Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast with Sam Williamson - From Commonwealth Rookie To World Champion

Sam WIlliamson joins us on Torpedo Swimtalk to discuss everything from medaling at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, to claiming the 50 breast world title in Doha. Sam walks us through the mental and technical shifts that turned nerves into a plan. He explains why the start didn’t need to be perfect, how he engineered a ruthless last 15 meters, and what it takes to stay calm in a call room full of giants.

We also go deep on training. Sam describes building a unique breaststroke by borrowing the best pieces from legends—without copying anyone wholesale. Expect practical detail: fatigue-anchored 50s to harden finishes, power-tower bursts to translate gym work into the water, and weekly video analysis to tune line, hips, and timing. The Victorian Institute of Sport’s support threads through every step—physio, conditioning, and coaching aligned to one outcome: clean speed under pressure.

Then everything changed in a second. A routine plyometric session led to a complete patella tendon rupture and urgent surgery. Sam shares the shock, the honest fear that it might be over, and the switch that flipped when the surgeon mapped a path back. Nine months, six rehab days a week, and a 10-inch scar later, he’s back swimming and targeting a February competition return. With LA 2028 adding 50 form strokes, he’s doubling down on sprint breaststroke while keeping the 100 and relays in the program.

If you care about high-performance process, sprint biomechanics, and the mindset that makes the last strokes the strongest, you’ll love this episode with Sam. 

Follow the show, share it with a swimmer who needs a boost, and leave a review to help more people find Torpedo Swimtalk.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Sam’s Breakthrough
• 2:30 Birmingham Lessons And Racing Idols
• 7:40 Doha World Title And Race Strategy
• 14:20 Building A Unique Breaststroke
• 18:20 LA 2028 Adds 50s And What Changes
• 22:00 Training Philosophy And Power Work
• 26:00 VIS Support And Coaching At MSAC
• 27:50 Sponsor Message And Community
• 28:20 The Knee Rupture And Fast-Track Rehab
• 35:30 Return To Full Load And Team Gratitude
• 38:00 Squad Life, Camps, And Culture
• 44:00 Event Camps, Competition, And Technique

Transcript

Danielle Spurling: 0:05

Hello, swimmers, and welcome to Torpedo Swim Talk, the podcast celebrating swimmers at every stage, from Masters Legends to Olympic champions. I'm your host, Danielle Spurling, and each week we dive into inspiring conversations from around the world about performance, resilience, and the pure love of swimming. Today's guest is someone who makes breaststroke look easy. Sam Williamson burst onto the international scene with a breakout Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, silver in the 50, bronze in the 100, and a gold in the relay. Since then, he's added a world title in the 50 breast in Doha and represented Australia at the Paris Olympics. But like all great careers, Sam hasn't been in a straight line. A knee injury earlier this year forced him out of the World Championships in Singapore. And the comeback story he's writing right now is just as compelling as any medal he's won. I can't wait to dive into how he's rebuilt, what he's learned, and where he's heading. Especially now that the 50 form strokes are being added to LA 2028. Let's hear from Sam now. Hi Sam, welcome to the podcast.

Sam WIlliamson: 1:18

Hi, thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Danielle Spurling: 1:21

Oh, you're very, very welcome. I wanted to start the chat with um the Commonwealth Games in 2022, where you meddled in both the 50 and the 100 breast, and you were part of the medley relay. Tell us about those races and what you learned about international competition from that experience.

Sam WIlliamson: 1:37

Well, uh the Commonwealth Games is actually the first ever experience I had with the Australian Swim Team. It's the first memory I have of the Australian swim team. I remember Commonwealth Games were in Melbourne in 2006, and I didn't get tickets to go watch, but I remember watching them on TV and just had this deep, like burning desire inside me that said, I want to do that one day. Like that's that's where I want to be. And you know, 12 years, oh what's that, 16 years later, somehow I managed to managed to squeeze myself on the team, but it wasn't wasn't necessarily the easiest journey getting there. And I was actually the third swimmer picked in the 100 breaststroke, so I was I was definitely sitting at the bottom of the pecking water. I didn't really think that I deserved to be there. I knew I had to really prove myself, and like I felt like I had to earn my stripes when I was on the team. And 100 Breaststroke, day two first event there. Uh, and I'm pretty sure everybody listening knows who Adam Petey is. And um a hero of mine, and had been a hero of mine for six or seven years by this point. He was um he was in the lane next to me in my first hate. I remember I was, you know, wiped like the walls in here. I don't think I ate breakfast that morning. I think I was fueled just purely on coffee and adrenaline, panicking, really thinking, how the hell am I gonna do this? Like I'm not a I'm not a small person by any by any means, but standing next to Petey, I felt like I was about four foot tall. And I just thought, how on earth am I gonna do? How am I meant to race this guy? Like he's a a hero of this sport, and here I am, this just kid that shouldn't really be here. Um and then I just remember walking out behind the blocks and seeing down the other end of the pool, it just said Birmingham 2022. And I realized, you know what, like that doesn't really matter what happens from here on out. Like, I'm doing this for that kid back in 2006 that had a dream. So whatever happens, happens. Uh, just go out there, swim with a big smile and enjoy it. If you get to come back tonight for another swim, you you get to swim again in this pool. Like, that's a how exciting is that? Um, and that was that was the mentality that I went to every single swim that meet was just if I if I swim fast enough, I get to I get to come back and I get to do this all over again. How cool's that.

Danielle Spurling: 4:04

That's amazing. And I don't think you should think of yourself as an imposter because think about the uh the other hundred people that were trying to get that top three spot, and you got it, and you got on the the Australian team and you meddled. So you're not an imposter at all.

