Kerim Demirkol · Pool Swimming · Freestyle & Butterfly
Pool Swimmer. Freestyle & Butterfly.
The pool is the bridge between chess, fitness, open water, and music. Calculation became cadence. Bodyweight became boundary work. Race day became a recorded time.
Kerim Demirkol · Pool Swimming · Freestyle & Butterfly
One Person. Three Waters.
The identity widened again
2022
Chess Player
2026
Pool Swimmer · Freestyle + Butterfly
The board taught patience. The pool punished excuses.
Current PB as a percentage of the next target · 100% means reached
150 Free · 94.1%
2100 Free · 97.6%
3200 Free · 99.4%
4400 Free · 97.0%
5800 Free · 95.6%
650 Fly · 95.8%
7100 Fly · 95.8%
8200 Fly · 93.5%
Current progress · freestyle & butterfly
Outer ring · next standard (100%)
My Assessment
In my own words
I am using the clock honestly.
I am not using these standards to pretend I am already at the level I want. I am using them because the clock is honest. It shows me where I am close, where I am behind, and where the next wall is. My SwimCloud profile does not say the story is finished. It says the story is measurable.
The 200 free is the closest target. Less than a second from the 15–16 A line means the event is not just “improving”; it is sitting right beside the next cut. The 50 fly is the other important signal because I have already crossed the 15–16 A line and the next target is AA.
The longer freestyle events explain the open-water story. The 400 and 800 free are not just pool results. They are the training base behind the 10 km races. The target is not only to swim harder. It is to hold pace, keep form, and make the same stroke work when fatigue starts changing the body.
The butterfly events are the most honest technical mirror. The 100 and 200 fly tell me where rhythm, shoulders, timing, and second-half endurance still have to improve. Butterfly does not let me hide behind effort. It asks whether the technique survives.
I am not using the pool to prove that I was always fast. I am using it to prove that speed can be built.
The next goal is simple: turn the chart outward.
The Next Targets
50 Free LCM
−1.77 s
29.96→28.19
Next cut · 15–16 A
Break sub-29 first, then chase the A line.
100 Free LCM
−1.53 s
1:03.02→1:01.49
Next cut · 15–16 A
Cleaner first 50, stronger finish, less fade.
200 Free LCM
−0.77 s
2:15.06→2:14.29
Next cut · 15–16 A
The closest cut. Hold pacing and finish the final 50.
400 Free LCM
−8.75 s
4:55.14→4:46.39
Next cut · 15–16 A
Stroke economy, turns, and controlled middle pace.
All next-cut times are USA Swimming 2024–2028 National Age Group Motivational Standards, Boys 15–16, Long Course Meters. The 15–16 A cut for 50 Fly LCM is 30.59; PB of 30.58 sits one hundredth below it, so the next plotted target is AA.
The Motto in the Lane
Calculate
Splits, stroke count, pacing, rest intervals, turns, breathing patterns. The same brain that reads a chess position reads a pace clock.
Commit
Early sessions, repeated sets, uncomfortable butterfly, freestyle volume. Showing up when progress is not visible.
Continue
Chess, gym, pool, open water, music, school. One discipline carried into different arenas.
“The most honest part of swimming is the clock. It only tells me what the next target is.“
The Pool, Turned Into Sound
KimDem · Competitive Pool Swimming Music
Built for Free. Built for the Fly.
Race-day tracks written from inside a lane. Freestyle rhythm and butterfly survival. Press play and stand on the blocks.
Oceanman Kazakhstan 10 km Champion, Sept 2025. Oceanman Cyprus Junior Champion, Oct 2025, PB 2:29:41.11. Oceanman World Championship Dubai, Top 8 Junior Male, Dec 2025, 02:38:45. The medals were collected in open water. The training was done in the pool.
This is a public training record, not a victory page. Every meet adds a row to the SwimCloud profile. Every row is a small answer to the question the charts ask.
The water does not care that I played chess first. It only cares what I do on the next length.
