim the relay (and presumably only the relay final, not the heats).
Luckily for Ledecky and distance swimmers everywhere, the longer events only have heats and finals, whereas most pool events have heats, semifinals and finals. So at most, she only has to swim her events twice.
Assuming Ledecky swims all her races and qualifies for the finals — definitely a safe bet there, barring unexpected scratches — she could end up racing 5,600 meters if she only does the 4×200 relay final. If she swims in the relay heats, she could race 5,800 meters.
To put that in perspective, that’s about 3.6 miles’ worth of racing — not including warming up and down — and more than half of what the marathon swimmers will do in the open water 10k.
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 7, 2024
Ledecky is a three-time reigning Olympic champion in the 800 free, the only event she swam in her 2012 Olympic debut in London. When the 1,500 was finally added to the women’s Olympic schedule for Tokyo in 2021, Ledecky won the first gold and is definitely expected to repeat.
When the difference between an Olympic medal and being left off the podium can boil down to hundredths of a second, every little detail matters on race day. Perfect execution, no unnecessary drag and, of course, a racing suit.
Tech suits, as they’re called, can impact everything from how swimmers move through the water to how they feel mentally preparing in the final minutes before taking their marks.
“The first time I put on a tech suit, I felt like Superman in the water,” said Ryan Murphy, now a three-time Olympian headed to Paris. “I felt like I was flying.”
Speedo is a global leader in developing tech suits for elite swimmers with the Olympics always front of mind. From the first non-wool swimsuit in 1928 to debuting its Fastskin suits at the 2000 Olympics, the 110-year-old innovative teams aim to push the boundaries of what’s possible in swimming.
Along with Speedo, TYR and Arena are also popular tech suit brands seen at elite competitions, including the Olympics.
“The performance is won and lost by the athlete,” Speedo senior vice president Simon Breckon told For The Win. “Our job is just to enable them on that journey.”
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Speedo swimmers will race in two new tech suits: the Fastskin LZR Intent 2.0 and the Fastskin LZR Valor 2.0. Designed with input from elite swimmers and inspired by sharks (seriously!), athletes can pick the most comfortable — though still skin tight — and buoyant option, depending on their events. The more coverage of a suit, the more efficient it is.
Team USA Olympic swimmers Kieran Smith, Regan Smith, Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Murphy (Speedo)
“For me as a sprinter, I’m looking for compression,” said Abbey Weitzeil, a lifelong Speedo wearer who’s headed to her third Olympics.
“My favorite thing about it is that when I dive in — I wear the closed-back Intent — I feel like I have good body position, and it holds my body position and my body line.”
Speedo’s 2024 Olympics suits incorporate elements from sharks and space exploration
There’s a noticeable difference between a regular training suit and a tech suit. Murphy said in a tech suit, he glides further off the wall compared with his regular practice one, estimating it probably shaves about a second off his times for every 50 meters.
For Speedo’s tech suits, the goal is to reduce friction in the water and improve hydrodynamics. Teams of designers, scientists, materials experts, garment engineers and researchers want it to feel like a second skin, locking swimmers into a smoother shape and lifting them in the water.
Team USA Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy (Speedo)
Speedo actually does draw inspiration for textiles and design from one of the scarier sea creatures: sharks.
Led by Aqualab, the company’s central innovation team based in London, researchers examine how sharks and other creatures move through the water, said Coora Lavezzo, Speedo’s head of innovation. The Fastskin LZR Intent, for example, mimics sharks’ skin with optimized textured panels to maximize efficiency in the water.
“When you look at sharks, you notice that their scales, essentially — we call them denticles — they’re different across the body of the shark,” Lavezzo said. “So in some areas, they’ll be bigger. In some areas, they’ll be really small, and they’ll vary according to the curves of the shark. … We try and take that thinking and apply it to a person’s body.”
It’s not a new concept for Speedo, however. The first Fastskin suit that debuted at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was a full-body suit inspired by shark skin to reduce drag.
Speedo’s latest innovation for both the Intent and Valor suits is a “bespoke coating” inspired by protective coating developments for space exploration, Lavezzo said. She and her team poured through 50 of Lamoral Space Tech’s coating recipes to find the most water repellant one for the 2024 Olympic suits.
Team USA Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel (Speedo)
“When you see athletes splash themselves or you see them getting out of the water, they’re glistening because you see these water droplets kind of running off of them,” Lavezzo said. “And that’s really down to the water repellency that we use.”
But designers, researchers and engineers can’t work in a vacuum, so they enlist athletes early in the development process. They share designs, swatches and as many prototype suits as possible with swimmers and ask for feedback.
“It’s normally about how I feel [about] my body alignment in the water, or whether there’s too much compression or not enough,” Weitzeil said. “They’re always changing seams. They’re always changing fabrics and how to put those together. So if I feel like something’s not as compression-y in a certain spot, or if I feel like my body alignment’s falling out of place, I’ll tell them that for sure.”
Speedo testing its suits with elite swimmers (Speedo)
The future of Speedo’s tech suits in a post-technical doping world
Innovation in tech suit designs can produce truly exceptional results. Famously, Michael Phelps won his record-breaking eight Olympic gold medals in 2008 in a LZR Racer suit. The suit included polyurethane panels, which were impossible for water to saturate, trapping air and leading to increased buoyancy.
The suit’s popularity exploded, and competitors tried to replicate it with neoprene, Breckon said.
Michael Phelps competing during the men’s 100m butterfly swimming semifinal at the National Aquatics Center during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 15, 2008. (FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT/AFP/Getty Images)
But the “super suit era” caught the attention of World Aquatics, swimming’s international governing body, over concerns about them being akin to technical doping. So new rules were established, like no more full-body coverage and suits must be entirely made of fabric, no plastic or rubber panels.
Speedo works closely with World Aquatics to ensure new designs remain within the rules, Breckon said. But sometimes, there’s a little lobbying too.
“Technology now has kind of outpaced some of the guidelines in our sport, and we need to look at the balance of that,” he said.
Lavezzo and her Aqualab team have been working on suits for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics for about a year and are already looking ahead to the 2032 Brisbane Games.
Team USA Olympic swimmer Abbey Weitzeil (Speedo)
Future developments could include suits tailored to varying body shapes or event- or stroke-specific suits, Lavezzo said. One already existing suit features power bands specifically to aid hamstrings when the power dynamics shift for backstroke.
Suits could also provide real-time biometric data to swimmers, but unlike many sports, that practice currently isn’t allowed in swimming. Perhaps Speedo can convince World Aquatics to move the goalposts.
“The layman’s example I give — which my innovation team laughs at — is basically the Black Panther, the suit that returns the energy,” Breckon said. “And how do you actually get the energy and put it back into the muscle groups? How do you isolate the muscle groups and drive power [where] it needs to be, depending on your stroke?”
