Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Katie Grimes Wants to be One of the Best Female Swimmers in the World
Katie Grimes wasn’t supposed to make the 2020 Olympic Team this summer.
Her time to shine wasn’t supposed to arrive until 2024 when she’d had more competitive seasoning and time to get stronger and faster to better challenge all-world swimmer and namesake Katie Ledecky.
The youngest of seven with five older brothers—the oldest being 15 years her senior—Grimes has always shown a rare maturity, exceeded expectations, established her own goals and lived by her own set of standards.
“Katie has always had a drive to be the best she could be,” said Sandpipers of Nevada Coach Ron Aitken, who has worked with Grimes since 2019. “She has two older brothers that swim, and she looked up to each of them and wanted to be like them and better.
“She is so driven; I often find myself trying to downplay it for her so she doesn't let it take over the ‘just have fun aspect’ of swimming.”
Grimes’ drive to be the best swimmer in the world comes from deep roots.
Her father played baseball and football, her mom played tennis and her brothers are all athletic.
She started swimming at age 6 when she watched her two brothers closest in age at club swimming practice with the Sandpipers. She, of course, wanted to do what they were doing.
Within a year of her first lessons, Grimes also joined the club and quickly realized she loved the sport – dedicating herself to it at a very young age.
“Swimming has always been my only sport because it’s been my favorite from the beginning,” said Grimes, a sophomore who homeschools online in order to accommodate her practice and meet schedules. “As the youngest of six, my parents didn’t have a lot of time to take me to multiple sports, but swimming was always the one for me.”
Being part of a club that puts emphasis on training for the 400 individual medley proved to be the foundation for her becoming one of the top distance swimmers in the world.
Grimes said she developed all four strokes at an early age and quickly gravitated toward the longer freestyle events (in addition to the 400 IM).
Now a lanky 5-foot-10 with expectations to grow to 6-foot-2, the freestyle stroke suited her body type from the get-go.
Still, Grimes worked on improving the other strokes at the same time, and despite struggling during the COVID break to adapt to a significant growth spurt, found herself swimming some of her best times just weeks before the start of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming.
“Her growth spurt hindered her performances slightly compared to improvements of her teammates, so, it frustrated her,” Aitken said. “But our post-race and post-practice conversations had more to do with sticking to what we are doing right and getting better each day at the little things that we could control.
“It (growth spurt) was taking place early enough that I could only hope her adjustments would balance out just before Olympic Trials, and they did.”
Grimes agrees, saying that if Trials had happened as scheduled in the summer of 2020, she wouldn’t have been ready to make the Olympic team.
Months before Trials in June of 2021, she competed in several TYR Pro Swim Series meets but wasn’t where she wanted to be.
But everything came together at the perfect time, and she made her first Olympic team – and taking her first trip abroad at the young age of 15.
“I grew three-to-four inches during the spring/summer of 2020, and that caused a lot of changes to my body composition as well as my stroke,” she said. “Me and my coach spent weeks tearing apart my stroke, figuring out what made sense with my new height and longer arms and putting everything back together.
“I learned a lot about myself and how I swim during this time. I lost a lot of ground for a couple of months, but overall, I became a much better swimmer. Needless to say, that extra year proved super beneficial.”
Still, Grimes said it’s the foundation of endurance training that propelled her and her Sandpiper teammates Erica Sullivan and Bella Sims to earn spots in the distance events in Japan. Bowe Becker also qualified for the team as a member of the 400 freestyle relay.
“It was reassuring to have so many of my teammates on the Olympic team, especially with it being my first international trip and competitions,” she said.
Heading into Trials, it was actually in the 400 IM that Grimes and Aitken thought she had the best opportunity to make the team.
With it being her first Trials as a competitor (she attended as a supporter of older brother Carter in 2016) and with the 400 IM happening the first day of competition, she let her nerves get the best of her and missed earning a spot in the event finals.
And while she was very disappointed, she knew she still had several freestyle events to come and refused to allow that first day’s results to determine the outcome of her remaining races.
“I went back to my hotel room (after her 400 IM preliminary race) and cried, but then my brother (Sawyer) reminded me that I still had three more races ahead of me, and I should go into them with a positive attitude,” she said.
