Stanford's Greg Meehan named USA Swimming's national team director
USA Swimming named former Stanford head women's coach Greg Meehan as its new national team director Friday, tabbing one of the country's most successful collegiate coaches to restore Team USA's global supremacy during a critical stretch culminating with the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Meehan was a three-time NCAA swimming coach of the year and three-time national champion across 13 years at Stanford, where he coached multi-time Olympic champions Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel and Torri Huske, among others. He also served as head women's coach for the United States at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where the Americans topped the medal table with 11 gold medals and 30 overall.
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McIntosh sets Canadian record in 800M freestyle
VICTORIA — Two Canadian Olympic medallists went head-to-head in a nail-biting 100-metre butterfly race, while Summer McIntosh of Toronto set a Canadian record in the 800-metre freestyle on Sunday at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria. Ilya Kharun of Montreal and Josh Liendo of Toronto squared off in the same race that saw them share a podium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Advertisement Kharun won in a personal best time of 50.37 seconds, touching the wall .09 ahead of Liendo. Both were well under the AQUA A qualifying time of 51.77 for this summer's world championships in Singapore. The 20-year-old Kharun was happy with the win but sees room for improvement. 'There's definitely some tweaks I can improve on,' said Kharun. 'I know it's not perfect yet. There's some things we've got to work on.' Liendo took silver in Paris, and Kharun the bronze. 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Swimming-Canadian teen McIntosh shatters 400 metres freestyle record
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Highs and lows as Fox takes gold from World Cup opener
Three-time Olympic champion Jessica Fox has finished the opening canoe slalom World Cup of the year in Spain with mixed fortunes, unable to add another medal to her C1 triumph. Jessica and younger sister Noemie took on the kayak cross event on the final day of competition at La Seu d'Urgell, which hosted racing for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Advertisement Noemi, the reigning Olympic champion from Paris last year, was eliminated in the first round after an error negotiating the fourth gate. Olympic champion Jessica Fox celebrates after setting the pace in the C1 World Cup event in Spain. (HANDOUT/PADDLEAUSTRALIA) Jessica made it through to the semi-finals but placed third, just missing qualification for the four-paddler final, which was won by France's Olympic silver medallist Angele Hug. Looking to build toward a title at the world championships on her home course in Penrith in September, Jessica won gold in the C1 after turning in a shocker in the K1. In the kayak, she was docked a massive 54 seconds in penalties to finish third last in the 51-strong field. But the 30-year-old showed her composure to regroup for the canoe event and despite qualifying for the final in ninth spot she blitzed the field in the medal race. Advertisement Fox finished 4.10 seconds clear to claim her 34th World Cup gold medal in the event ahead of Czech Mren Lazkano despite being penalised two seconds for nudging a gate. Noemie placed 20th after finishing an admirable ninth in the K1. "I'm super happy with that final. It was great to get out there and put out a fast run so it's a great way to start the season," said Jessica, who admitted her preparation had been affected by other commitments since winning both the C1 and K1 gold medals in Paris. "It's a new format, with one heat and then straight into the final and it didn't go so well in the kayak and I was quite disappointed so I wanted to come back and put down some good paddling. Advertisement "To win on the first World Cup is a great start but still four more races to go for the World Cup series and then the world championships is the main goal of the year." In the men's K1 event Australia's Lucien Delfour had one of his best World Cup performances to win bronze. Delfour had the fastest time of the day but was relegated to third behind Frenchmen Titouan Castryck and Anatole Delassus due to a gate penalty.