At the Paris Olympics, American teenager will swim two races in the pool, plus the open water 10k marathon.
On a stacked Team USA Olympic swimming roster, no one is quite like Katie Grimes.
No one is qualified for both the 1,500-meter freestyle, the longest event in the pool, and the 400-meter individual medley, a grueling parade of all four strokes. And the 10k marathon swim. No one except Grimes — now a two-time Olympian who will be the first American woman to compete in the pool and open water at the same Olympic Games.
She’s also just 18 years old.
“I’ve done open water just about as long as I’ve done pool swimming, so I’ve just always wanted to be able to swim the open water [event] in the Olympics,” says Grimes, whose shortest race is about four-and-a-half minutes while her longest is two hours.
“I never wanted to pick one over the other.”
Three years ago, Grimes was the youngest overall Team USA athlete at the Tokyo Olympics, swimming the 800-meter freestyle in her first-ever international competition. She finished a disappointing fourth, barely missing the podium as Katie Ledecky completed a three-peat Olympic championship.
This time around, Grimes didn’t bother messing with what she called a “congested” 800 international field. Though if you told her three years ago she’d drop what she once considered her best event, she never would have believed it.
Katie Ledecky and Katie Grimes of the United States react during the medal ceremony for the Women’s 1500m freestyle final of the United States at 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 19, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Instead, Sandpipers of Nevada head coach Ron Aitken helped Grimes plot a path to the Olympic podium, prioritizing her strongest events. Plus, skipping the 800 gives her more time to prepare for the 10k in the Seine River eight days after her last potential final in the pool.
At U.S. Olympic swimming trials in June, she won the 400 IM to officially qualify in the pool before making it in the 1,500, when she finished second to Ledecky.
“She always downplays her success, and sometimes I wish she wouldn’t because I just want her to be really, really proud of herself and really realize the full scope of what she’s accomplishing,” says now-two-time Olympian Regan Smith.
***
It was about 5 a.m. when Katie Grimes strolled into one of her older brother’s swim practices. She was 11 or 12 years old, Aitken recalls, and aiming to break a record at an upcoming meet. So she wanted additional practice.
Aitken reminded her to have fun because extra hours in the pool would surely come as she aged. But he said, even then, he could see her insatiable hunger to race and win.
Katie Grimes of the United States competes in a preliminary heat for the Women’s 400m individual medley at 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 17, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
“She puts a tremendous amount of pressure on herself to be a lot better than she is currently, and that kind of keeps her from being as good as she can be,” Aitken says. “That just goes along with age. I think, right now, she’s still not at a place where she’s been able to master pressure yet.”
It’s one of the many ways he’s reminded she’s still a teenager. But hardly an average one. She’s “an old soul,” her mom, Shari Grimes, said — and one who was even resistant to getting a phone ahead of the Tokyo Games until Team USA strongly emphasized it.
Inheriting a competitive streak as the youngest of seven in an athletic family, she lives at home with her parents in Las Vegas and just graduated from high school. She’s a straight-A student who has yet to announce her college choice — though she said she’s made a decision and will likely declare after Paris.
Soft-spoken and silly sometimes, she’s on social media but would rather spend her free time listening to Fleetwood Mac or leisurely driving around in her coveted orange 1969 Chevy Corvette Stingray. She indulges in retail therapy, like recently buying a Skims towel-esque sweatshirt, despite its impracticality in scorching Vegas temperatures.
When it’s time to train, she embraces her workhorse mentality, calling it “the most comforting thing.”
“[Grimes] is incredibly impressive — her ability to train and compete for open water, 400 IM, 1,500 free, she’s able to do it all,” Ledecky said.
“She just keeps going, and she has such a good attitude about training and about racing and just is fearless when it comes to signing up for those events and racing the very best.”
Training for events largely on opposite skill spectrums, Grimes heavily relies on Aitken for guidance. Even for the 10k, all of her swimming work is in the pool, racking up between 65,000 and 85,000 yards — or up to about 50 miles — a week.
She might do a distance freestyle workout in the mornings, followed by IM and stroke work in the evenings. The weak link in her 400 IM is breaststroke, so she trains to build up a lead on the butterfly and backstroke legs, hoping she doesn’t get caught on in the second half.
“It’s really just in the competitions where you get that [open water] experience,” Grimes says. “Building up that stamina, building up the endurance — it’s very easy to work that in the pool. …
“In fact, it’s probably even easier to train that in the pool just because you can blog exactly how much you’re doing and how fast you’re doing it.”
Swimming – FINA World Championships – Open Water – Lake Lupa, Budapest, Hungary – June 29, 2022 Katie Grimes of the U.S. in action during the women’s 10km final (REUTERS/Lisa Leutner)
That’s where Aitken and his Excel sheets come in, tracking workouts, stroke counts, heart rates and stress levels.
She can handle the absurd yardage, stroke work and sprint drills. She’ll do whatever workout Aitken writes on the board, wanting to train for as many events for as long as she can. She loves strength training, welcoming speed work to improve her reaction times off the block.
The real challenge, she says, is competition time when she has to delicately balance prep, racing and recovery in between monstrous events. It didn’t help that she recuperated from pneumonia about 10 days before Olympic trials, Shari said, and was extra nervous because she was expected to make a second Olympic team.
At trials, she had about a 25-hour arduous stretch where she raced 2,500 total meters, plus warming up and down. But she views it as another level of preparation with the trials schedule closely resembling the one in Paris.
“Even though she’s 18 and I’m 22, I look up to her in a sense as well because she is so versatile,” Smith says. “She makes it look incredibly easy, and she’s kept a very, very humble demeanor through it all.”
***
Katie Grimes called her shot when she was 10 years old. After cheering for her brother at 2016 U.S. trials, she decorated a kickboard that still hangs on a wall in the Grimes’ house. On it is a powerful message: “2020, I’m going to be there. Keep strong, keep swimming.”
“She was watching all these kids make the Olympic team, and she looked at us, and she goes, ‘I’m doing this next time,’” Shari recalls. “She just was laser focused from that point on.”
Katie Grimes of the United States reacts with her parents during the Women’s 400m individual medley medal ceremony at 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 17, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The Paris Games will greatly differ for Grimes compared with Tokyo three years ago, her lineup aside. Though always learning from Ledecky and trying to embody her poise and class, Grimes doesn’t need to rely on the four-time Olympian to show her how the Games work.
With experience, Grimes said she’s much more comfortable competing on an international stage, and since Tokyo, she’s implemented a stronger emphasis on post-race recovery. In bed at a reasonable hour is not negotiable, and staying off her feet is a priority.
