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Finlay Knox on the Olympic Ready Room, Box Breathing and Why You Should Swim for Your Body Type
Most athletes would sprint back for an Olympic closing ceremony. Finlay Knox watched his on TV from a holiday in Spain with his family. "Rather than making the trek back, I'll throw it on the TV, see when Team Canada walks out," he told us. "But I'm on holiday now. It's switching my brain off."
That detail says a lot about how the two-time Olympian and 2024 world champion thinks. He trains and races with total intent, and then he knows when to turn it off. In this episode, the UBC Thunderbirds swimmer takes us inside the Olympic ready room, explains the breathing routine he uses before every race, and makes a case young swimmers need to hear: stop trying to be someone you're not.
Why he chose the pool over the rink
Like a lot of Canadian kids, Finlay grew up playing hockey as well as swimming. What pulled him to the pool was how clear the feedback was. "In hockey it's hard to know if you're doing good," he said. "You can have a fantastic game but still lose." In swimming, if he trained well and swam well, he got the result, and if he didn't, "it was on me."
It wasn't instant success either. He didn't grow until he was about 16 and was barely winning medals at 12, 13 and 14. His parents kept telling him the same thing: be patient, your time will come.
Inside the Olympic ready room
The ready room is where swimmers wait before walking out to race, and at the Olympics it's full of world record holders and champions. Some athletes crack under that. Finlay decided early to treat it as a privilege: "This is cool. I've never been part of it. So I'm just going to do whatever I'm going to do and swim."
He backs that mindset up with a routine. His version of box breathing is six seconds in, a two-second hold, eight seconds out, and another two-second hold. He also picks his music for the mood he needs, and works with sports psychologists. By the time he reaches an Olympic final, the routine is habit. "Confidence is such a big key factor," he said. "The person who's confident is going to kind of prevail."
Find the event that fits your body
This might be the most useful part of the episode for young swimmers and their parents. Finlay says there's no single ideal swimmer's build. Leaner swimmers like David Popovici and more muscular ones like Caeleb Dressel both win by using what they have. "You can't try to be someone who you're not," he said. "Find the event that structures around your body type the best."
He also talks about the move toward sprint-focused training: less time in the water, more time in the gym, and more technique work. "You have to train for your event. If you're only swimming for 20 seconds, you gotta be smart with it."
The super-suit era, and why world records got harder to break
Finlay explains why some swimming records have stood for so long. Between 2008 and 2010, swimmers raced in full-body polyurethane "super suits" that added buoyancy and compression. After Speedo's LZR Racer arrived in 2008, dozens of world records fell that year. The suits were banned in 2010, and records have been much harder to break since. Even so, he says the sport keeps getting faster: the times it took to qualify for a 200 IM final have dropped significantly since 2008.
Summer McIntosh, Olympic perks and a DIY swim cap
Finlay is full of praise for teammate Summer McIntosh. He remembers her finishing fourth in the 400 freestyle at a World Championships as a teenager, on the same day her world record was broken, and calmly saying "it's just swimming" because she still had other events to swim. He also shares a funny gear problem: racing caps only come in one size, so he cuts about a centimetre off the base of his cap and wears two to get the fit right.
Key takeaways for young swimmers
Choose events that suit your build rather than forcing your body into an event.
Build a pre-race routine (breathing, music, self-talk) until it's automatic.
When you're tired, hold your technique together instead of muscling through.
Late bloomers are real. Be patient and have fun.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Finlay Knox?
Finlay Knox is a Canadian swimmer, a two-time Olympian and a 2024 world champion. He swims for the UBC Thunderbirds and was one of 12 Canadian swimmers selected for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
What breathing technique does Finlay Knox use before races?
He uses a version of box breathing: six seconds in, a two-second hold, eight seconds out and a two-second hold. He practises it until it's automatic at major championships.
Why are swimming world records so hard to break?
Many were set in 2008–2009 in full-body super suits that added buoyancy and compression. The suits were banned in 2010, so today's swimmers are chasing times set with technology they're no longer allowed to use.
Listen to the full episode
Episode 242 is free on every app: Play it now · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · YouTube.
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