Sam WIlliamson: 4:20

I certainly I certainly felt like I certainly felt like I was at that point, but um yeah, somehow managed to come away with a few medals around my neck from some pretty spectacular swims. So definitely not definitely wasn't feeling like much of an imposter by the end of the week.

Danielle Spurling: 4:33

No, of course not. Were you a bit of a late bloomer, do you think? In your swimming.

Sam WIlliamson: 4:38

Oh yeah, late bloomery and everything. I didn't I didn't really hit puberty until I was about 17. So I was always a pretty scrawny little kid up through high school. You know, I had glass, I still got glasses, I had glasses, I had braces, like I had everything. Um, and was just this skinny pimply little kid, and yeah, it didn't really grow until I was almost an adult. So I remember you know, stepping up on the blocks, racing guys in Australia, you know, with the names of Jake Packard, who's six foot six and looks like he's chiseled out of marble. So stepping up racing next to him, you you definitely feel out of place.

Danielle Spurling: 5:16

No, no, not at all. How tall are you?

Sam WIlliamson: 5:19

Uh I'm six four. I'm six foot four now. So I definitely, I definitely I finally grew. Mum, mum fed me all my greens and I had all my crusts, and I finally grew.

Danielle Spurling: 5:30

Fantastic. And that medley relay in Birmingham. Um, you did the the the breaststroke leg, obviously. What was that like to swim with the other guys?

Sam WIlliamson: 5:40

Uh well, fortunately for us, um, Birmingham introduced both mixed medley and medley relays. So I was given two, I was given two opportunities to swim. And I think the the first opportunity I had, uh I had Mitch Larkin and Maddie Wilson in my relay, and these were two athletes who had been pivotal to the Australian swim team. I think Mitch Larkin was on his first team back in 2012 at the London Olympics. Maddie Wilson had been on the team since 2014. So these are two heroes in uh Australian swimming, like they're they're household names of Australian swimming, and again, they were athletes I'd idolized for the majority of my career. And look, I still I still do idolise what two of these athletes were able to accomplish. So having the opportunity to swim on a team with these athletes was incredibly special, but having the opportunity to actually just walk out behind the blocks racing with them in that moment was something that I'm never gonna forget.

Danielle Spurling: 6:42

Did you do you feel like you you learnt from watching them, or was it more that they were able to express to you how they thought about their racing on that sort of international level?

Sam WIlliamson: 6:53

Oh, definitely, just all of the above. I think just when you when you're in that environment, it's a pretty chaotic and pretty stressful environment. There's thousands of moving parts, like everything needs to go right for it to go right in that moment. So just watching how these athletes carried themselves in a very professional manner, like they're just walking around, like headphones in, almost like Mr. Miyagi, like nothing's nothing's bothering them. It's just very zen state. So being able to see that in action for the first time was incredibly informative as a young athlete, and something that I, you know, hopefully I've been able to take a little bit of that and move forward through my own career. But then also having that experience alongside them and just going into that environment like the sponge and just trying to take on any and any information that these athletes would give me was um yeah, incredibly informative.

Danielle Spurling: 7:43

Well, you obviously learn from that experience because hitting 2024, you go to the Worlds in Doha, and not only do you meddle in the medley relays, but you win the world championship in the 50 breaststroke. What was that like? Tell us about that and talk us through the race.

Sam WIlliamson: 8:00

Oh, I that's it's something I'm I still pinch myself every time someone mentions that. I still get really nervous watching the race because I pop up sort of two or three meters behind the guys either lane next to me. Uh that that whole the lead up that season into 2024 was probably some of the best work I've ever put forward. Everything was going well, it was just like a well-oiled machine. The team was working well with me, like my coach, my physiologist, gym coach, physio, everyone. We did just all come together and just put in like put in place a really beautiful plan and everything was ticking along. And I think two or three months before Doha, I was over in Japan competing and had two of the best swims of my life, was you know, brought the Australian record in the 50, threw down a really quick time in the 100. Uh, so somehow was actually going into world champs as the favorite in the 50 breaststroke. And I can remember 18 months beforehand, 2022 world champs, I actually missed out on that team. And I remember getting up at 3:30 in the morning to watch to watch the final in Budapest and watching the final of the 50 Breaststroke from the Couch at Mum and Dad's house. So to think in an 18-month period, I'd somehow done the work that had taken me from watching that event from the couch to going into that event ranked favorite and you know, fastest in the world that season was an enormous pressure that I didn't really think about because my coach sat me down and he said, Look, we're we're going into this rank the favorite. But there are three other guys, four other guys in that race that have swarmed significantly faster times than you've thrown down this season. Anything can happen at World Champs. He said, But the goal is to make that final and let's try and let's try and get on the podium. He said, if you put the race together, we might better get on the podium. Um, but yeah, so somehow, you know, I was able to get on the podium, was able to climb up to the top though, which was pretty special. But I remember just having a concrete race plan down for that um for that 50 we so I mean for the at world champs, the 100 breast is day one and two. I made the final the 100 breast actually came fourth by about I think it was a one-tenth of a second I missed out on a medal. But the goal was to make the uh make the final, I PB'd that final swim. So riding a massive high, but knew knew exactly what we had to do the following morning coming in for the 50, and it was just a matter of not blowing, uh yeah, it was just a matter of executing the race plan knowing that you know what you're in a race with seven other guys, I can't control what they're doing in the lanes next to me. All I can do is focus on my own race and do what I've practiced, and and that's what I'm gonna put all my energy into doing. So we had a race plan that was go out and you know, just do what we needed to do to make the semifinals that following night, look at the race footage, look at the race data, analyze it and go, okay, this is what we need to do to be a little bit quicker, and just chipping away at it bit by bit, not trying to take massive chunks out, not trying to reinvent the wheel. Knew what we had to do. I knew the start in that race wasn't my uh wasn't my strongest strongest suit at that point. Like I said, I think I popped up I think I popped up fourth or fifth in that race. Two guys either side of me were arguably some of the best to 15 in the world at that point. So I knew that they were gonna have a really good start, but I knew that the last 35 meters on my race at that point was better than anybody else in the world, so I just had to trust myself and trust the team that we'd done the work and we were uh we were gonna be successful there, and it was just a matter of just trying to get my hands on the wall as quick as possible.