Trying to mitigate the pressure and nerves, she’s practiced tapping into a calm headspace before competing while blasting Dua Lipa until she goes to the ready room. Part of that mindset is remembering to have fun and the comfort of knowing her family is in the stands cheering, she says. And thinking about how happy she’ll be when she hits the wall.
“She’s learning how to try and absorb all that [pressure], but also take it all in and use it as energy,” Aitken added. “So she’s trying to find her way through that.”
Swimming – FINA World Championships – Budapest, Hungary – June 19, 2022 Katie Grimes of the U.S. in action during the women’s 1500m freestyle (REUTERS/Antonio Bronic)
While a pool inside Paris La Défense Arena is new for everyone, Grimes got a preview of the Olympic marathon swimming course last summer. Kind of.
Seeing the open water course last summer at least allows her to visualize her 10k Olympic race on August 8. Organizers have alternative race dates and a backup venue in place, should water quality remain dangerous.
A podium spot in open water is “definitely” a goal, she says, especially in a two-hour race where finishing place is more highly regarded compared with times, like in the pool.
“The hard part about doing a few different events is that I want to be the best that I can in all of them,” Grimes says. “But I feel like you give up a little bit of that when you try and spread yourself across multiple events. But I can see myself in the future, one day, just focusing on one event.”
One day, maybe. But that’s the only thing Grimes isn’t ready for yet.
The Olympics’ open water 10k marathons and triathlons are in the Seine River, which was dangerously dirty leading up to the Games.
Simply put: Nope, no chance I’d jump in the dirty Seine River. Paris Olympians may not have that choice. Let me explain.
If marathon swimming and triathlons are held in the Seine as planned, rather than at a backup venue, Olympians’ only choice could be to swim in the iconic river or withdraw from the 2024 Games. Although Paris Olympics organizers vowed to clean the river to safe swimming standards with a reported $1.5 billion investment, questions about the Seine’s cleanliness have lingered in the weeks leading up to the Games.
The dirtiest body of water many — or maybe most — people have swum in is a pool or hot tub. Of course, pools are treated with a variety of chemicals to sanitize the water, kill bacteria, limit algae and neutralize byproducts, among other functions. While chemicals, like chlorine and bromine, work relatively quickly, they’re not instantaneous.
In another life as a competitive swimmer and lifeguard, I learned the gross truths about what’s really in a pool. Assume there’s urine because there’s always urine. But beyond that, there’s sweat and spit and mucus — sometimes blood and feces — along with body and hair care products. It’s best not to think about it.
Open water swimming is a different story, though. I’ve done that too, including in the Detroit River. The lifelong pool swimmer in me much prefers looking down at a tiled black line than murky nothingness.
Triathlon athletes start to compete swimming in the Seine river next to the Alexandre III bridge during a Test Event for the women’s triathlon for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, on August 17, 2023. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)
“I have incredible respect for those [open water] athletes,” pool swimmer Katie Ledecky said, adding, “It’s just personally not for me.”
Same, same, especially when you consider how much water swimmers swallow.
People ingest about 32 milliliters, or a little more than an ounce, per hour of swimming, according to a 2017 study in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency and published by the Journal of Water and Health.
So when it comes to swimming in the Seine — which has been largely banned since 1923 — not a chance for me, even though Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo jumped in last week. Team USA Olympians are hoping for the best.
“It’s pretty disappointing that the Olympic organizers have really not locked in cleaning this venue up as far in advance as they should have, to the point where now the whole world is questioning whether it’s going to happen in time,” Team USA Olympic marathon swimmer Ivan Puskovitch said last month.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swims in the Seine, in Paris on July 17, 2024, to demonstrate that the river is clean enough to host the outdoor swimming events at the Paris Olympics. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / POOL / AFP)
Open water swimmers aren’t strangers to dirty or questionable water. Two-time Olympic triathlete Morgan Pearson said he’s encountered discarded condoms while swimming in New Jersey.
“I feel like the water quality is always a big hype or concern leading into Games, like going into Rio and going into Tokyo,” Team USA Olympic triathlete Taylor Spivey said in June. “So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
In June, the water still contained high amounts of fecal bacteria — including E. coli, making it unsafe to swim in — partly as a result of unseasonably high rainfall.
But as of July 12, the water quality met safety standards for at least 10 of the previous 12 days, Agence France-Presse reported, leaving hope for the triathlon beginning July 30 and marathon swimming starting August 8.
If the water quality is unsafe for marathon swimming and triathlons, Olympics organizers have backup dates planned and an alternative venue — the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, which is just outside Paris and already hosting canoe-kayak and rowing events — should it be necessary.
The USOPC and national governing bodies have said they’re monitoring the Seine water quality situation and following the lead of international federation standards for safety.
Triathlon athletes compete next to the bridge Alexandre III and the Seine river as they run to go from swimming to cycling during a Test Event for the women’s triathlon for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, on August 17, 2023. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)
“Having worked with them closely, I trust their standards,” Rocky Harris — USOPC chief of sport and athlete services and former USA Triathlon CEO — said in April. “They’re actually higher than American standards. Like, you could swim in a lake in America that wouldn’t be up to their standards.”
If safety remains a concern come competition time, Team USA open water coach Ron Aitken said he’ll advise but leave the final decision to compete or not to the athletes and their families.
“It certainly gives me a little bit of anxiety, and my fellow competitors, because we spend our whole lives preparing for this moment and we want to be able to compete,” Puskovitch said.
“The only thing that we can do as athletes is … have faith in the situation and make sure that — regardless of water cleanliness, venue, whether the venue changes or not — we’re ready to show up and race the best 10k we can.”
As for me, there are few things I won’t try once, and despite noting all the dangers, I may have just talked myself into considering (hypothetically) jumping in if the Seine is safe enough for Olympic competition.
If the water quality is questionable, I’d need a fat bonus plus medical expenses covered. And even then, it still might be a hard pass.
Regan Smith is a three-time Olympic medalist, but the Team USA swimmer is aiming for gold in Paris.
For the Paris Olympics this summer, For The Win is helping you get to know some of the star Olympians competing on the world’s biggest stage. We’re highlighting 15 Team USA athletes in the 15 days leading up to the Opening Ceremony. Up next is Regan Smith.
Regan Smith has been here before, but this time around, she wants more. And more of it to be gold.
The 22-year-old swimmer from Minnesota is now a two-time Olympian after qualifying for the Paris Olympics in the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke and 200-meter butterfly. She’s a standout swimmer and one of the more versatile ones on Team USA this summer.
Here are five things to know about Smith ahead of the Paris Olympics.
1. Regan Smith is already a three-time Olympic medalist
Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
At her first Olympics in Tokyo, Smith came home with some hardware: Silver in the 200-meter butterfly, bronze in the 100-meter backstroke and silver in the women’s 4×100-meter medley relay. At world championships, she’s accumulated five gold medals, three silvers and one bronze, but she’s still searching for her first Olympic gold medal.
