Hey guys, I'm scott and welcome to this week's blackboard breakdown video
from Propulsion Swimming. This week we're taking a look at one of the best sprinters
in world swimming. It feels like he's been around forever but yet he's only in his early 20s.
We're taking a look at team USA swimmer, Michael Andrew. The 6'6 American sprinting specialist was
born on 18th April 1999 to parents Peter and Tina Andrew, both of whom have had a crucial role in
his swimming career. His dad, Peter, is head coach and mum, Tina, is general manager for ISL team,
the New York Breakers for whom Michael races every year for at the International Swimming League.
In the first season of ISL in 2019, the NY Breakers perhaps didn't have their strongest
year, finishing in 8th place overall and only winning four races all season. Now the Andrew
family were keen to push this disappointment behind them and recruited even more talent
for the 2020 edition of ISL, and boy were they successful on that front. When the 2020 season
finally came around the NY Breakers were far stronger and more competitive. They won many
more races and qualified for their first ever semi-final, with Michael Andrew playing a key
role in this and finishing overall 38th in the MVP rankings. Michael Andrew may have always been
destined for swimming glory as he's been around the swimming pool since the age of seven. In his
early years of swimming he was coached by his father in a two-lane pool in their back garden
and his dad has remained his coach ever since that day. In 2013 he became the youngest ever
American swimmer to turn pro at just the age of 14 and it didn't take long for Michael Andrew to
break through onto the junior international scene and become utterly dominant. In the junior ages at
the 2015 World Junior Championships in Singapore, Andrew was named Fina Swimmer of the Meet after
a medal haul of one gold, three silvers, and one bronze. The gold medal came in the 50m backstroke
in which he set a new championship record. A year later at the U.S Olympic Trials in 2016, an age
17 Andrew became incredibly close to making his first Olympic team. In one of his stronger events,
the 100m breaststroke, he was only 0.64 seconds off going to the Rio Olympics. He did however
break the junior record in the heats and finals of that event. Now over the course of his career
so far, Andrew has seemed much more suited to short course racing and he proved this by
winning his first senior gold medal at the World Short Course Championships in Canada in 2016.
He became world champion in the 100m IM in a time of 51.84 seconds. In the following year at the
2017 World Junior Championships, Michael Andrew competed in every 50, except for breaststroke,
and he went on to win gold in every single event and set new junior records in the process. And
this led on nicely to the 2018 U.S. National Championships where he had his first major
breakthrough. He beat superstar Caeleb Dressel by 0.04 seconds in the 50m butterfly to win his first
senior national title, and he didn't stop there. He continued his impressive form to win the 50 and
100m breaststroke, alongside the 50m freestyle. Over the course of his short career so far,
Michael Andrew has broken over 100 national age group records, both in short course yards
and long course meters; more than any other American swimmer. All that's left for him to do
now is translate this back catalogue of incredible performances on to the Olympic stage. So, Michael
Andrew is able to compete in every sprinting race regardless of the stroke, but how is he
able to do that? Well let's take a look. First of all, you cannot ignore Michael Andrew's physical
stature. Any athlete who has been given the gift of standing at 6'6 and have massive hands and feet
has a very good chance at succeeding in their sport. Because of these natural gifts,
Andrew is able to pull more water than most and reach further when it comes to touching the wall
at the end of races - a key element to any sprinting event. Another factor that makes him so
good is his experience. Andrew has been involved in international swimming since the ages of 15
and 16 and not only has he been competing against the best in the world, he has also been beating
them on regular occasions. He's been fast-tracked to the world scene and had to learn on the job.
Although he has had over 5 years at the elite level of swimming, he is still very young and
in his early 20s. It does make you wonder, as time progresses, how much faster and further his
career is going to progress. But the single most important factor that makes Michael Andrew one
of the best sprinters in the world is his fast twitch muscle fibres and the training he does
to increase his speed in the water. He trains in a non-traditional way, utilizing the method of Ultra
Short Race Race Training (USRPT). This method is very specialized and eliminates any unnecessary
meterage. So instead of doing 11 or 12,000m a day, Andrew will usually hover around 3,000m.
Now, although the meterage is a lot lower than a traditional swimmer's daily routine,
most of Andrew's training will be done at top speed and focusing on the same pace that he will
go in any race, with the overall goal on improving his racing technique. That's it for this week's
video from Propulsion Swimming. I've been Scott. If you've enjoyed this video please like it,
share it with your friends and family and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the Propulsion Swimming
YouTube channel for more blackboard breakdowns coming soon. I'll catch you on the next one you!