Clark snaps out of funk to make it back to worlds

For almost a year, Charlie Clark didn't see his hard work paying off. His training trends didn't change drastically. His mindset wasn't bad. But when he took to the swimming pool at big meets — last year's world championships, this season's NCAAs — his times got slower, not faster. "Throughout that whole time, it was very frustrating going meet after meet not seeing the results I wanted or the results I felt I should've been seeing," Clark said. Ohio State's Clark kept chipping away, made a few tweaks and finally saw some rewards to his labors this month. The Perkins High School graduate earlier this week qualified for the world championships for a second consecutive year. He clinched the United States' second qualifying spot in the 1500 meters, equivalent to a mile. "I'm really proud of myself, and it just shows no matter how bad things might seem in the moment, it's about putting in the work day to day and it'll work out in the end," he said. Clark, who finished 12th in the 400 prelims on Friday, will attempt to qualify in the 800 on Saturday in Indianapolis. He was a two-event worlds qualifier in Budapest in 2023, advancing in the 800 and 1500. This year's world championships begin July 21 in Fukuoka, Japan. "I've always loved traveling," Clark said. "Using swimming like this is giving me an opportunity to see the world, which is great." Swims as long as the ones in which Clark partakes provide plenty for his analytical mind to break down. There are a lot of splits. He liked what he did at last year's world trials, when he swam 14:51 to set a new Ohio State record. But he didn't get faster from there. Instead, Clark just missed out on the finals in both the 800 (12th) and 1500 (10th) in Budapest. The relative struggles continued through this school season, when Clark was eighth at the NCAA Championships in the mile for the third consecutive year, with a slower time than he swam as a sophomore. A few weeks after that, Clark made a change — he started running. Clark was a cross country runner at Perkins and has enjoyed the sport off and on as a way to get out into the world, but he hadn't used it as a training method. This was different. Clark started to run 15 to 20 miles per week, usually across three days. "Following up those performances, I was looking to add something else into my training that I could lean on," Clark said. Of late, Clark started to see the tangible results in practice. "The three weeks (leading into trials), I was doing some sets that I've never done before, times in practice I've never gone before, lots of good things," Clark said. It all added up to a 14:50 in the mile on Tuesday night in Indianapolis, breaking his own OSU program record. Clark was second behind Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke, who swam 14:42, the fastest time ever recorded on U.S. soil. "Me and Bobby have gotten to train together a lot," Clark said. "I was really impressed with his swim." Clark wasn't fully tapered for the meet, either, which provides additional encouragement heading into worlds. The United States team will train in Singapore in early July before heading to Japan. "I feel really good," Clark said. "I'm not 100 percent tapered for this meet. The whole goal for this was to come here, get the job done, qualify through to worlds, but still be able to go to worlds and drop more time, to be able to go there and do something while I'm there. To be able to drop time not on a full rest is great." This begins a huge calendar year for swimmers worldwide, including Clark. The 2024 Paris Olympics are just about a year away. Clark should be back in Indianapolis next June for the Olympic Trials, which will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. The Olympic year will likely mean an Olympic redshirt at Ohio State for Clark, at least in the fall semester and potentially in the spring, too. His training patterns will be different than they would be if he was just competing for the Buckeyes. The goal is to put Clark in the best position to represent the United States at the Olympics, a goal he has held since he was 6, sitting in his car before swim practice listening to the Olympic fanfare on an iPod. "I won't do many meets after worlds," Clark said. "I'll use that as a big training block to build up a big aerobic base." First up, though, a trip to Japan. Clark wants to keep his recent positive trends going. He knows his recent times place him in good position at worlds. Based on last year, anything inside 14:56 probably gets Clark into the finals of the mile. If he gets into the final eight, Clark won't change his approach. He usually swims the slowest first 100 in the field, putting him in last place with a lot of swimming left to do. He was last after 100 at the 2023 trials, too, before picking off all but one of the swimmers in front of him. Clark hopes to get the chance to do that in Fukuoka. "In the final, it's just about getting out and racing," Clark said.