Gabi Albiero Has ‘Even More of a Hunger’ to Reach Potential in Fifth Year at Louisville
Gabi Albiero has some unfinished business at Louisville.
With studying for a masters and getting one more shot to swim, it was easy for the All-American to decide to take a fifth year with the Cardinals.
“The decision to take a fifth year is very personal for each person, and multi-layered. My freshman year, we found out it was an option for all the COVID-19-affected people. I figured that might be my path because I don’t have a specific career path waiting like med school or something. It left me this freedom to keep swimming until I decide I don’t want to,” Albiero told Swimming World. “Why wouldn’t I take a fifth year?”
Albiero was fueled even further after last season where she didn’t perform up to her hopes and expectations at the NCAA Championships and the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“It gave me even more of a hunger not to end it that way. Four years goes by so fast and I couldn’t imagine not getting to do it one more time. I am really grateful for it,” said Gabi, who is getting her masters in business administration. “I got mono in January and didn’t know it until later, so I went through most of championship season not knowing what was wrong with my body and why I couldn’t swim without getting so exhausted. I did everything I could, but it was a lot of pushing through mental battles with what I had at the time, which obviously wasn’t my full potential. I took the rest of the summer off after trials and that was very helpful.
“Growing up as an elite athlete with elite-level parents, you are never really satisfied. A part of me can reflect and be happy with how I performed given the challenges, but at the end of the day, that is not what I wanted to accomplish.”
Plus, Albiero gets to work one more year with an elite-level parent since Arthur Albiero is Louisville’s coach. That could be a turn off for a lot of swimmers, but Gabi jumped at the chance to have one more year swimming for her father.
“We do a really good job at separating coach-swimmer vs. dad-daughter. There is definitely a time and a place for each of those,” she said. “I just respect my dad so much that I am able to find that line. It is something I learned from my brothers and it has been so beneficial. I trust his plan so much, it makes it easy to come back and do it one more time.”
And she keeps getting faster.
“Even when I go these times I should be impressed with, I know there are people faster than that, so I want to be better. It is about staying humble and hungry,” Albiero said. “Some of it is knowing the training you had last year might not be what is best for you this year. It is understanding that your body is different. Last fall I was going to PanAmerican Games, so that was different. Being OK that no two seasons look the same is a big help as a fifth-year at almost-23-years-old.”
Especially with goals.
“I want to go 49 in my 100 fly. My best time is 50.03. That is my biggest one. It just feels so emotionally important to me to do that,” she said.
So, if she is continuing to get faster, what does the future look like?
“I have decided that continuing to swim after college is not a decision I am going to make right now. I need to be in a place where I continue to love swimming and is that something I will need to ask future self. I will be here through the summer, so I will swim through the summer, then it will be an end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one in a lot of ways – but right now I am open.”