Danielle Spurling: 11:56

Yeah, and you did, which is amazing. It's fantastic. I know you said you came up a little bit behind, but when I watched the video too, I just I was really impressed with the way you sort of built into the swim and you you had such clean lines and sort of fast hips, and the power you took into the wall, I thought was you know really impressive.

Sam WIlliamson: 12:15

Yeah, well, again, and that was something that was something we knew going into this race. We'd been watching the footage of those other guys and we'd watched how they'd raced over the last few years, and we knew that everybody else, that last 15 meters was ever that's where everyone starts to slow down, that's where everyone starts to fade. So I knew that I wasn't going to be able to go out with them, but I knew I was gonna be able to come home better than everybody else. So it was just everything that we were doing in the pool day in, day out, everything in the gym, just to work on that last 25 and that last 15 meters, especially because I knew I I knew I was coming from behind, and when you've only got 26 seconds, or you know, you've only got you've only really got 20 seconds once you pop up to um to try and mull the other guys down. So it was just a matter of backing myself and trusting that we'd done the work at that point.

Danielle Spurling: 13:01

Did you model your stroke on on anyone? I mean, I you mentioned that Adam Petty isn't a bit of an idol. Is anyone that you've modeled your stroke on, or is it entirely personal to you?

Sam WIlliamson: 13:12

I think I think the really beautiful thing about breaststroke is at the end of the day, you can watch you watch that race. There's eight guys in that race, and there's eight very different strokes.

Danielle Spurling: 13:21

Very different strokes, yes.

Sam WIlliamson: 13:23

Eight very different strokes. I think that's the really beautiful thing about breaststroke is it's not a one-size-fits-all model, it is an incredibly personal stroke. And yeah, there are elements of that, but there are elements of breaststroke that if you like that some people just do better than others, and that's that's what we were taking. We weren't modeling the stroke off anybody else. We were, you know what, like we're trying to build our own race car, we're gonna take the best bits from everywhere. So, you know, I've gone back and watched footage of guys from the early 2000s, like Ed Moses and Kusuke Kirajima, um, you know, the Japanese breaststriker, one of the first guys to go on to the minute. But then again, guys like Christian Springer, the Australian, and Cameron Vanderberg back in 2012 when he was at the peak of his game taking the strengths from those races, and then yeah, taking strengths from guys like Petey and the American, Nick Fink, and even the speed that Martin Nagy throws down with. So, yeah, it's not a case of uh trying to model off someone else. And I guess like you know, where my coach and I are trying to take the 50 breaststroke, we know that to do what nobody else has done, you've got to be willing to do things that nobody else is doing. So I think it's pretty it's pretty special to see like you're watching the races at World Champs this year and seeing there are definitely elements of the race that I put forward in 2024 that people are trying to copy, which is exciting. But you know, it's also comforting knowing that you know it's if you do that better than everybody else, you're gonna be more successful than everybody else. So yeah, not a not a case of just trying to model off one person, but just trying to take the best elements from a number of strokes, because I think you know, breaststroke, it's I'll happily be the first one to admit that it's the slowest stroke in the pool. Like it's not it's not the fastest stroke, but it is by far the most powerful stroke. And you know what, if you want to move, if you want to move forward through the water, it's it's not rocket science. Like you've got to push the water behind you. And if you want to move forward quicker than anybody else, you've got to make sure you're not displacing more water than anybody else. So it's just distilling it down to those very simple elements, but then borrowing those techniques from the guys that are doing certain parts of the stroke better than anybody else. Like that's where that's where we've found those shifts.

Danielle Spurling: 15:44

Yeah, and I know you've just mentioned that the the second part of the 50 is the strong part of the race for you. When you move out to the 100 and the 200, because I know you you have swum those before, or mainly the 100, but the 200.

Sam WIlliamson: 15:58

The 200 don't don't hopefully my coach doesn't listen to this because I think I think we stuck a pin in a 200 for the meantime.

Danielle Spurling: 16:04

Oh, really? Because you you did win it at the short cost titles in 22 in Australia. You won the 200.

Sam WIlliamson: 16:10

I did yeah, that's because no one else was there.

Danielle Spurling: 16:14

But when you take it out to the 100, obviously your race strategy changes. What's the strongest part of the the 100 for you? Is it still the closing closing speed?

Sam WIlliamson: 16:25

Oh god, no. If any if anybody watches my 100, especially from trials last year, the you know, trials when I went, I went 58 twice in the day. Um anybody watches that race, they'll see that that last 15 meters, it looked like a piano had falling on me. Um I think but yeah, the the strategy flips and my uh, especially in the 100, that front end speed has always been a strong suit of mine. And being able to get out faster than everybody else, and just because if if somebody, I mean it's happened it's happened to me before. If someone's turning a body length in front of you with 50 meters to go, it it rattles you. And it's a really concerning feeling when you're seeing someone swim the other way, knowing that you've got to chase them down. So uh the yeah, I think the the race plan for the hundred has always been use that use that easy speed, use that fast start that I've got naturally, uh, and just get out in front and get out in that clean water.