Smith had a standout performance at U.S. Olympic swimming trials in June, including breaking the 100 backstroke world record. She broke the American record in the semifinals, and then in the finals, she reclaimed the world record at 57.13. In a fun rivalry, she got the world record back from Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown, who stole it from Smith in 2021 and lowered it again in 2023.
Smith’s reaction at trials to getting it back?
“[Expletive] yeah!” she said at trials. “You know, like, long time coming. You know, like it’s about time, so I was psyched.”
3. She swam at Stanford but now trains with Bob Bowman at Longhorn Aquatics
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JUNE 20: Regan Smith of the United States competes in the Women’s 200m butterfly final on Day Six of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 20, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
After the Tokyo Olympics, Smith swam for one season at Stanford, where she was a seven-time All-American and a two-time NCAA champ in the 200 backstroke and 4×200 freestyle relay.
But she opted to turn pro after her freshman year — prior to the NCAA’s new rules allowing athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness — and went to train with Bob Bowman, famously Michael Phelps’ coach, and Arizona State’s pro team. When Bowman recently left Arizona State to take over Texas swimming, Smith was among the swimmers to follow him to Longhorn Aquatics.
4. She adopted a cat named Roo, and both of them are in a better place because of it
https://www.instagram.com/p/C7R1Ul5OY5-/
Earlier this year, Smith was going through it. She was living alone for the first time in Arizona, training for the Olympics and, in January, was recovering from mononucleosis. She could barely practice and was getting sent home early.
“I would just come home in tears every day because I was so frustrated because this was supposed to be one of the most important years of my life,” Smith told For The Win while promoting her partnership with Nulo, a sustainability-focused pet food company. “I needed to be spending every second that I could training, and I couldn’t do that. And I just felt so stuck and so alone because I was across the country from my family and my pets.”
She needed something to change. So, despite growing up with dogs, she adopted a black and gray tabby cat named Roo, and they fell in love immediately.
“I was still in the process of recovering from mono, and I would still come home from practice so many days just so upset and frustrated and emotional. And she would always be there for me waiting at the door, like, ‘Where have you been? Come give me attention.’ And she was just exactly what I needed, and our relationship has just grown and blossomed from there. And now I’m so thankful to say I’m in a much healthier place than I was back in January, and I think she is too.”
Roo, Smith noted, is now stronger with a fuller coat and is almost twice the weight she was when she was adopted. While Smith gave her a loving home, the swimmer said Roo offers everything from cuddles and emotional support to comedic relief when it’s needed the most.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JUNE 20: Regan Smith of the United States looks on prior to the Women’s 200m backstroke semifinal on Day Six of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 20, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
5. Swimming at the Paris Olympics begins July 27
But Smith isn’t swimming right away. She’s entered in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 butterfly, along with the possibility of being on a relay team. Her first event, the 100 backstroke, is set for July 29.
Six-time Olympic medalist Matt Grevers came out of retirement to swim the 50 freestyle at U.S. Olympic swimming trials.
INDIANAPOLIS — Matt Grevers is here for a good time, even if it isn’t a long time. Really, he’s at Lucas Oil Stadium for up to three 22-second races in the U.S. Olympic swimming trials pool.
The 39-year-old two-time Olympian just couldn’t resist a chance to swim in an NFL stadium. So he came out of a three-year retirement, trained for about six months, qualified for trials and will swim the men’s 50-meter freestyle.
“I just happened to be in a situation that I could put a little more time on myself and feel selfish,” Grevers said Tuesday. “But once I went the [trials qualifying] time, it felt really good! And it’s cool to know that at 39, my body definitely still has it. It’s just, what are you willing to put into it?
“So it was … really fun just to know that I get to swim here [and] hang out with a lot of friends. Walking on the pool deck saying hi to all the coaches and older athletes just felt kind of like a homecoming.”
Grevers has six Olympic medals on his resume, but individually, he was more of a backstroke specialist. He won silver in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2008 Beijing Games, along with two golds on relays. In London four years later, he was the 100 back Olympic champion and won another gold and silver on relays.
Matt Grevers (middle) of Tucson, AZ, dives off the block in the Men’s 50 Meter Freestyle Semi-finals, Saturday, June 30, 2012, during the USA Swimming Trials at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, NE. (Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Staff )
Back for his seventh Olympic trials, Grevers qualified for the 50 free in May by just .29 seconds, as SwimSwam noted.
Prelims are Thursday morning, and Grevers is seeded 35th with an entry time of 22.50. He may be only a second behind top seed Ryan Held, but for the fastest event in the pool, that’s an eternity.
To swim more than once, Grevers will need to make the top 16 to advance to Thursday night’s semifinal, when the top-8 swimmers move on to Friday night’s final for a shot at making the 2024 Paris Olympic team.
“I love the anticipation of the race, and I’m going to love the race, and this time, it just happens where the outcome isn’t as significant as before,” Grevers said.
“It’s not too much race strategy. You don’t breathe. You don’t have to worry about walls messing up turns. You just jump off that block and go as fast as you can. It’s so pure, raw speed and power.”
Grevers is the latest older American sprinter to return to the pool and try to make the Olympics.
Five-time Olympian and 12-time medalist Dara Torres made her first Olympic team in 1984 and her last in 2008, when she won three silver medals at 41 years old. Three-time Olympian Anthony Ervin has a 16-year gap between Olympic golds in the 50 free after winning in 2000 and then again in 2016 at 35 years old.
Matt Grevers at U.S. Olympic swimming trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on Tuesday.
Even at trials, Grevers said he’s been inspired by Gabby Rose, a 46-year-old swimmer who finished 10th in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke semifinals Sunday. She also advanced to Wednesday night’s 200-meter breaststroke semi.
“Gabby’s cheer when she went out for semifinals, it was one of the loudest ones of the meet,” Grevers said. “I was like, so people are rooting for the old guys just to see what you can do.”
At previous trials, making the Olympics was his livelihood, and he said he felt like he owed it to his support system to make the team and win medals. While still grateful for his supporters, particularly his wife, Annie, he said he’s just enjoying himself.
“To be in this environment without that much pressure is super refreshing and just a really great time,” he said. “Watching the finals of the 100 back [Monday] night, I was like, kind of want to be there. And then when they’re stepping up behind the blocks, and I saw faces and a little bit of pre-race anxiety, I was like, ‘I’m happy up here.’”
“Acknowledge that this is a brutal meet,” 12-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin told For The Win.
Natalie Coughlin knows a few things about how to qualify for the Olympics in the pool.