“I didn’t expect to make the team in the 800 free, but after my strong swim in the 1500 (finished third), I thought I might have a shot. All I needed was a lane, so I made the most of that opportunity.”
Just like her namesake, Grimes went on to finish second in the 800 at her first Trials (Ledecky did the same thing in 2012 behind Kate Ziegler) and then swam to a fourth-place finish in the event at the Olympics.
She went into event finals as the second seed behind Ledecky, and despite the disappointment of coming so close to taking home a medal, Grimes said her Olympic experience couldn’t have been better despite all the COVID restrictions and protocols.
“It really was a dream come true for me,” she said. “Since I hadn’t been to an Olympics or any meet in a foreign country, I didn’t have much to compare it to, but I still had a great time. I honestly don’t think it could have been better except if I had won a medal.”
Up next for Grimes is the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) next month in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where she’ll swim the 800 free as well as compete in the open water competition.
And while she’s already made a name for herself in the pool, Grimes said she is really excited about competing in open water.
“I’ve been competing in open water meets since I was 10; I love the strategy and open competition of the event, not being confined to lane lines and dealing with the elements and unpredictability of my competitors,” she said. “There’s a completely different sense of satisfaction, but I love it.”
Open water competition also fuels Grimes’ innate desire to be the best female swimmer in the world.
She said it’s her goal to not only make the 2024 Olympic team in the pool but also in open water – and medal in both.
“Ultimately, my biggest goal is to do everything I can to get better every day,” she said. “I love racing with the best in the world, and Katie (Ledecky) is the best in the world. Any time I get to race her is the best time of my life.”
Aitken is convinced that his pupil can write her own story moving forward – taking her swimming into any direction she desires – the 200, 400, 800, 1500, 200 and 400 IM events, even the 200 backstroke.
“She obviously will have to pick and choose what she can do based on event orders and recovery time, but as we learn more and more what kind of load she can handle, I'm pretty optimistic in her ability to have some choices down the road,” Aitken said. “In the end, Katie just needs to have fun with it all, and I think she is doing that really well right now. We can laugh about stuff like setbacks and expectations that might get sidelined. So it’s easier for both of us to just work out the day-to-day and get better each time we see each other at the pool or gym and have fun.”
Her time to shine wasn’t supposed to arrive until 2024 when she’d had more competitive seasoning and time to get stronger and faster to better challenge all-world swimmer and namesake Katie Ledecky.
The youngest of seven with five older brothers—the oldest being 15 years her senior—Grimes has always shown a rare maturity, exceeded expectations, established her own goals and lived by her own set of standards.
“Katie has always had a drive to be the best she could be,” said Sandpipers of Nevada Coach Ron Aitken, who has worked with Grimes since 2019. “She has two older brothers that swim, and she looked up to each of them and wanted to be like them and better.
“She is so driven; I often find myself trying to downplay it for her so she doesn't let it take over the ‘just have fun aspect’ of swimming.”
Grimes’ drive to be the best swimmer in the world comes from deep roots.
Her father played baseball and football, her mom played tennis and her brothers are all athletic.
She started swimming at age 6 when she watched her two brothers closest in age at club swimming practice with the Sandpipers. She, of course, wanted to do what they were doing.
Within a year of her first lessons, Grimes also joined the club and quickly realized she loved the sport – dedicating herself to it at a very young age.
“Swimming has always been my only sport because it’s been my favorite from the beginning,” said Grimes, a sophomore who homeschools online in order to accommodate her practice and meet schedules. “As the youngest of six, my parents didn’t have a lot of time to take me to multiple sports, but swimming was always the one for me.”
Being part of a club that puts emphasis on training for the 400 individual medley proved to be the foundation for her becoming one of the top distance swimmers in the world.
Grimes said she developed all four strokes at an early age and quickly gravitated toward the longer freestyle events (in addition to the 400 IM).
Now a lanky 5-foot-10 with expectations to grow to 6-foot-2, the freestyle stroke suited her body type from the get-go.
Still, Grimes worked on improving the other strokes at the same time, and despite struggling during the COVID break to adapt to a significant growth spurt, found herself swimming some of her best times just weeks before the start of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming.