Danielle Spurling: 17:22

How excited were you when you woke up and heard that 50 form strikes are gonna be at the LA Olympics?

Sam WIlliamson: 17:28

Uh funnily enough, I actually panicked thinking something was wrong that morning because I woke up to a few missed calls from my coach at the time. And I, you know, I had a I had a later session that morning, but you know, I woke up to three missed calls and a whole bunch of text messages from Craig, and I thought, like, shit, have I have I slept in? Have I missed something important? And then yeah, because because the news broke in Europe overnight, I had a whole bunch of messages from European swimmers.

Danielle Spurling: 17:54

Yeah.

Sam WIlliamson: 17:54

So initially panicked thinking something's something's wrong, but then realized as I was going through it, you know, my girlfriend had texted me with a screenshot of the news article, and I think, yeah, just went nuts. I think mum texted me quite a few swear words. Uh, so that was you know, it's been something that world aquatics have been flirting with us for God the last eight years, the last two Olympics, they've sort of been dangling this carrot in front of us, and I don't want to say that I'd lost hope, but you know, I think a few swimmers had just started to think they're they're never gonna do this. Like there's no way there's no way they're gonna do this. And you know, I can sound a little bit jaded as a 50 form stroker, but I know as a form stroker, you know what I'm not gonna be the first one to say this, but at times it can feel like the swimming world doesn't really care about you unless you're a 50 freestyler. Like there are three other 50 meter events that people swim and people have been swimming for over 25 years now. So I'm gonna be close to 30 years now. Uh so it was just incredibly exciting to see that World Aquatics had had finally decided to allow us to have our moment and the sun at the Olympics. And yeah, knowing that I'm not slow at the 50s, there's another medal chance come the LA Olympics. It was just like it's a dream come true. Just you know, having the opportunity just at the Olympics, just wearing the green and gold and stepping up behind the blocks, like that's that's what every young kid dreams about doing. So the fact that come LA, I'm gonna be able to do that twice. That's uh yeah, you've got there's no words to describe that moment, it's just pure revelation. I think that morning when I saw my coach, I just ran up and like I I think I picked him up. Picked him up, gave him a massive hug, and um just said, yeah, time to get back to work.

Danielle Spurling: 19:47

And and does that reshape the way you see the next training block heading into the Olympics? Will you just specialise in the in the 50, or will you you still include the hundred in the program?

Sam WIlliamson: 19:59

I will definitely include the hundred in the program. I think if you if you take the hundred out of the program, not only does it knock the hundred out, but it knocks those two relays that I mentioned before out of the program. So you go from having four potential medal chances, uh, and then you just you chop that down to just one, which I think the law of averages makes that a pretty silly sentence. And I've my 50 has always been at its best when I've been training for the hundred, and my hundred's always been at its best when I've been training for the 50. So I don't think there's any reason that I should chop and change or like cut one of those two out of my program. Does make it incredibly difficult, you know. At the Olympics, it's not it's a nine-day competition. If you do all three heat semis and finals for both events and true relays, that's I know I'm not a I'm not a distance swimmer. I know, you know, Lani and some of those other guys, they're like Sam Short, some of those distance guys, they're getting you know four or five Ks of racing done over the course of a swim meet. I might be lucky to get five or six hundred meters in. But um, yeah, it it doesn't mean we we don't we certainly don't change anything and we we do what works for us.

Danielle Spurling: 21:12

I mean having having those 50 form strokes um coming up in LA, I feel like it's changing a little bit of the scene, like at the World Cup. There were blistering times in all the 50 form strokes over there. Do you do you feel like there's going to be a few more specialists sort of on the the world scene, or do you think that they're they're mainly the hundred breaststrokers coming down to that 50?

Sam WIlliamson: 21:36

I think, I mean, you could you could certainly argue that there always have been those 50 meter specialists, especially in Europe where they are a significantly more prized event and they're a significantly more recognized event. I know like Australian swimming hasn't necessarily viewed 50 form strokes as an important event because it's not on the Olympic program. And it'll it'll be nice to hopefully see that shift and hopefully see a little bit more of that recognition here. But I think for the rest of the world, you've there have always been incredibly strong 50 swimmers, especially from Europe. I mean, you've got you've got athletes like you know, Swedish, you've got Sarah Questrum, who like, you know, world record holder in the well 53 and 50 fly, but you know, also meddled in both 100 and the 53 at the Olympics, you know, coming back off of pregnancy, but I don't see that stopping her and slowing her down. But you've got some incredibly fast summers across Europe who have you know been renowned for their their 50-meter speed, so I can't imagine them changing anything anytime soon.

Danielle Spurling: 22:46

And so can you give us a bit of an insight into your training?

Sam WIlliamson: 22:50

Of course, yeah, no, of course. Um I mean, I don't know how many secrets I can give away, but don't give secrets to you, yeah. No, no secrets. Um, it's a it's a pretty regular block. I know a lot of people that are doing the 50s would think, oh, like 50 50 for swimmer is doing two or three swims a week. But that is certainly not the case. I still train nine times a week in the water. There's still three gym sessions there, there's one to two bike sessions in the week there. Uh, it's just when we do those individual sessions, they are incredibly specific and incredibly tailored to what we are trying to do. So depending on where we are in the season, there'll be that back-end focus and a lot of that 100 work where it's just repetitive 50s under a lot of fatigue. Just trying to emulate what it's going to be like in that last 50 meters of that race, especially that last 50 meters where it's where everyone starts to crumble, it's where everyone starts to hurt. So it's being able to just hold that technique, and we do a lot of work emulating that fatigue and then doing those 50s under fatigue. But then there's also an incredibly, um, incredibly fundamental power block that we'll do, where we'll translate a lot of the work we do from the gym and take that into the pool and do, you know, incredible, like sort of uh how would you just describe that super high resistance work for really short bursts. So doing you know, 120, 130 kilos on a power tower, isolating the arms and just going just pull for eight strokes. And that stuff we'll do, and we won't do that under a like it's not on a time constraint, it's on a like a distance, and that's like a power constraint. So once that starts to slip below a certain volume, and once that nervous system is sort of starting to deplete and that twitch is gone, that's when we'll pull the pin on it. So a lot of like a lot of um yeah, scientific-based um explosive work.