The 41-year-old retired swimmer is a three-time Olympian with 12 medals, putting her in a three-way tie for the most Olympic medals won by an American woman. Not to mention she was also the first American woman to win six medals at a single modern Olympic Games in 2008.
But unlike the Olympics themselves, trials are a different psychological game and require an altered approach and mentality, Coughlin explained. Relays aside, only the top-2 swimmers in each event go to the Games.
Coughlin is now on the board of directors for USA Swimming and co-hosts the NBC Sports podcast My New Favorite Olympian. Ahead of 2024 U.S. Olympic trials, she shared three pieces of advice for swimmers looking to make Team USA’s roster.
U.S. swimming trials begin Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and after the nine-day event, up to 52 swimmers will be off to Paris.
(Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
“First and foremost, don’t get ahead of yourself,” Coughlin told For The Win. “Take each session, each swim, one at a time. If you’re someone who’s going to compete in multiple events over the trials, it’s easy to look at [the schedule and say], ‘I have prelims there, then semis here, then finals here,’ and really get overwhelmed looking at the entire week.
“You have to take it race by race, hour by hour, and really try not to look ahead too much because that could be too daunting.”
Coughlin — whose Olympic events included the 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle and 200 IM — also emphasized the importance of recovery and swimmers babying themselves a little more, including extra massages and plenty of stretching and relaxing, along with staying extra hydrated.
“Secondly, just know that you’re not gonna get any fitter,” she continued. “All the work is already done. All you have to do is rest at this point.”
And then, swimmers need to recognize and prepare for how grueling trials can be, especially for swimmers trying to qualify in multiple events. It requires a “difference in psychological preparation,” especially if a swimmer’s lifelong dreams could be made or broken in a single race, Coughlin said.
“Acknowledge that this is a brutal meet,” she said. “Knowing and accepting that and knowing that you are someone who is tough and who is ready for that challenge and facing it head-on.
“Trials is truly a brutal, brutal, brutal meet for everyone involved. Whether you make the team or don’t make the team, it’s hard. And just accepting that and facing that head-on, I think, is really important.”
With just the top-2 swimmers in each trials event going to the Olympics — assuming they also meet the Olympic standard — personal-best times take a backseat to everything else.
“All that matters is you get first or second,” Coughlin continued. “And that, in a lot of ways, is so much harder than just straight up competing when you get to the Olympics.
“Because when you’re at the Olympics, it’s just pure racing. … But when the Olympic trials is just a stepping stone along the way and it’s just a hurdle that you need to get past, it doesn’t really matter how great you do at trials — just as long as you get past them. And that’s just a different mental approach, in my experience, at least.”
Coughlin pointed to one of her former teammates, four-time Olympian Amanda Beard — a swimming legend in her own right with seven medals — who had a devastating but apt way of describing Olympic trials.
“She once described it as, ‘The Olympic trials pool is filled with chlorine and tears,'” Coughlin recalled laughing. “And that’s such a great image because it’s so true. People are crying because they’re sad, crying because they’re relieved — it’s a lot.”
USA Swimming replaced the Indianapolis Colts’ home turf with three temporary pools for Olympic trials.
Ryan Murphy spends a lot of time looking up at the ceiling. More than the average swimmer, but it’s what backstrokers do. They try to swim straight, count their strokes and note the flags, signaling the wall is coming up fast.
So when he learned U.S. Olympic swimming trials for the 2024 Paris Games would be at Lucas Oil Stadium from June 15-23, he wondered what he’d be looking at. And if the giant windows above each end zone at the Indianapolis Colts’ venue could impact swimmers.
“Being in an NFL stadium is going to be wild for us because it’s just a very far way to look,” the two-time Olympian told For The Win.
“I asked if the sun sets on the same side of the stadium where the pool is going to be, and I think they said that it sets on the opposite side.”
It’s a valid concern, considering this is the first time trials have been at a football stadium after a basketball arena in Omaha hosted the last four. And while USA Swimming is well-versed in building temporary pools, Lucas Oil Stadium offers the chance for more of everything — more space and amenities for athletes, more fans, more pizzazz to match the stakes of the meet.
At one time, trials at a big venue like CHI Health Center Omaha was considered groundbreaking for the sport. But with tickets selling quickly, trials had simply outgrown the building, USA Swimming chief commercial officer Shana Ferguson said.
Now for a couple weeks, Lucas Oil Stadium is the nation’s largest natatorium, simultaneously providing an intimate atmosphere in a significantly larger venue.
Yet more space for trials also comes with more challenges, both logistically and in ensuring pool conditions are technically flawless in a controlled environment, including blacking out the windows (and assuaging Murphy’s concerns).
How do you fit an Olympic Trials pool inside an NFL Stadium?
USA Swimming built three pools: a standardized 10-lane, 50-meter competition pool and two connected warmup pools — another 10-lane, 50-meter one and a seven-lane, 25-meter one.
The overall cost of trials is split between USA Swimming and Indiana Sports Corp, with Ferguson saying it’s “deep into seven figures” and Patrick Talty, president of Indiana Sports Corp, noting sponsorship and ticket sales help offset the price tag. However, both declined to provide a specific number.
Beginning of pool construction at Lucas Oil Stadium for 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
The competition pool is on the stadium’s south side with a huge curtain hanging around the 50-yard line, separating the competition pool from the warmup ones. About 20 rows of seats on the north side are on wheels and were relocated to the south side to make the competition pool more of a round arena instead of a horseshoe, Ferguson said.
Organizers are expecting to hit the 30,000 capacity Saturday for the first day of trials, which would break the attendance world record for an indoor swim meet. The current mark, according to USA Swimming, is 25,000 from the 1936 Olympics. Even hoping for 20,000 fans each night is a huge difference compared with Omaha’s approximate sellable capacity at about 9,700, Ferguson said.
A bigger venue also opened the possibilities for more athlete amenities. In addition to more space to warm up and stretch, swimmers will have access to more massage tables and therapists and serenity suites for quiet relaxation. Coaches will have a designated wellness area too. There’s also room for more food options, including smoothie and coffee bars, along with space for a video game area, table tennis and cornhole.
Lucas Oil Stadium warmup pools for 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
Perhaps most importantly — what Ferguson described as “the most popular amenity” at the 2016 trials — is space for swimmers to play with more therapy dogs, who were absent in 2021 because of COVID-19.
“We knew that that was the right package to elevate swimming and to [put] it on a grander stage,” Talty said, adding that the stadium was built to be flexible beyond Colts games. “To take it from a supercharged swim meet to really an event that people look forward to coming to every four years and really making it a big deal.”
How to build an Olympic pool from scratch inside Lucas Oil Stadium
What Lucas Oil Stadium was not built for is a plumbing and irrigation system that can handle 1.8 million gallons of water. But that’s necessary for three pools, and USA Swimming — along with its longtime contractors, including Myrtha Pools — knows how to build it.
