Hali Flickinger Balances Life, Her Mental Health, And Wins SC World Champs Gold

In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges, Garrett McCaffrey, and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.

Two-time Olympian, two-time Olympic medalist and Speedo Athlete, Hali Flickinger, took  the longest break of her career since winning gold (4×200 free relay) and silver (200 fly) at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest. She needed the time to reevaluate life and what she wants.   Swimming, when it was 100% of her focus, created to much stress and anxiety.  Hali had touched the wall second in her individual events one too many times. That’s wasn’t working, wasn’t the goal, and wasn’t making her happy. Something had to change. During her time off,  and that period of reevaluation, Hali sold real estate in Arizona and loved it.

Last fall Hali slowly reentered training with Bob Bowman‘s elite pro group.  When SwimSwam spoke to Hali she had no idea how this new life change would impact her performance. See our last podcast here.   At that time Hali wasn’t even sure if she would rest for Short Course World Championships.   She, of course, did rest, though she feared she might not have enough of a base of training to finish her races.   Ultimately, she did finished, and in spectacular fashion, winning gold in the 400 IM and silver in the 200 fly.  In sum, this new lifestyle is working.  If  Hali’s situation sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of her peer and old Georgia training buddy, Nic Fink, who prioritized graduate school, while continuing to train, and had the best year of his life becoming the 2022 Swammy Award Winner for Male Athlete of the Year.  Hali shares in this podcast how she traded texts with Nic about his journey and how it worked for him. Hali’s on the same path now.

At this point Hali’s enjoying selling real estate and taking her training one day at a time.  It’s working, and I have a feeling we may see the best performances of Hali’s career between now and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Follow Hali Flickinger on Instagram here.

Follow Speedo USA on Instagram here.

Thanks to partner Speedo USA for their support of this podcast.

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