Danielle Spurling: 24:58

Are you working with a biomechanist at as well?

Sam WIlliamson: 25:02

Yeah, I I've got a huge, a huge team that work behind me with all these sessions. I think there's seven or eight of them. I'm gonna forget somebody on this podcast, and I'm apologizing in advance for forgetting somebody who I work with. But yes, now we'll work with um like a biomechanist um and do do things where we'll we'll film two or three sessions a week and analyze a lot of that footage from sessions, you know, where we do stuff at do stuff really slow and then we'll do stuff at pace and yeah, analyze the footage there.

Danielle Spurling: 25:32

Yeah. How much um backup do you get from the Victorian Institute of Sport?

Sam WIlliamson: 25:36

A phenomenal amount. I wouldn't be able to do what I do if it wasn't for the VAS. I'm incredibly, incredibly grateful for all the support that they've given me. And yeah, wouldn't be able to do what I do if it wasn't for them.

Danielle Spurling: 25:48

Yeah, that's that's good to hear. It's good that it's um it's it feels like it's sort of having a new rebirth with Nicole at the uh the helm there.

Sam WIlliamson: 25:56

Yeah, no, no, yeah, Nicole, Nicole taking the reins has been incredible for swimming.

Danielle Spurling: 26:05

Hey swim talkers, just a quick break to say thank you for supporting the show. If you'd like to become a Torpedo Swim Talk supporter, you'll get early episode updates, master swim workouts each month delivered straight to your inbox, access to our private WhatsApp group, and a personal shout-out on the podcast. Your support helps us keep sharing the stories of swimmers from masters to Olympic champions. You can find the link to become a supporter in the show notes, and I'd love to welcome you to the swim talkers community. And we have to touch on what happened to you earlier in the year where you sadly had a bit of an injury in the gym. Tell us about that and tell us about the rehab that you've been going through.

Sam WIlliamson: 26:49

Yeah, so what was it? May May 7 was uh was the day. Um it was and it was only about a week before I sort of found my feet again swimming. It was always you come off the back of the Olympics, and everybody talks about a bit of a lull that you'll go through, but wasn't wasn't expecting to find sort of that much of a lull. It was incredibly hard, and like I knew I wanted to go through to LA, especially when the 50s got announced, I knew that LA was where I really wanted to make my mark on swimming and especially breaststroke, but just had no idea how I was gonna put myself through that. Like it's swimming is an enormous sacrifice, it's taken a lot, not just from me, but you know, from my partner, my family and my friends. It it takes an enormous sacrifice on everybody's part. So I wasn't quite sure how if I was willing to put everybody through that again to sort of come away somewhat empty-handed. Um, but it yeah, it wasn't until about a week before sort of start of May, I just really fell in love with the sport, fell in love with the work, and fell in love with what I do all over again. But yeah, just routine warm-up on Wednesday afternoon, playometrics, light work, just some explosive training. Um put my foot down, went to take off to do a box jump. Um next thing I know, I was just lying on my back, clutching my knee, and yeah, had completely ruptured my patella tendon so just tore it straight until the quad straight off the bone and was just yeah, looking down and could sort of see the entire inside of my knee, and my kneecap was sort of sitting about halfway up my thigh.

Danielle Spurling: 28:35

Oh wow, duh.

Sam WIlliamson: 28:37

And knew knew in a heartbeat that it wasn't it wasn't like, oh, maybe I've just dislocated it, we'll pop it back in and we'll you know, tape it up, take the day off and um get back and swim that afternoon, but no knew in an instant that I'd done something that I didn't know how I was gonna come back from. And especially at that moment to think I mean when you look down at your knee and you see it looking like that, the worst thoughts begin to run through your mind and you think maybe that's it for swimming. Like maybe I'm never gonna get an opportunity to do this. Again, like that's that's me done.

Danielle Spurling: 29:21

Yeah.

Sam WIlliamson: 29:22

So, but yeah, again, I think VAS were absolutely incredible. I was we tried to walk on it stupidly. That didn't quite didn't quite go to plan. So was um put in a wheelchair, rushed straight over to the VAS, seen by the doctor immediately. I mean, it it didn't take doesn't take a genius to diagnose what I'd done was was fairly obvious, but I sent off to get an MRI that night and in surgery the very next within 24 hours seeing a surgeon. Which, you know, the rush and the chaos and the adrenaline of that whole thing, you're not really thinking too much, but You know, the question of am I going to be able to do this again certainly starts to circle and it certainly starts to get a lot louder in the back of your mind, especially when the doctor says, you know, best case scenario, we might be back at like this point in 12 months. Like best case scenario is in 12 months' time, you're back at this level of strength. Um, but you know, when you're sort of lying there on an operating table and the surgeon says, Look, I've seen the MRIs, but I don't know. He's like, I I don't know until I cut you open what it looks like, how bad the damage is, and what we're gonna be able to do. But then, yeah, that that Friday morning, I still remember it was 7:30 in the morning. I think I'd had two hours of sleep coming out of surgery, and the doc looked at me and or the surgeon looked at me and just said, This is probably one of the worst I've ever seen, and I've been doing this 25 years.

