“It feels great. It’s really good to be back racing,” Smith said. “I am very happy that we can all be here in San Antonio and we are all racing together. It has been a while since we’ve done a long course, high-level competition like this. It’s good to have everyone back in the pool again.”
Smith continued, “After this race, I feel like I nailed my starts, turns, and finishes today, in prelims and finals, so I was pretty happy with that. I’m as fit as I’ve ever been, so I’m happy with where we are. I’m so grateful to be back with my teammates every day. We are all fortunate to be back together.
“I will watch a video and I will see what I can improve upon further,” Smith added.
Nic Fink
On swimming long course again, he said, “It feels pretty good. I enjoy swimming long course. Having a little short course season is fun since it takes your mind off of the whole year, the Olympics and the Olympic Trials, and all the uncertainty going into 2021. I really enjoy it and I love racing.”
On January 16, Fink won first place in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke race with a time of 2:11.28. “I used to never win these close races, especially at these Pro meets. Last year, I won one in January and that was the first time I won a Pro Swim Series in four years. Now, that the wins are happening more often, I am definitely happy with being able to race,” he said.
When asked what areas he wants to improve on, Fink said, “My start and my turn has been pretty good thanks to ISL and doing a lot of short course. I need to get better being in the big pool and swimming those long laps. I will get used to them and I will be doing more sets.”
Fink opened up winning ISL Season 2 with the Cali Condors. “Wow, that was great. Last year, it was something new and different. It was really cool coming out this year, knowing that Energy Standard had such a stacked team, and come out on top this year. It was an awesome feeling. To be there helping the team, even after my injury was really great. Getting that win was huge for us,” he said.
