Morgan Stickney’s Race Against the Clock

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Sports Stickney, who endured first one amputation and then another, has put off surgery to chase a world record. After years of pain, she is closer to it than ever.https://nyti.ms/3Bs0QMh

Into the Mist

By BY DAVID W. CHEN from NYT Sports He was a champion swimmer, maybe a future Olympian. Then he disappeared. Where did Vinny Marciano go?https://nyti.ms/3iWnJ3Z

Who is Ariarne Titmus, the Australian nicknamed the Terminator who beat Katie Ledecky?

By BY ALEXANDRA E. PETRI from NYT Sports The 20-year-old Australian swimmer called her victory in the women’s 400-meter freestyle “surreal.”https://nyti.ms/36ZNlWD

Katie Ledecky’s Unlikely New Role: Underdog?

By BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN from NYT Sports Ariarne Titmus of Australia has been faster lately, even in one of Ledecky’s best races. How will the defending Olympic champion respond to the threat?https://nyti.ms/3kQ9hvz

A Swimmer’s Long, Winding Lane Back to the Paralympics

By BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN from NYT Sports For Rudy Garcia-Tolson, it took a journey across the country, then halfway back again; the good will of a Hollywood actor; and a good time at the trials in his final shot at a spot.https://nyti.ms/3zQHa4p

7 U.S. Swimmers to Watch at the Olympics

By BY KAREN CROUSE from NYT Sports The 50 pool swimmers representing the United States in Tokyo have nine individual Olympic gold medals and three silvers among them. Thirty-five will be making their Olympic debuts.https://nyti.ms/3j3ToB2

China’s Sun Yang Barred for Four Years

By BY TARIQ PANJA from NYT Sports A champion swimmer was suspended (again) for a violation of doping rules, but his four-year penalty will expire in only three.https://nyti.ms/2Ut9bPx

U.S. Swim Team Will Take 11 Teenagers to Tokyo Olympics

By BY KAREN CROUSE from NYT Sports The roster reflected a generational shift as the U.S. adjusted to life after Michael Phelps.https://nyti.ms/3j2kzfl

Simone Manuel Falters in the Olympic Swimming Race That Made Her

By BY KAREN CROUSE from NYT Sports After failing to qualify for the 100-meter freestyle in Tokyo, she has one last chance to make the U.S. team. It’s a stunning setback for a star of the Rio Olympics who spoke of mental and physical fatigue.https://nyti.ms/3xx2x8Y

Michael Phelps Is Not Going to the Olympics, but His Wake Is

By BY KAREN CROUSE from NYT Sports At the U.S. swimming trials, Phelps’s influence abounds in athletes he has mentored and counseled as the sport grapples with his retirement from the Games.https://nyti.ms/3ztxi0u

Clara Lamore Walker, 94, Thwarted Olympian Redeemed in Her 50s, Dies

By BY SAM ROBERTS from NYT Sports She gave up competitive swimming after the 1948 Games in London — until her doctor prescribed the pool for back pain. She staged an astonishing comeback.https://nyti.ms/3eDqyDJ

Canada’s Artistic Swimming Coach on Leave Amid Allegations

By BY GILLIAN R. BRASSIL AND JERÉ LONGMAN from NYT Sports The coach of Canada’s most elite team — slated for the Olympics — will step aside as he awaits the outcome of a disciplinary hearing about allegations of emotional abuse.https://nyti.ms/3fhMHct

Swimming Against Time, Ignoring the Finish Line

By BY ALEXANDER CARLISLE from NYT Sports Swimming the 12 miles across Lake Tahoe, the author was advised to not look ahead but break up the challenge into fathomable chunks. It worked for the swim, and life.https://nyti.ms/3ncSC3M

Swimming in a Bubble, Free From the Tyranny of Times

By BY KAREN CROUSE from NYT Sports The pandemic disrupted the training of some of the world’s best swimmers, but a new competition has offered a rare treat: a chance to ignore the ticking clock.https://nyti.ms/3nFKHM2

What These Athletes Learned From Their Pandemic Pauses

By BY MATT FUTTERMAN, JULIET MACUR, TALYA MINSBERG AND JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports The coronavirus disrupted lives around the world and sent the gymnast Sunisa Lee, the swimmer Rudy Garcia-Tolson, the Seattle Storm’s Breanna Stewart and the Seattle Mariners’ Kyle Lewis on unexpected journeys.https://nyti.ms/2TOc35G

He Needed to Train. David Duchovny’s Pool Was Out There.

By BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN from NYT Sports Rudy Garcia-Tolson’s attempt to make a fifth Paralympic swim team after three years of retirement was missing a crucial element — a pool where he could train. Enter Special Agent Mulder.https://nyti.ms/33RX94R

He Drove 3,000 Miles to Find a Pool and Ended Up in the Ocean

By BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN AND CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA from NYT Sports Rudy Garcia-Tolson is determined to make a fifth Paralympic team, even if he has to start at the bottom. Or on a surfboard.https://nyti.ms/2As6MuF

Regan Smith: No Swimming, No Olympics, No Graduation. No Complaints.

By BY DANIELLE ALLENTUCK from NYT Sports Smith, 18, set two world records last summer and seemed primed for the Tokyo Games. When they were postponed, she focused on what she could do rather than what she couldn’t.https://nyti.ms/3cYy6yS

The Paralympics Got Postponed. A Retired Champion Got an Idea.

By BY MATT FUTTERMAN AND BRITTAINY NEWMAN from NYT Sports Rudy Garcia-Tolson competed in four Paralympics and thought he was ready to call it a career — until he realized that an extra year of training could enable his comeback.https://nyti.ms/2ArKXLj

No Swimming Pools? No Sports to Announce? No Problem.

By BY VICTOR MATHER from NYT Sports Sports commentators and swimmers are having to get especially creative. Plus, we look at the sports weekend that would have been.https://nyti.ms/3apwNHJ