Danielle Spurling: 30:54

Wow.

Sam WIlliamson: 30:55

So, I mean, look, if I'm gonna put my name to something, I'm gonna do it properly.

Danielle Spurling: 30:58

Yes.

Sam WIlliamson: 31:00

Uh, but he just said, I have no doubts that you'll be back for comp games next year.

Danielle Spurling: 31:06

Yeah.

Sam WIlliamson: 31:07

And I knew that so for two days I'd been thinking the absolute worst and thinking that's me done, swimming's done. Um I'm never gonna get a chance to do what I love again. But to sort of have someone come in two days later and say, we're gonna be able to get you back. I knew immediately that you know what, that was two days I'd wasted, so I was back in the gym the following week starting my rehab. As soon as I was uh yeah, as soon as I was walking again on crutches, I was back in the gym. I think I think I had four days after surgery, I was back in the gym because in my mind that was that was four days I'd wasted, and four days that everyone else around the world was getting a head start on me. I wasn't gonna let that happen.

Danielle Spurling: 31:54

No. And and how has that rehab been?

Sam WIlliamson: 31:57

Rehab has been incredible. I actually have just come from a meeting with the specialist, and she was absolutely stoked with what we've done. We've just uh just ticked over 274 days. So it's 99 days to go until I get the Orkbear to race again. February 13th. Yeah, so it's been 174 days, six days a week of rehab, about three to four hours at a time, you know. First first four months was just like knee locked in a brace, not moving it, and then it was, you know, two months learning to walk again, and just the last few months just learning to swim again. Are you are you able to um are you able to do breaststroke kick? Certainly am. We're back in the water. Uh hit a full full training load next week. So this will be my second second full week back in the pool, back in the gym, sort of somewhat business as usual. We've had to had to change a few things just because just because the loading needs to be slightly different, but from the outside looking in, it's it's a it's a full training load, it's a full training week.

Danielle Spurling: 33:04

That's amazing. That to come back so quickly, really, that's the you know what they can do.

Sam WIlliamson: 33:10

Oh, I think I I I owe my life, I owe absolutely everything to the team that I've been working with. Like they were the ones, they were in the gym 7 30 every single morning, six days a week, just you know, helping me walk again. Yeah, so they have been nothing short of phenomenal. And yeah, it's like it's a true testament to the VIS and what they've been able to do to just yeah, just get me walking again in such a short period of time, but get me back in the pool and swimming again in such a such a short period of time has been incredible.

Danielle Spurling: 33:47

Do you still have do you have to swim with the brace still now or are you free of that?

Sam WIlliamson: 33:51

No, no, I'm I'm out of the brace. I'm out of the brace now. I've just got a a very nasty, like very big purple scar that's about it's about 10, 10 inches long across my knee. But yeah, no, no brace, no brace anymore.

Danielle Spurling: 34:07

That's that's really good to hear. You need to get some bio oil on that scar.

Sam WIlliamson: 34:12

Yes, I do. I do. I probably will when I get off this call.

unknown: 34:16

That's good.

Sam WIlliamson: 34:17

A little bit of vitamin E just to try and fade that purple scar.

Danielle Spurling: 34:20

It will fade with time. And you mentioned Craig Jackson, who's your coach, and he was obviously sort of came to everyone around the world's knowledge when he trained Mac Horton to his gold medal in Rio. But we knew about him here in Victoria for a long time. How big is your squad that you swim with now? And are you still based at MSAC?

Sam WIlliamson: 34:43

Always. I I will be based at MSAC and I'll be like, look, I'll be based at MSAC until Craig leaves MSAC, and I'm gonna be swimming with Craig until the end of my career. Uh, yes, but yeah, still here in Melbourne. Uh, I think we've got between 12 to 14 in our squad at the moment. Yeah, a few young, up-and-coming sort of junior athletes that have just come back from like junior world champs, which is really exciting to sort of see that you know what Queensland hasn't taken every single one of our athletes. I know. It's nice to know that it's nice to know that we've still got a few, and it's it's nice to know that we've still got a few that want to stay in Victoria. But yeah, we've got we've got a really good spot of about 12 to 14 athletes at the moment that Craig's obviously, and you know, we've got athletes that do 5 and 10k open water races, you know, like Olympian open Olympic open water swimmer, Mick Slohman races 10k, and then you know, you've got guys like me that race 50 breath stroke in 26 seconds. Um Craig's he's certainly got his hands full, but uh I think he loves the challenge and he's certainly up to the challenge.

Danielle Spurling: 35:44

Well, he's very good at it, so I think um I think he'll do all of you very proud.

Sam WIlliamson: 35:50

I I certainly I have I have no doubts in that whatsoever.

Danielle Spurling: 35:55

And so you mentioned you can get back to racing February next year. What what are sort of the the short-term plans for next year with with what you're going to enter?

Sam WIlliamson: 36:04

Uh short-term plans are it'll be just the just the major major sort of domestic competitions in the uh 2026 calendar, I think, you know, from like big states, New South Wales states, and nationals. They're probably the big three that will will tick off before before trials in June, I think they are. So there's a it's a there's a really somehow these competitions, someone must be working, you know, pulling the strings behind the scenes there. Somehow they work in really neat blocks. So we'll be able to do like a big like big training block, do a camp race, and consolidate on that and just keep fine-tuning and just learning from there.

Danielle Spurling: 36:49

Where where do you tend to go for your camps with your squad?

