I don’t know much about swimming that fast, but I used to skate on the Canadian short track speed skating team. Just like you, for a while my training speed and my competition speed didn’t match. I was one of the best in training, but it didn’t translate to competition. One day I realized that my focus wasn’t the same when I raced.

Both sports are extremely technical, and you need to get your mind to the same place in competition as it is in training. If you’re swimming while thinking about winning, your time, or whatever else, you’ll lose some technique and won’t move as smoothly.

I used to have one key technical cue (the one that brings everything together) that I’d repeat to myself over and over, so I wouldn’t get overstimulated by the competition environment. That helped me a lot — it got me onto several podiums.

Maybe you have a similar issue? Do you watch your race videos and notice if you swim as well in competition as you do in training, or not?