Beginning of pool construction at Lucas Oil Stadium for 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
“It’s essentially a very intricate above-ground pool” masquerading as an in-ground one with a plumbing system resembling “a grown up Erector Set,” Ferguson said.
You’d never know because 78,000 square feet of decking are built nearly 10 feet above the turf-less concrete ground, swallowing up eight rows of seats and concealing the two gigantic holding tanks for water filtration.
Throughout four weeks, nearly 200 workers built the pools. Hidden below deck are 5,000 linear feet of PVC piping creating a closed filtration loop with pumps capable of moving more than 8,500 gallons per minute, according to USA Swimming.
“I’ve talked to plenty of people about Olympic trials, and they’re all shocked that we could put a swimming pool inside of an NFL stadium,” Murphy said. “I don’t think many people are aware that you can build a pool above ground and just have all the piping on the floor and then build a temporary deck to make it look totally seamless.”
Water from the nearby White River was delivered to the stadium via fire hydrants and hoses with an assist from the Indianapolis Fire Department. It was treated before flowing through the hydrants and snaking its way into the building from the 100-level concourse down to the pool, where it was treated again with chlorine and other chemicals, Ferguson said.
Workers install the pool liner at Lucas Oil Stadium for 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
“It’s an interesting science experiment of keeping the same 1.8 million gallons of water in this building, and it’s just recirculated, re-cleaned, re-filtered, re-chlorinated and reused the entire time,” Ferguson said.
But getting that water out is “a little bit of a physics problem,” she added, because organizers can’t simply drain it. So they have to reverse pump the water up and out again through the concourse.
“It’s an engineering feat,” Ferguson said. “We will remove all the impurities before we pump it out. So we’re removing the chlorine, removing body fluids and so forth in order to put it back into the White River cleaner, actually, then when we got it we got it.”
The competition pool being filled at Lucas Oil Stadium for 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
Once the water is out and deconstruction begins, the competition pool will go to Fort Wayne, Indiana, while the two warmup pools are off to the Cayman Islands.
As for the football turf, it worked out for all parties that the Colts were already replacing it ahead of the 2024 season, so USA Swimming is off the hook for replacing it.
Will the atmosphere be like a Sunday Colts game for swimmers?
No one really knows what the vibes at trials will be like until Saturday, but organizers caught a glimpse of what’s possible during a test meet with Indiana high school swimmers last weekend, Ferguson said.
It was a practice run for all aspects of operations, from the timing system to officials and volunteers to the pool itself. After what she said was a smooth test, final additions are being made this week, like installing underwater cameras.
Lucas Oil Stadium for 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
Similar to standardized lighting, other trials conditions need to be regulated. So the water temperature will be set to about 78-79 degrees, while the deck temperature will be a little cooler, Ferguson said. Cold and deep water makes a pool faster, and an advantage of building a pool from scratch is ensuring the whole thing is just shy of three meters deep.
“They build pools from scratch for a lot of meets, and I think it’s really cool because you can just put it wherever you want,” two-time Olympian Abbey Weitzeil said. “They can just build a pool in any arena which is super cool [and] allows for the grandstand seating.”
With the pool deck covering some rows of seats, spectators will feel like they’re much closer to the action, allowing for an intimate feel despite the size of Lucas Oil Stadium, Talty said.
Lucas Oil Stadium for 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
The four-sided center-hung scoreboard — 20 times the size of the one at 2021 trials — will create basketball vibes, and for the evening events, swimmers will walk out on deck underneath a 50-foot video board displaying each of them in pre-recorded videos.
Between the “blocks walk” entrances and orchestrated lighting effects, it’ll feel like a prize fight. Or, for swimming devotees, it’s the distant American cousin of the short-lived International Swimming League.
“The grandeur of that stage, being in an NFL stadium is going to be unbelievable,” said Murphy, a Florida native and huge Jacksonville Jaguars fan. “Last year, the Jaguars won both games against the Colts, including the one in the Colts stadium. So I’m hoping that’s some good luck for me.”
Boulder, Colorado, is known for its outdoors scene. It boasts 300 days of sunshine per year and collects accolades such as the Happiest City in America, according to National Geographic.
The annual Boulderthon race series has appeared on lists of the most beautiful courses in the world. Since its launch in 2021, the race has doubled in size every year. Want to join in? Start planning now for the September 29, 2024 race. You can choose from a full or half marathon, 10K, 5K, or a kids’ run.
Outdoors Wire talked to race founder Phil Dumontet about why Boulderthon — and this part of Colorado — are special. Here’s what he had to say.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photo courtesy of Boulderthon
Outdoors Wire: Why did you found Boulderthon?
Dumontet: My favorite days of the year have always been marathon days – whether I am running, volunteering, or cheering. I’ve been fortunate enough to run 17 marathons and all 6 Abbott World Marathon Majors, and experience races big and small. I have been an avid runner since 11 years old, and have been fortunate to be able to invest in my training and personal development to bring my marathon time down from about 4 hours to 2:42 over the course of 10+ years.
I see marathons as one of the greatest theaters of human inspiration – tens of thousands of runners all having their unique reasons to run, causes to celebrate, challenges to overcome that create positive ripple effects into other areas of life.
When I moved to Boulder in 2017, I was surprised that there was no signature marathon for the city. One of the first things I do, and one of the best ways to immerse yourself in a new city, is to engage with the city’s marathon. I moved here and thought, “Where is the marathon? Why doesn’t this exist?”
Outdoors Wire: Tell us about the process of starting a marathon in a city that didn’t have one.
Dumontet: I quickly found out why — there were unsuccessful attempts. There is no question that persistence, community engagement, and a long-term vision were the most important factors for me successfully creating and launching Boulderthon. I started working on the concept for Boulderthon as early as 2017. I acquired the Boulder Backroads race as a way to bring Boulderthon to life — this allowed me to upgrade an existing race,and not add a new impact to the community’s event calendar. After revamping the course and receiving approval for the first-ever downtown finish, plus successfully navigating through two postponements during Covid, Boulderthon, serving as the city’s signature Boulder Marathon, launched in 2021.
Boulderthon was born out of this passion for running and my mission to grow and strengthen the running community. However, passion and mission could only get me so far. Ultimately, I had to switch gears to community engagement, outreach, lobbying, and partnership if I were to bring this race to life and garner the critical support to test my thesis that there was sufficient demand for a signature city marathon in Downtown Boulder. Most importantly, I was able to launch Boulderthon as this signature city marathon — the Boulder Marathon — because the community and key stakeholders were supportive of my goal to bring a world-class marathon to one of the country’s great running meccas. I could not have done it without this critical support, and I am extremely grateful for it.
