Speaker Profile

“Over the past four Olympic Games, swimmers representing the United States have won 123 medals, including 56 golds. USA Swimming’s long-time High Performance Manager Russell Mark has his fingerprints on many of those medals. Russell studies video and data then makes suggestions to swimmers and coaches to help them achieve faster times. In fact, The Washington Post recently called Russell the team’s “secret weapon.””

Russell led the creation of an analytics software 10 years ago that the National Team still uses today for race feedback.  He is the leading expert on swimming mechanics for the country. He has worked directly with athletes like Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, Nathan Adrian, and Michael Phelps, given hundreds of lectures on swimming technique, and contributed to many books and research articles.

While swimming at the University of Virginia, Russell graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering. He then pursued a career in engineering, briefly doing work in Pratt & Whitney’s experimental military jet engine programs. This unlikely career path has served Russell well in the swimming world, utilizing his knowledge in physics, fluid dynamics, and engineering to identify and advise what makes the fastest swimmers.

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