Monday, May 9, 2022
Matt Fallon Continues to Exceed Goals
Imagine what Matt Fallon can do next.
The University of Pennsylvania freshman finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke at March’s NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming & Diving National Championships. His time of 1:49.03 in the prelims of that race is the second fastest ever by a freshman (fastest by an American freshman) and the seventh fastest ever (sixth fastest by an American).
Despite this enormous success, Fallon spent much of the season learning more about what makes him fast. He figured out the breaststroke, IM and distance freestyle sets he needs to do to get into shape, what he needs to do to stay in shape, and what parts of his breaststroke he needs to work on throughout the season. His is a never-ending quest to continue improving.
“When you listen to Matt, you understand he’s a student of his sport,” Penn head coach Mike Schnur said. “Matt knows what Matt needs a lot of the time. He’s learning how to train. He’s learning what he needs. He’s learning how much breaststroke he can handle.”
If Fallon continues to improve, he figures to be one of the top contenders in the 200 breaststroke at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming. He finished eighth in the race at last year’s Trials, though his 2:08.91 in semifinals would’ve placed him fourth in finals.
Fallon’s success comes because of his ability to swim the second half of his races quickly.
At 15, he negative-split a 400 IM en route to setting a YMCA national record, an amazing accomplishment considering breaststroke, usually the slowest leg of an IM, comes third. His second 100 in the final of the 200 breaststroke at Trials last year was the fourth fastest in the heat at 1:08.09, and his second 100 in the final of the 200 breaststroke at NCAAs was the fastest in the heat at 55.82.
“[If I went out faster,] I sort of lose my feel for the water,” Fallon said. “It’s definitely important to not deplete everything the first 100. I think it’s good to have a first 100 that’s built on easy speed, and not having too much left at the end of a race is important because you want to get everything out of that 200 meters or yards. The back-halfing is definitely just what’s most comfortable for me, and it allows me to swim my race the best I can.”
His style of swimming requires a certain style of training, which was part of the reason why he chose Penn. Fallon likes the high-volume training and fast-interval, low-rest sets Schnur coaches.
“Even though I swim the 100 breast, I definitely do not train like a sprinter,” said Fallon, who tied for 10th at NCAAs in the 100 breaststroke. “Mike has definitely been very understanding of that. It’s just very nice to have a very distance-oriented program.”
Schnur declined to go in depth into Fallon’s training — “We’re not going to talk specifics until we get through 2024,” Schnur said. “I don’t want too many of Matt’s opponents knowing what he’s doing.” — but Schnur did say that Fallon can do breaststroke main sets every day whereas other breaststrokers on the team might only do two or three breaststroke main sets a week.
“There’s sets he does that I don’t think many people in this country can do,” Schnur said. “His main competitors in long course can be six, seven, eight years older. They’re not going to train the way he does.”
Schnur said he was also impressed with Fallon’s dryland routine, which Fallon developed with his father, who also swam at Penn. Fallon didn’t want to get into specifics of his routine, which he described as including stretching, bodyweight exercises, and machine-driven exercises.
“Put it this way: The stuff Matt does on some swimming equipment, he can do with his legs what I can’t do with my upper body,” Schnur said. “I’m trying to pull some of the stuff he does, where he just uses his legs. That’s how strong he is. Very few guys on our team can move the machine, and Matt can do it with his legs.”
Fallon’s decision to swim for Penn over another powerhouse swimming program surprised many, but his family’s connection to the school—his mother also attended Penn, and his brother is on the team—and its sterling academic reputation helped make up his mind. Fallon plans to major in business at the famed Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Fallon values academics highly. He skipped the 2022 U.S. World Championship Trials in April because the meet conflicted with his final exam schedule.
He continues to set his sights on the 2024 Paris Olympics. All he needs to do, as he’s done many times before, is close strong.
“I’m just looking to do more of the same training that I’ve been doing in other long course seasons, just swimming a lot of long course,” Fallon said. “It’s good to specifically focus on long course for long course season and just do most of the same things.
“It’s definitely very hard transitioning to a long-course mindset, but I feel like I’ve been able to do it a lot better these past few years, so I’m trying to keep that trend going.”