Photo courtesy of Boulderthon
Outdoors Wire: How has community response been?
Dumontet: The first year was very well-received and our team was praised for our organization, execution, and broader engagement to make it a true community event that brought people together around the power of running and movement. Setting the bar and standards high from the first edition was important, as we had the first edition to prove ourselves. I committed to myself that I would invest the necessary time, personal capital, and resources to create an absolutely exceptional, world-class runner experience. “Whatever it takes,” I thought. Long-term, it will be worth it. This bet paid off — we have had a tremendous outpouring of support both locally and nationally and have doubled every year since our first edition, growing from 1,600 in our first year, to 3,300 in year two, to 6,700 in year three.
Outdoors Wire: What makes Boulderthon special?
Dumontet: The magic behind Boulderthon truly lies in the community. We have asked this question to thousands of people in surveys and the common theme throughout is clear: It’s the beauty of the people and place that creates such a magical, high-energy and spectacular backdrop for the race. We have an absolutely stunning course nestled at the foothills of the Rockies, and the community of Boulder shows up to support our event in full force. When we started in 2021, there was arguably nowhere else with such a strong health and wellness community that did not have a signature marathon experience to rally around, so it felt like we unlocked and unleashed something really special — it was only a matter of time for someone to do it. The community was ready. Ultimately, Boulderthon is a celebration of this wonderful community, and all that it has to offer. It is a reflection of the stunning, vibrant, and diverse community that is Boulder.
When we look at what makes Boulderthon unique, it all comes down to the runner experience. Every decision we make is oriented around how we build the best running experience, a boutique marathon with big-city amenities, nestled in the foothills of the Rockies.
Photo courtesy of Boulderthon
Outdoors Wire: How many people do you expect this year, and where will they be coming from?
Dumontet: We expect over 10,000 runners, and in the past the race has drawn runners from all 50 states and 18 countries.
Outdoors Wire: How has this race managed to grow so fast?
Dumontet: The success of any marathon starts with its location. It’s no surprise that London, New York, and Tokyo are some of the largest and most successful marathons in the world, but you look at races like Flying Pig, Mesa Marathon, and Grandma’s and the same holds true. Marathons are both experiences and destinations.
I always think about how important it is to remember that marathons are reflections of the cities in which they are held. For us, Boulder is a stunning running destination, a beautiful, diverse vibrant community that serves as a world-class destination. Bringing together community — both runners and non-runners alike — from businesses to volunteer groups and charities — brings our marathon to life and has helped us grow quickly. Knowing what makes our location unique, and doubling down on that in our marketing, has fueled our growth. When someone asks me what they should market, I respond with a question – why do runners run your race? What’s unique about it? Follow that answer to develop a marketing strategy.
I think of a great location as a key element of our “product,” and a prerequisite to success. I could be the best marketer in the world, but if what I’m marketing isn’t appealing and authentic to the race, then I won’t be successful. Thinking of our location/course as our product has been helpful.
The second critical component is our execution of the runner experience. I could be the best marketer, but if I fail to deliver an exceptional experience to our runners, we won’t be successful long-term. Ultimately, our ability to execute well determines our participant retention year after year (making retained participants a key driver of growth). Our goal is to create beautiful lifelong memories here — we are in the business of making memories. We need to nail the fundamentals, and then provide that Boulderthon magic that keeps runners coming back.
Thirdly, our ability to build and market our brand creatively and effectively drives new participants. This helps us differentiate our race and draw new participants from all 50 states and 18 countries. Some marketing works better than others. Trial and error is our friend, and I have learned what is most effective in our industry and continue to test and improve as quickly.
Photo courtesy of Boulderthon
Outdoors Wire: Tell us about the Boulder running community.
Dumontet: In short: it is alive, well, and growing. The Boulder runner community is one of the most active in the country, serving as a hub for leisure runners, trail runners, and Olympians in training. There is a run club and group for everyone; sometimes, it’s almost overwhelming to choose who and where to go. It’s easy to meet people and make friends via the running community, since there are so many events and community hubs like Fleet Feet with open weekly runs and meet-ups.
Outdoors Wire: What should out-of-towners do in Boulder after the race?
Dumontet: Boulder is an outdoor paradise, spanning well beyond the race. We’re a small slice of it and just a taste of how magnificent this area is.
There is no shortage of hikes, trails, and beautiful places to explore. Hike Sanitas or Green Mountain, then enjoy our amazing restaurants (Bobby Stuckey sets the standard). Visit Chautauqua Park and see the Flatirons glow in the sunshine while you breathe in crisp mountain air. Grab a drink at the top of Avanti or Corrida and soak in the gorgeous views. Walk Downtown on Pearl Street (where you crossed the finish line at Boulderthon) and visit our majority-locally owned shops. Soak it all in and enjoy the beauty of Boulder!
“You never come into [the Indy 500] expecting to win it. It’s so tough to get right.”
Josef Newgarden went from being an elite IndyCar Series driver to the member of some exceptionally exclusive clubs after winning his second straight Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
Following a four-hour weather delay to begin the race, the Team Penske driver started third, and Newgarden and his No. 2 team had a strong race. But at the end, the 33-year-old put on a racing masterclass in the final laps to take the checkered flag. For a peak Indy 500 finish, he out-dueled Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in the last few times around Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s iconic 2.5-mile oval, pulling off a stunning last-lap pass for the victory.
Newgarden is now the first back-to-back Indy 500 champion since Hélio Castroneves did it in 2001 and 2002, and he’s also now the 11th two-time winner of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
For The Win spoke with Newgarden about his victory, the famous milk celebration afterward and the moment he knew he had the edge over O’Ward.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Congratulations. How are you? Have you slept?
I have not slept, and it was not from a lack of trying. I tried to get back early [Sunday] night. We celebrated a little bit with the team. We also got done very late [Sunday] with the four-hour delay. Everything after that gets pushed, and it’s a long process to go through with this event.
Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden (2) celebrates with his crew members, Sunday, May 26, 2024, after winning the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Alex Martin / Journal & Courier-USA TODAY NETWORK)
How did that four-hour delay affect you, if at all, ahead of the race?
It’s difficult to keep yourself mentally where you need to be. You wake up, and you’re expecting the intensity of race day and for the moment, and then you see this impending storm that’s barreling down on us, and you sort of already know that the race is gonna be put into jeopardy as far as the timeline.
I ended up taking a nap. I didn’t actually feel that great [Sunday] morning, and my son was scheduled for a nap. So I took one with him. I got about an hour and a half in, and then it stopped raining when I woke up and it seemed like we had an opening. … But just, yeah, roller coaster of emotions and energy and just trying to stay in the program for what we’re about to do. It’s a tough race to get right, and ultimately, it’s the only day that matters this month. We’re here for three weeks; this is the only day that matters.
