Brian Benzing Schlyde into Sports interview on Beijing and WFW

The Brian Benzing Schlyde into Sports interview covered his first senior international World Championships in Beijing, an upcoming WFW 50-meter breaststroke race with Apollo Hess and his belief that CSL could become the future of college swimming. Benzing also explained how he is preparing for Beijing and why he still has questions about WFW’s venue and schedule.

Who will Brian Benzing race in his next WFW matchup?

Brian Benzing is set to race Apollo Hess and a third swimmer in a three-person WFW 50-meter breaststroke matchup. He had initially expected head-to-head races, but said the announced format includes three-swimmer contests, with some one-on-one races also under consideration.

The matchup was posted soon after Benzing had hinted that an announcement was coming. He also pointed to other WFW announcements involving Matt King, Flinn Southam and Brooks Curry, though he did not describe all of those matchups in detail.

For Benzing, a 50 breaststroke is largely a matter of getting the pullouts and stroke count right. In a short-course-meter race, he said his ideal is about 12 strokes: five on the first length and seven on the return. Short-course yards require fewer strokes, while meters feel to him like roughly one extra stroke per length.

What did Brian Benzing say about his first World Championships?

Brian Benzing said the World Championships in Beijing will be his first senior international meet. He has not previously made Pan Pacs, Pan Ams or junior worlds, and described joining a senior national team as a chance to race swimmers he has not necessarily encountered at the NCAA level.

Racing at Beijing’s Water Cube

Benzing was particularly excited about the prospect of racing at the Water Cube. He associated the pool with Michael Phelps’s eight-gold Olympic meet and Jason Lezak’s relay swim against France. Although he remembers seeing the venue on television, he said he wants to find out how it looks and operates when set up for the World Championships.

Meeting swimmers beyond the NCAA field

The international field is another draw. Benzing noted that many leading swimmers do not race in the NCAA, citing the limited number of Australians who come to the United States for college. He had hoped to see Adam Peaty at the short-course meet but did not think Peaty would attend. Benzing said he would still welcome an opportunity to race him elsewhere.

He also looks forward to traveling with friends from Indiana. Benzing said many of the swimmers who went to Bergen the previous year would be in Beijing, making the trip feel like a reunion. He regretted that Matt King was not on the smaller team roster and hoped the group’s success would bring attention to the Bergen Swim Festival.

What did Brian Benzing say about Adam Peaty and AP Race?

Brian Benzing said he would like to race Adam Peaty and attend AP Race in the future. He was not among the swimmers Team USA took to the meet, but he described the London pool favorably based on what Peaty and friends who had swum there told him.

Benzing did not characterize the AP Race group as having qualified through a separate trials meet. His understanding was that coaching staff chose swimmers they thought could perform well in a fast pool at a high-level competition. He named Alexa Avakov, Ben Delmar and Gabe Nunziata among those who went.

He said Peaty had told him the London pool was particularly fast for breaststroke. Friends who had raced there also praised its facilities. Benzing considered reaching out about a future visit, but made no claim that he had secured a place at the meet.

Why does Brian Benzing think CSL could shape college swimming?

Brian Benzing believes CSL can grow if it improves its presentation, develops rivalries and wins sustained support from college coaches. He thought its production improved over the season and fans turned out, but said its long-term test is whether coaches come to value it as highly as the NCAA championships.

Benzing summed up his view of CSL’s potential this way:

i think it could be the future of college swimming

Atmosphere and the Cal–Stanford rivalry

Two friends from Indiana who attended the wild card told Benzing the atmosphere was strong. He also cited the Cal–Stanford contest that came down to a final skins relay. His point was that students may support a familiar school rivalry even when they do not usually follow swimming. He noted that Georgia had sold out its event and promoted it at a football game.

Benzing wanted to see streaming and attendance figures before judging how far CSL had reached beyond existing fans. In particular, he was interested in whether people who would not watch an ordinary NCAA dual meet had tuned in. He did not claim those audience numbers were available.

Coach buy-in and the college schedule

Adding teams alone would not settle CSL’s future, Benzing argued. Coaches must see its matches as compatible with conference meets and NCAA qualification rather than as extra racing that could compromise their athletes’ seasons. He said a turning point would come when CSL became as important to them as the NCAA championships, or more important.

That could also change midseason training. Benzing observed that a CSL wild card or championship might fall two or three weeks earlier than some teams’ usual midseason meets, potentially leaving a longer training block afterward. Recalling demanding winter training with his club team in Norway, he described one Christmas set in which a dice roll could send swimmers running outside through snow in their Speedos.

What does Brian Benzing know about WFW’s format and venue?

Brian Benzing said he does not yet know how often WFW will stage matches or what the race venue will look like. He expects its organizers to consider sponsors, viewership and destination venues, but presented the schedule and pool setup as unanswered questions rather than settled plans.

The schedule and pool

Benzing did not expect weekly races and thought matches might be less frequent than monthly in WFW’s early years. He said he had not been told the venue’s layout or whether its pool would differ from a conventional multi-lane setup. Depth and pool size can affect a race, he noted, though he was willing to compete wherever WFW arranged one.

Discussing unusual facilities, he recalled finding Florida’s pool striking because it was connected to the basketball arena. That experience was part of his broader point: pools vary considerably, and he wanted to see what Carl planned for WFW before judging its setup.

Facing Apollo Hess and preparing to talk trash

Benzing expected the three-person race to produce a free-for-all rather than an alliance against one opponent. He acknowledged that Hess, as a Canadian, would have a home-country crowd, while stressing that swimming results come down to the recorded time.

He had not prepared much trash talk yet and expected to think about it more after worlds. Benzing said he respected the quick comebacks of MMA figures such as Conor McGregor, but would rather prepare some material than rely entirely on improvisation.

How is Brian Benzing preparing for the World Championships in Beijing?

Brian Benzing is approaching Beijing much as he approached world trials: continuing his training while refining the race details he and his coach identified afterward. He said racing short-course meters at trials showed him where he stood, and he plans to taper before the World Championships.

Using world trials to sharpen the race

Rather than describe a wholesale change in training, Benzing emphasized executing details every day in practice. He said the races at trials gave him a clearer idea of what he needs to do in competition. After a demanding stretch of training, his plan was to taper and try to carry those refinements into Beijing.

Traveling without his coach

Benzing said his coach had not been selected to travel with the team. He pointed to the difficulty of obtaining a visa for China as another reason an unselected coach could not easily make the trip. Even without him there, Benzing said he was excited to go with friends from Indiana and still found it remarkable that he had reached a senior national team.