Sam WIlliamson: 36:53

Uh well, where have we gone recently? I think normally with the F1, unfortunately, it's right next door to MSAC. So makes makes things a little bit difficult when you're when you're trying to swim at MSAC, and there's a few cars zooming around the car park. But um, I think we've we've tended to try and go quite rural with our training camps and just get out of get out of um sort of like the bigger cities. I mean, I know we've we've done training camps up on the sunny coast, but we we've done training camps like all across. We've gone as far as uh not Taoomba. We went up to Townsville and did a training camp. I think that was in a you know a tiny little outdoor four-lane fifty-meter pool without proper blocks. I think Craig was Craig was getting sick and tired of us being a bit entitled, so he decided to teach us a lesson and say, you know what, there's 50 meters and that there's water in it, like it shouldn't stop what you do. Which was um and I I love that, I love that kind of training. It just you know it reminds me about where I came from growing up in the pools I used to train in. Uh, it reminds you that you know what, as long as there is water in the pool, like you you've got a job to do and you can you can do it and yeah, just make sure you don't get too soft and a little bit too precious.

Danielle Spurling: 38:09

And talking about camps, have you been on any of the event camps that uh swimming Australia puts on?

Sam WIlliamson: 38:14

Yes, yes, I've been there. I think there was uh the first one I was invited to it was back in 2019, I think. Little breaststroke camp up on the sunny coast, training out of the USC pool. Yeah, yeah, I've been, and then yeah, the last few that they've had at um Rabina in Queensland as the entire national team. And I think I think they've been a really they've been a really special event. It's always it's a really special opportunity when you know I'm coming from Melbourne, I don't really get a chance to train alongside the rest of the country too often. So it's a really special time uh and a really important time, I think, for a lot of young and developing athletes that get invited to those who are sort of you know on the cusp of making a team. And um yeah, I think it's really important that they see how the best in the country and arguably the best in the world are training and get invited and get put into that environment and you know then bring that back to their their own club is is really important. And I mean, we always we stay on a really beautiful golf course as well. So that's like that's not it's not not necessarily the worst week with a little bit of golf up in the sun.

Danielle Spurling: 39:21

That's nice. And on those event stroke weeks, are they um is it mainly about just training that you would bring from your home coach, or are you racing or focusing on technique? What's sort of the the structure of the program?

Sam WIlliamson: 39:38

Uh oh, it's relatively all-encompassing. There certainly is a little bit of an ego competition between some of the coaches to see who can write, you know, the biggest or the toughest or the nastiest set. Like there is, I mean, there always will be an element of that. And you know what, as athletes, you wouldn't be an athlete if you didn't have an ego. So there always there's always an element of who can do the sets better than anybody else. But you know, like that that little friendly competition that the Australian swim team have and foster really well definitely lends itself to those those environments. But you know, there is there's also uh like a big focus on on that technique and on being able to learn from everybody in that environment. Like there might be somebody there that you don't necessarily see day in, day out, uh, who does something slightly differently that you know you have the opportunity and the ability to learn from.

Danielle Spurling: 40:29

No, it's great to great to sort of hear what happens on the other side. You see it all advertised, but good to know sort of that it's reaching out to some of the up-and-coming swimmers as well. I think that's really important for the future and the culture of Australian swimming.

Sam WIlliamson: 40:44

Yeah, no, it's it's really exciting. I definitely felt a little bit out of place when I got invited to my first one, but gotta yeah, been on those camps for seven years now. It's um starting to feel like a bit of a fossil.

Danielle Spurling: 40:56

Yeah. I don't think you're a fossil at 27.

Sam WIlliamson: 41:00

Maybe on the Australian swim team, I might I feel like one. I might I'm you know one of the oldest on the team now.

Danielle Spurling: 41:06

Are you really?

Sam WIlliamson: 41:08

I think you know, other than other than Cam McAvoy, I think I'd certainly be up there.

Danielle Spurling: 41:15

Yeah, okay. Well, there's been a few retirements over the last few years, hasn't there? They have, yeah. Some of the older oldest ones. I was just up in Noosa over the weekend. I saw Kate Campbell and Emily Seabom swim the um the the leg the swimming leg of the celebrity triathlon. Oh, how was that? Well, they actually made them swim in the Noosa River, which I thought was a bit was a bit awful for them, but uh I think they wanted to keep it all so the spectators could see it. But the actual triathlon, they swim on the beach.

Sam WIlliamson: 41:43

Yep, okay.

Danielle Spurling: 41:44

Yeah, but um they still both had beautiful strokes and looked at.

Sam WIlliamson: 41:48

Oh, like they they always will, especially especially those Kate's Kate's freestyle has always been always been impeccable to watch, yeah. I wish unfortunately as a breaststroker, my freestyle is there's probably one you want to miss.

Danielle Spurling: 42:02

But you have to do it obviously in training. You would you'd swim some freestyle.

Sam WIlliamson: 42:06

Oh, I I swim a lot of freestyle, but you know, that hasn't helped. It still doesn't look pretty at all.

Danielle Spurling: 42:14

I'm sure it's all right. Did you ever swim any other races before breaststroke?

Sam WIlliamson: 42:18

Uh yeah, funnily enough, I actually used to be a backstroker. Really? I think the first national time I ever got was actually in the hunter backstroke.

Danielle Spurling: 42:26

Okay.

Sam WIlliamson: 42:27

But um yeah, in God, 12 years, I actually haven't got any faster.

Danielle Spurling: 42:34

So Right. Well that that's good that you you're superb at breaststroke. Yeah. Because you don't have to worry about backstroke anymore.