The University of Pennsylvania freshman finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke at March’s NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming & Diving National Championships. His time of 1:49.03 in the prelims of that race is the second fastest ever by a freshman (fastest by an American freshman) and the seventh fastest ever (sixth fastest by an American).
Despite this enormous success, Fallon spent much of the season learning more about what makes him fast. He figured out the breaststroke, IM and distance freestyle sets he needs to do to get into shape, what he needs to do to stay in shape, and what parts of his breaststroke he needs to work on throughout the season. His is a never-ending quest to continue improving.
“When you listen to Matt, you understand he’s a student of his sport,” Penn head coach Mike Schnur said. “Matt knows what Matt needs a lot of the time. He’s learning how to train. He’s learning what he needs. He’s learning how much breaststroke he can handle.”
If Fallon continues to improve, he figures to be one of the top contenders in the 200 breaststroke at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming. He finished eighth in the race at last year’s Trials, though his 2:08.91 in semifinals would’ve placed him fourth in finals.
Fallon’s success comes because of his ability to swim the second half of his races quickly.
At 15, he negative-split a 400 IM en route to setting a YMCA national record, an amazing accomplishment considering breaststroke, usually the slowest leg of an IM, comes third. His second 100 in the final of the 200 breaststroke at Trials last year was the fourth fastest in the heat at 1:08.09, and his second 100 in the final of the 200 breaststroke at NCAAs was the fastest in the heat at 55.82.
“[If I went out faster,] I sort of lose my feel for the water,” Fallon said. “It’s definitely important to not deplete everything the first 100. I think it’s good to have a first 100 that’s built on easy speed, and not having too much left at the end of a race is important because you want to get everything out of that 200 meters or yards. The back-halfing is definitely just what’s most comfortable for me, and it allows me to swim my race the best I can.”
His style of swimming requires a certain style of training, which was part of the reason why he chose Penn. Fallon likes the high-volume training and fast-interval, low-rest sets Schnur coaches.
“Even though I swim the 100 breast, I definitely do not train like a sprinter,” said Fallon, who tied for 10th at NCAAs in the 100 breaststroke. “Mike has definitely been very understanding of that. It’s just very nice to have a very distance-oriented program.”
Schnur declined to go in depth into Fallon’s training — “We’re not going to talk specifics until we get through 2024,” Schnur said. “I don’t want too many of Matt’s opponents knowing what he’s doing.” — but Schnur did say that Fallon can do breaststroke main sets every day whereas other breaststrokers on the team might only do two or three breaststroke main sets a week.
“There’s sets he does that I don’t think many people in this country can do,” Schnur said. “His main competitors in long course can be six, seven, eight years older. They’re not going to train the way he does.”
Schnur said he was also impressed with Fallon’s dryland routine, which Fallon developed with his father, who also swam at Penn. Fallon didn’t want to get into specifics of his routine, which he described as including stretching, bodyweight exercises, and machine-driven exercises.
“Put it this way: The stuff Matt does on some swimming equipment, he can do with his legs what I can’t do with my upper body,” Schnur said. “I’m trying to pull some of the stuff he does, where he just uses his legs. That’s how strong he is. Very few guys on our team can move the machine, and Matt can do it with his legs.”
Fallon’s decision to swim for Penn over another powerhouse swimming program surprised many, but his family’s connection to the school—his mother also attended Penn, and his brother is on the team—and its sterling academic reputation helped make up his mind. Fallon plans to major in business at the famed Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Fallon values academics highly. He skipped the 2022 U.S. World Championship Trials in April because the meet conflicted with his final exam schedule.
He continues to set his sights on the 2024 Paris Olympics. All he needs to do, as he’s done many times before, is close strong.
“I’m just looking to do more of the same training that I’ve been doing in other long course seasons, just swimming a lot of long course,” Fallon said. “It’s good to specifically focus on long course for long course season and just do most of the same things.
“It’s definitely very hard transitioning to a long-course mindset, but I feel like I’ve been able to do it a lot better these past few years, so I’m trying to keep that trend going.”