“Her growth spurt hindered her performances slightly compared to improvements of her teammates, so, it frustrated her,” Aitken said. “But our post-race and post-practice conversations had more to do with sticking to what we are doing right and getting better each day at the little things that we could control.
“It (growth spurt) was taking place early enough that I could only hope her adjustments would balance out just before Olympic Trials, and they did.”
Grimes agrees, saying that if Trials had happened as scheduled in the summer of 2020, she wouldn’t have been ready to make the Olympic team.
Months before Trials in June of 2021, she competed in several TYR Pro Swim Series meets but wasn’t where she wanted to be.
But everything came together at the perfect time, and she made her first Olympic team – and taking her first trip abroad at the young age of 15.
“I grew three-to-four inches during the spring/summer of 2020, and that caused a lot of changes to my body composition as well as my stroke,” she said. “Me and my coach spent weeks tearing apart my stroke, figuring out what made sense with my new height and longer arms and putting everything back together.
“I learned a lot about myself and how I swim during this time. I lost a lot of ground for a couple of months, but overall, I became a much better swimmer. Needless to say, that extra year proved super beneficial.”
Still, Grimes said it’s the foundation of endurance training that propelled her and her Sandpiper teammates Erica Sullivan and Bella Sims to earn spots in the distance events in Japan. Bowe Becker also qualified for the team as a member of the 400 freestyle relay.
“It was reassuring to have so many of my teammates on the Olympic team, especially with it being my first international trip and competitions,” she said.
Heading into Trials, it was actually in the 400 IM that Grimes and Aitken thought she had the best opportunity to make the team.
With it being her first Trials as a competitor (she attended as a supporter of older brother Carter in 2016) and with the 400 IM happening the first day of competition, she let her nerves get the best of her and missed earning a spot in the event finals.
And while she was very disappointed, she knew she still had several freestyle events to come and refused to allow that first day’s results to determine the outcome of her remaining races.
“I went back to my hotel room (after her 400 IM preliminary race) and cried, but then my brother (Sawyer) reminded me that I still had three more races ahead of me, and I should go into them with a positive attitude,” she said.
“I didn’t expect to make the team in the 800 free, but after my strong swim in the 1500 (finished third), I thought I might have a shot. All I needed was a lane, so I made the most of that opportunity.”
Just like her namesake, Grimes went on to finish second in the 800 at her first Trials (Ledecky did the same thing in 2012 behind Kate Ziegler) and then swam to a fourth-place finish in the event at the Olympics. She went into event finals as the second seed behind Ledecky, and despite the disappointment of coming so close to taking home a medal, Grimes said her Olympic experience couldn’t have been better despite all the COVID restrictions and protocols.
“It really was a dream come true for me,” she said. “Since I hadn’t been to an Olympics or any meet in a foreign country, I didn’t have much to compare it to, but I still had a great time. I honestly don’t think it could have been better except if I had won a medal.”
Up next for Grimes is the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) next month in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where she’ll swim the 800 free as well as compete in the open water competition.
And while she’s already made a name for herself in the pool, Grimes said she is really excited about competing in open water.
“I’ve been competing in open water meets since I was 10; I love the strategy and open competition of the event, not being confined to lane lines and dealing with the elements and unpredictability of my competitors,” she said. “There’s a completely different sense of satisfaction, but I love it.”
Open water competition also fuels Grimes’ innate desire to be the best female swimmer in the world.
She said it’s her goal to not only make the 2024 Olympic team in the pool but also in open water – and medal in both.
“Ultimately, my biggest goal is to do everything I can to get better every day,” she said. “I love racing with the best in the world, and Katie (Ledecky) is the best in the world. Any time I get to race her is the best time of my life.”
Aitken is convinced that his pupil can write her own story moving forward – taking her swimming into any direction she desires – the 200, 400, 800, 1500, 200 and 400 IM events, even the 200 backstroke.
“She obviously will have to pick and choose what she can do based on event orders and recovery time, but as we learn more and more what kind of load she can handle, I'm pretty optimistic in her ability to have some choices down the road,” Aitken said. “In the end, Katie just needs to have fun with it all, and I think she is doing that really well right now. We can laugh about stuff like setbacks and expectations that might get sidelined. So it’s easier for both of us to just work out the day-to-day and get better each time we see each other at the pool or gym and have fun.”