Sam WIlliamson: 42:42

Yes, no, yeah, I uh get made fun of every time I do backstroke. I think I I had Nicole Livingston watch me do a 50 meters of backstroke the other day and said please, yeah, I think she said please never never do that ever again.

Danielle Spurling: 42:56

But yeah, she did have a nice stroke technique herself.

Sam WIlliamson: 42:59

Oh, she had an incredible backstroke, yeah. So whenever I see her on pull deck, I quickly flip one of my front and do it a freestyle.

Danielle Spurling: 43:06

That's good. Well, Sam, look, everyone that comes on the podcast, I like to ask them the deep dive five, which is sort of five things that pop into your mind when I ask this question. What is the favourite pool that you've ever swum in?

Sam WIlliamson: 43:19

Favourite pool? Uh probably the Birmingham pool. Birmingham pool was the first uh first pool I swam in on my senior team, and it's a it's a pool I'm gonna I'm gonna remember for the rest of my life.

Danielle Spurling: 43:30

How about your favorite Psychup song in the call room?

Sam WIlliamson: 43:33

Uh same old situation by Molly Crowe.

Danielle Spurling: 43:36

A bit of a banger.

Sam WIlliamson: 43:38

Bit of a yeah, a bit of a hair banger on that one. Just gets me gets me pumped up, gets me pretty amped.

Danielle Spurling: 43:43

What do you listen to when you're working out in the gym? Do you listen to that same kind of thing or something?

Sam WIlliamson: 43:47

Oh the same kind of thing. Sometimes it can get a little bit heavy. I've definitely been uh fallen out of favour with a few athletes at the VAS playing some of the heavier side of metal playing in the gym.

Danielle Spurling: 44:01

You don't want to put your headphones in?

Sam WIlliamson: 44:03

Uh yeah, no, I thought I think everyone everyone deserves a little bit of that from every you know, every now and again. But then some days it'll become, you know, Hillary Duff, like that's what dreams are made of, a little bit of strawberry kisses in there, some Nikki Webster, some Hannah Montana, just like Taylor Swift, like nice. All the girly pop anthems.

Danielle Spurling: 44:20

Yeah, you like to mix it up. I like it.

Sam WIlliamson: 44:23

Always, always.

Danielle Spurling: 44:24

How about your favorite training set?

Sam WIlliamson: 44:27

Favorite training set are six broken ones. Six broken one hundreds, suited up. More often than not, that's a set that I will find myself throwing up after.

unknown: 44:38

Right.

Danielle Spurling: 44:39

Is it broken into 25s or 50s?

Sam WIlliamson: 44:42

Broken by 50s, and we'll go a 50 max if it kick and then a 50 push. Yeah, and it's just just trying to just trying to burn the legs, just cook the legs as much as you can before before trying to bring them home.

Danielle Spurling: 44:57

How much rest do you get in the middle?

Sam WIlliamson: 45:00

Uh the 50 kicks on 50 seconds.

Danielle Spurling: 45:02

Okay.

Sam WIlliamson: 45:03

So oh, if you're if you're kicking what the 35 second 50 kick, you you get 15 seconds, but that's 15 seconds to take the snorkel off, kickboard up, and turn around and get ready to go again. So not an awful lot of time.

Danielle Spurling: 45:15

And do you swim easy between the hundreds or are you just resting at the end?

Sam WIlliamson: 45:20

Uh yeah, you get a few hundred to swim easy.

Danielle Spurling: 45:22

Yeah, nice.

Sam WIlliamson: 45:23

Yeah, unless Craig's unless Craig's not feeling too generous, then it'll just make you sit on the wall and stew.

Danielle Spurling: 45:30

Hopefully he's in a good mood the next time you do it, then.

Sam WIlliamson: 45:32

Fingers crossed ears.

Danielle Spurling: 45:35

How about a training uh mindset mantra that you use? Have you got any sort of psych up words that you use for yourself when you're lacking in motivation?

Sam WIlliamson: 45:45

Uh yes, I will always remind myself that you have to be your best on your worst day. Anybody can anybody can show up on their best day and throw down an incredible set, but it's the athlete that shows up on their worst day and does it better than anybody else. They're the athlete that's going to be successful. And no matter how much you're hurting, you can always go one more.

Danielle Spurling: 46:05

I really like that, Sam. One race you'd go back and swim again just to feel it again.

Sam WIlliamson: 46:11

I don't think I would. To be honest, every single race that I've had that's been incredibly special. If I went, I'd be I'd be worried that going back and racing it would change the feeling. And I think what makes every single one of those races so special is the fact that I have one opportunity to do them. So I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't want to ruin that. Yeah, you don't want to mess with it, yep. Don't want to mess with it. Yeah, and also like no one no one wants this in the last 15 meters of a race when you've gone out a little bit too hard again.

unknown: 46:40

That's right.

Danielle Spurling: 46:41

Oh, well, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today, Sam. It's been really lovely.

Sam WIlliamson: 46:45

No, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Danielle Spurling: 46:48

It's my pleasure. I'm really enjoyed hearing all about your journey, and um, I know everyone that's listening will be wishing you every success heading forward to start racing again in February, and we'll all be watching you at the Commoth Games next year.

Sam WIlliamson: 47:01

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I can't can't thank you enough.

Danielle Spurling: 47:04

You're welcome. Okay, thanks, Sam. Awesome. Okay. Thanks for tuning in to Torpedo Swim Talk today. The podcast celebrating swimmers at every stage, from Masters Legends to Olympic champions. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and leave a review to help more swimmers find the show. You can also catch past episodes and guest highlights and swimming stories from around the world at torpedoswimtalk.com. Until next time, happy swimming and bye for now.