Five questions with Rebecca Soni

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What have you been up to this year? How's training going?
I've been focusing on swimming this year. Since I graduated from USC in spring of 2009, I have been able to experiment and play around with my training. The workouts have been going great and I've started to enjoy swimming in a different dimension. I think this is mostly due to the big change after college swimming, where you no longer have to focus on all the duel meets, and championships in Febuary and March, and start to live on the four-year cycle based on the Olympics. I've been able to refocus and have fun.

You've pretty much become the best female breaststroker in the U.S. How does that feel?
Well, we have a great group of American breaststrokers, and a lot of youngsters who continue to get better, so I don't take it for granted. I may be on top right now, but who knows what will happen in August and through next year. For now, though, it puts me in a confident position going into Nationals, and I'm just excited to see what I can do, as well as what my competitors can do.

You won 11 races at the six Grand Prix meets at which you competed. What do you attribute your success to?
The Grand Prix meets are a lot of fun, and I didn't set up any strategic plans for them. I just took them one at a time, and the ones that I did go to, just tried to make each one a meaningful race. Obviously some meets are better than others, but I just tried to keep them consistent.

People have said that breaststrokers are a different breed of swimmer. Do you agree, and what do you like about being a breaststroker?
I definitely agree with that. I still can't figure out how to swim the other strokes. From my understanding, and since I don't swim the other strokes that often, it might not be very true, is that breaststroke is more of a graceful stroke as opposed to the forcefulness of fly, back and free. You have to have a lot of strength behind each stroke, whereas breaststroke, for me, is more rhythmic. Also, the way every breaststroker has different strokes in the water makes it a neat stroke to learn and interpret.

Any predictions on the looming showdown between you and Jessica Hardy at Nationals, and the one at Pan-Pacs that will also include Leisel Jones?
No predictions yet, however I am excited to race those girls. I haven't gotten the chance to race with Leisel since the Olympics, so I am ready to be racing next to her! And I'm always excited to race next to Jessica, we get the chance to do it.