I’ve visited this very spot the night before the Indy 500 every year since my rookie start in 2012. I sat here Saturday night and could not wait for the opportunity to run this race once again. I love this place so much. The home of speed ❤️ pic.twitter.com/BAGsoWXDzP
You’re the sixth driver to have back-to-back Indy 500 wins, the first in more than 20 years. You’re the 11th two-time winner. You joined a lot of exclusive clubs. Has two-time Indy 500 winner sunk in yet?
It’s crazy. I let go of the fact, last year, that we were ever gonna win this race just because it’s so difficult to win. And to finally break through last year and then to follow it back up with this year, it’s pretty extraordinary. That’s the only way I can put it. It was unexpected. You never come into this race expecting to win it. It’s so tough to get right.
And just really proud of the team. They executed all day, and it’s a team sport, more so than people realize in racing. And every race we go to is a team effort. But nowhere else that we go to exemplifies the team like Indianapolis, and it really is about everyone doing their job perfectly on the day. And we were able to do that two times in a row, which is pretty cool.
Josef Newgarden, driver of the #2 Shell Powering Progress Team Penske, celebrates in Victory Circle after winning the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 26, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
It looked like you very politely sipped from your bottle of milk instead of pouring it everywhere. Was that lessons learned from last year, or did this one just feel different and a different celebration followed?
Well, I wasn’t super polite. I still had a bunch dripping all over me, so it wasn’t very clean. But I think you celebrate however you want to. I don’t think there’s a wrong way to celebrate. But a lot of times people will pour the milk over their heads after they have a drink, and I did that last year. It was fun to do. It just seems like you want to do that for some reason. But having already gone through that and done that, I thought, well, we don’t need to do that again. I’m just gonna enjoy the milk this time and savor it. And so that’s what I tried to do.
May 26, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indycar Series driver Josef Newgarden celebrates after winning the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Oh, you didn’t want to sit for six hours in a milk-covered suit?
Yeah, not this time. It definitely helps with the clean up. It wasn’t all over the car. Yeah, it’s a better process it seems like.
Was there a moment before you took the checkered flag where you thought, “Oh, my gosh, I’m going to win this thing again”?
Yeah, right entering Turn 4. When I passed Pato in Turn 3, I saw that I had the momentum on him, and I think it’s because of the nature of that pass. I passed him basically right at the apex is where I cleared him — the middle of the corner in [Turn] 3 — and I could see that he lost momentum because of it. And I felt really good about the fact that I had enough gap now to get to the line, and it’s gonna happen.
It’s crazy when it does. You almost can’t believe it when you’re headed to the line, and you see that it’s gonna be yours, it’s the team’s. But yeah, that was the moment. Definitely, entering Turn 4, I knew we had it.
This is only the fourth time the Indy 500 has been decided with a last-lap pass, and you’re responsible for the last two. Can you explain the strategy with that and why you’re able to make it work so well in such a high-pressured situation?
It’s definitely not my strategy — I promise you. It’s just the circumstance. The race last year was pretty different, but it was intense with a one-lap shootout. So if you were gonna win it, it needed to be a last-lap pass. There was really no choice. And then [Sunday], there was no game plan. I didn’t know how that was gonna ultimately shape up at the end, but I felt like, whatever happens, I’m gonna react to it, and I’m just gonna try and be ready for the moment.
Pato chose his point to go, and I just tried to basically rebuttal pretty quickly. And it ended up being the right place, right time, right moment. So it worked out for us. I think he’s a great champion too. He’s a great driver. He drove me with a lot of respect, and that’s ultimately what made the move possible. You can’t just drive with everyone like that. Pato is a really hard racer, but he races clean.
One of the most dramatic finishes in #Indy500 history.
Can you expand a little bit on how if it were a different driver or you were raced differently, why you might not have been able to pull that off?
I don’t know that I would have done anything different. The likelihood of it being pulled off, I think, is higher with someone like Pato because he’s a fierce competitor, but he’s very clean. He’s gonna race you fairly, and that was on full display. He raced me incredibly fair, and I didn’t know if it was gonna work out with him. But I think the likelihood is much higher with someone like Pato.
He’s definitely someone I have a lot of respect for, and he deserved to win this race just as much as me. I think he drove a great day. His team did a great job, and it just fell our way. And sometimes that’s the way it rolls. It’s heartbreaking for him. I know it is. I would have been heartbroken on the other end of it, but that’s the Indy 500. That’s why it’s so gratifying when you get it right.
May 26, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indycar Series driver Pato O’Ward (5) passes Josef Newgarden coming to the white flag during the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
When you and Pato and Alexander Rossi were trading for the lead and racing hard at the end, the broadcast described it as a “220-mile-an-hour game of chess.” Is that what it felt like?
Yeah, pretty much. We were all sizing each other up, trying to understand. No one was gaming it. We were all just trying to lead and show who’s the superior car at the very end. It was a 30-lap shootout for sure, and you’re just trying to study everybody on the fly. There’s not enough time to study everything and come up with an articulate plan for how it’s all gonna unfold, so you’re just reacting within the learnings that you have throughout those laps.
But it was definitely a chess fight just trying to see where you’re gonna be positioned and when you’re gonna make the move at the right time. There’s no perfect recipe. It’s really hard to understand what the right thing to do is. So that’s why I always say it’s reactionary because, in a lot of ways, it’s not planned. You can’t plan exactly how it’s gonna go, so you’re just trying to understand how it’s flowing and then react accordingly.
In these few hours since you won, what has been the best celebration moment for you?
Oh, it’s the traditions. When you win the race, you get to come back. You can celebrate differently — everyone does — but I like to go back to the Yard of Bricks, right on the start-finish line. I like to celebrate with the crowd, and then it’s everything that comes after that. It’s the milk, it’s the wreath, it’s the kiss from one of the [500 Festival] Princesses.
There’s so many little details that this race has accumulated over the years that have just built tradition, and it’s fun to go through that whole process. There’s nothing like it. There’s no other race that rivals it. So I just cherish all of that. That hour period right after the win is really cool here.
What was it was a different running in the stands this time? Did you know you were going do that or was it like, let’s run it back and do it again?
Well, I always wanted to do that [and did] last year. Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve been dreaming of going into the crowd. And I knew where to go, and I was maybe thinking of something different but I couldn’t come up with a good scenario. So I thought, “Well, I’m gonna do that again, but I’m gonna go into a different spot.”
I think I was a little filled with adrenaline, to be honest with you. It was so unexpected to win the race again that I didn’t really have a plan. I just wanted to get into the crowd as quickly as possible. So, yeah, still pretty nuts and cool to do.
