On the journey towards his 2018 summer competitive campaign, Dutch national record holder Jesse Puts stopped at Coach Dave Salo‘s squad in California to train alongside friend Vlad Morozov of Russia. Normally based out of NTC Amsterdam under Mark Faber, Puts spread his wings with a stint at USC for about a dozen days this month.
“I asked Vlad if it was possible for me to come over and train with him and it worked out,” Puts tells SwimSwam. “They often have international swimmers joining them for periods of time.”
As for his experience in the Los Angeles area, Puts says, “it was cool. Vlad and Dave are really nice and it was nice to see how they train there. It’s different from how we train back home, but I really liked training with one of the fastest in the world and experiencing new things. LA is a nice bonus, too.”
The 23-year-old describes the training simply as ‘fast’, saying, “Dave likes to do everything fast. The whole practice is fast.”
That’s a gear Puts is used to, considering he’s currently ranked 8th in the world in the men’s LCM 50 freestyle. He produced a speedy 21.85 at the Swim Cup Eindhoven earlier this year, setting him up to rival the likes of Britain’s Ben Proud, Morozov and Italy’s Andrea Vergani at this year’s European Championships.
Before that, however, Puts will continue honing his craft, taking on this summer’s Mare Nostrom circuit, as well as the Sette Colli Trophy.