	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

U.S. OLYMPIC SWIM TRIALS

July 1, 2016

Abbey Weitzeil

Omaha, Nebraska

THE MODERATOR: Pleasure to be joined by the 100 Meter Freestyle Champion, Abbey Weitzeil. Joining us also is her coach, Coley Stickels from the Canyons Aquatic Club in Southern California. Abbey, you see the scoreboard and the No. 1 next to your name, what's the first thing you thought of and what's going through your mind at that time?

ABBEY WEITZEIL: When I saw the "1" next to my name it was a huge relief of, oh my gosh, I did it came to my mind. It's something that I've been working for this entire year is for that race, and just to have the hard work pay off is just incredible.

COLEY STICKELS: I'm very proud of her. I'm from Omaha originally, so coming back here and having a big support group in the crowd, having my family here to witness this and my friends from high school, that type of thing was pretty cool and she's worked very hard and earned it.

Q. Congratulations, Abbey.
ABBEY WEITZEIL: Thank you.

Q. Question for you, Coach. What have you seen from Abbey, the way she navigated the prelims as the No. 1 seed, the semis as the No. 1 seed, and then she obviously won. Do you have any thoughts on just how masterful she was as a 19 year old, consistently No. 1 in this competition?
COLEY STICKELS: Abbey has been in the heat of battle before at international competitions, and she's stepped up a number of times, so she knows what the pressure is like.

But this meet, I think, is unlike any other. I think you can ask Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte that in terms of pressure, but I think she just maintained her head and maintained good awareness going into her races and didn't overthink it and just executed a race plan that we have worked on for a long time.

Q. (No microphone.)
COLEY STICKELS: We do very specific training that indicated that she would be close to those times, and so those were kind of the expectations coming in. We really can't control the competition, but we can kind of isolate her race strategy, and that's all we kind of focused on going in.

Q. Abbey, talk about the field in this event. The relay spots are on the line. It was such a fast event that Missy and Natalie didn't even make it back in the final, and you've got so many Olympians in that mix hungry for getting a spot in the relay. What was it like being a part of, you know, a field of that magnitude? Doesn't happen in all the races.
ABBEY WEITZEIL: Yeah. I mean, I know all those girls in that field so just -- I raced them before and I've raced a lot of fast swimmers before. You've just got to stay in your own lane, stay in your own head. I was just there to do what I trained to do. It's a lot of fun, you know, and like Coley said, this meet is unlike any other meet that I've been to pressurewise. I've been to Worlds, I've been to international meets, I've been to Grand Prix and everything in between, and I will tell you before that race there were different vibes going on, but it was a ton of fun, and it's always good to race with those girls, anyone that's any sort of competition, we push each other to the end of that race.

Q. Next step will be in Rio. The World is 52 seconds, and it's possible to beat the Australians, yes?
ABBEY WEITZEIL: Yeah, my goal was 52 at this meet. I didn't reach that personal goal of that time, but I know I'm capable of it. You know, I'm going to hopefully be there to put up a fight in Rio for that, and obviously the Australians, they've already reached that goal, but I've still got some time to get there. It's coming up quick, but I know I can get there and relaywise I think we're going to put up a really good fight.

Q. Abbey we talked about your decision to defer going to Cal. Was that validated already or was tonight really the night when you knew that you made the right choice?
ABBEY WEITZEIL: I already knew that I made the right choice. My career in swimming has already, you know, sky rocketed just by deferring from Cal, just staying with Coley here. I know it was the right decision, but for sure seeing the hard work pay off and seeing the deferment pay off was a huge, you know, relief. It's just a huge weight off my shoulders and I'm super excited about it. I know it was the right choice.

Q. You're the top US sprinter now. What's the pressure of leading the US sprinters into Rio at the time when it's not the strongest event and also being the anchor on the Medley Relay, which at this point looks like it could be pretty good with the times we've seen this week.
ABBEY WEITZEIL: Yeah, I mean, I know that we have some work to do relay-wise for the 400 Free Relay for women against the Australians, but, like I said, I think we're going to put up a good fight. The different energy that you get when you're at big meets. I know I have a lot more in me. I'm sure Simone has a lot more in her, and the same with the other girls, you know, Amanda and Leah, and everybody else on that relay. I know we have a lot more in us. That will be a great race, and being the anchor on the Medley Relay, I've always been a relay swimmer! I love the pressure, I think it's fun, I think they're awesome, and I'm super excited.

Q. Abbey, you carry the title of Olympian now as of tonight. When was the first time you ever thought that you could possibly be an Olympian?
ABBEY WEITZEIL: That's hard to say. I never really had time to stop and think about it. Probably when I made the National Team in 2014, got that fourth spot in the 100 Free at Nationals, made the Worlds and everything, that's when I knew if this was Trials, I would be on the team. That's when I knew I had my shot, breaking the American Record in short course, then decided to defer and everything fell into place.

Q. Coach, seven of the eight 50 splits in this race were under American Record pace. What did you think about how fast all of the girls went out in that race and, maybe, how that race was competed at?
COLEY STICKELS: Yeah, I knew going in that Abbey had her work cutout for her. That was a very seasoned heat loaded with Olympic Gold Medalists, American Record Holders in various events, too, but I knew they wouldn't succumb to the pressure either.

I realize that Abbey has some pretty good front-end speed, and we planned that most of the girls in the heat would go out and try to stay with her and then come back on her back end, but she was out under world record pace, which she has been before, and at about 75-meter mark when the rest of the heat started to catch up, she started to make a move and made a good push toward the finish.

It was one of the better finishes I've seen her do, but, like she said, I think there is a little bit more in the tank and we can flirt with that 53 barrier.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you both.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297