The swimming world has been buzzing lately around one particular name:
Kristian Gkolomeev.
Between conversations surrounding sprint freestyle, extreme speed, the Enhanced Games, performance enhancement debates, and what the future of elite athletics could look like, swimmers everywhere have been asking the same question:
“How much of swimming is power… and how much is technique?”
Before we go any further, let’s make something crystal clear:
We do not condone the Enhanced Games or the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.
That’s not the point of this article.
But as coaches and swimmers, we can observe what these performances continue to reveal about the sport itself.
And honestly?
One thing becomes very obvious very quickly:
Even in sprint freestyle at the absolute highest level…
Technique still matters more than people think.
A lot of non-swimmers look at sprint freestyle and think:
“Oh, they’re just muscling through the water.”
No.
Not even close.
In fact, sprint freestyle may be one of the most technical events in all of swimming because every movement happens:
At elite speed, tiny inefficiencies become huge problems.
A slightly dropped elbow?
Slower.
Poor alignment?
Slower.
Bad breath timing?
Slower.
Too much vertical movement?
Slower.
The water exposes everything.
When watching elite sprint freestylers like Kristian Gkolomeev, one thing stands out immediately:
The water around them often looks… calm.
That sounds strange considering how violently fast they’re moving.
But that’s actually the point.
Great sprinters are not trying to create chaos.
They are trying to:
The best sprint swimmers in the world do not waste movement.
Everything has purpose.
This is probably the biggest misconception in swimming.
People assume: More strength = more speed
But swimming doesn’t work that way.
Because water punishes inefficiency immediately.
You can get:
…but if your technique breaks down, you still lose speed.
That’s why two swimmers with similar physical ability can produce dramatically different results.
One fights the water.
The other moves through it.
At Swim With Milo, we constantly talk about: distance per stroke.
How far do you travel every time your hand enters the water?
Because spinning your arms faster means absolutely nothing if you’re slipping through the water.
That’s like:
Motion is not propulsion.
The best sprinters in the world combine:
all at once.
That’s what creates elite speed.
One of the most underrated parts of sprint freestyle is the catch.
When elite swimmers enter the water:
Then the body moves past the catch.
That’s what holding water actually means.
Many swimmers think sprinting means: “Spin harder.”
Elite swimmers understand: “Hold better.”
Huge difference.
Here’s another interesting thing about sprint freestyle:
The faster you go, the more important body position becomes.
If your hips drop slightly: More drag.
If your head moves too much: More drag.
If your kick creates too much vertical motion: More drag.
At sprint speed, even tiny inefficiencies become expensive.
That’s why elite swimmers spend so much time obsessing over:
The fundamentals never stop mattering.
A lot of younger swimmers and triathletes watch elite sprinting and think:
“I just need to get stronger.”
Not exactly.
Strength matters.
But strength applied poorly is wasted.
What swimmers should really notice is:
That’s technique.
And technique scales.
One thing swimming always does incredibly well is expose reality.
You cannot fake efficiency in water.
You either:
That’s why swimming remains such a brutally honest sport.
The stopwatch doesn’t care about hype.
The water definitely doesn’t care.
If technique matters this much at the highest levels…
Imagine how much it matters for developing swimmers.
That’s why:
matter so much.
Most swimmers are not limited by effort.
They are limited by:
And those are fixable.
Technique ages better than brute force.
That’s one of the best things about swimming.
Even if:
you can still improve dramatically through:
That’s encouraging.
Because it means swimming rewards intelligence and skill—not just raw athleticism.
The conversations around the Enhanced Games will continue.
People will debate:
But beneath all of it, one thing remains true:
The swimmers who move through the water best usually win.
Not the swimmers who simply thrash the hardest.
Not the swimmers who waste the most energy.
The best swimmers combine:
And that has always been true.
Enhanced Games or not…
Great technique still matters most.
And in swimming, it probably always will.
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