By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
Coming off a successful college season with the University of Michigan, Bella Sims is returning home to train this summer.
Sims recently told Swimming World she’s heading back to Las Vegas to train with her club team, the Sandpipers of Nevada, after she didn’t have the chance to spend much time there in the summer of 2025 (though she still represented the Sandpipers at meets).
“I am going home for the summer. Last summer I didn’t get to go home,” the 20-year-old said. “I know what Ron (Aitken) does works for me. I want to go home and not risk anything. I will head home with Claire (Weinstein) and the crew.”
After spending the first two seasons of her collegiate career at the University of Florida, Sims transferred to Michigan last May, and subsequently made the move to Ann Arbor while spending time training at the Olympic Training Center during the 2025 long course season.
Although it was up-and-down sophomore year at Florida, which included a pair of runner-up finishes in the backstroke events at NCAAs and winning the SEC title in both races, but failing to earn a second swim in the 500 free at NCAAs, Sims landed a spot on the 2025 U.S. World Championship team last year, qualifying in the women’s 4×200 free relay.
That came on the heels of a disappointing 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, where her highest finish was 17th in the 200 free. Prior to that, she had made three straight major international squads for the U.S., winning medals at the 2021 Olympics and both the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
She added to her medal haul at the 2025 World Championships after swimming a prelim leg on the silver medal-winning relay, and followed up with a standout season at Michigan. Not only did Sims win the national title in the 400 IM and score 50.5 individual points for the Wolverines at NCAAs, but she led Michigan to its first Women’s Big Ten title since 2018, scoring 92 of a possible 96 points after winning conference titles in the 100 back and 400 IM to go along with a trio of relay victories.
Now, Sims is excited to rejoin the Sandpipers this summer, especially coming off the NCAA Championships where she and teammate Claire Weinstein had strong showings, with Weinstein winning the national title in the 500 free as a freshman at Cal.
“Michigan and Cal sat next to each other at NCAAs,” Sims told Swimming World. “It was so awesome. I was cheering for her so much. I wish so much success for the Sandpiper girls, but to see her do so well has been so exciting.”
Sims and Weinstein recently raced together at the World Aquatics Open Water World Cup stop in Ibiza.
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Heading into this summer, Sims plans on taking on a wide range of events, and hopes Aitken will allow her to put focus on the 200 fly, an event she hasn’t had the chance to fully explore yet in her career.
She last raced the long course 200 fly at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, placing 21st in a time of 2:12.41. Her personal best time stands at 2:09.89, set in March 2023 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim.
She notably ranks 12th all-time among American performers in the SCY 200 fly (1:51.06) and 14th all-time among Americans in the SCM 200 fly (2:04.85).
“I am hoping Ron lets me swim some butterfly,” Sims said. “I have so much hope in my 200 fly, but I just haven’t been able to unleash the best. It was always the same day as something. I hope that I can some more confidence in that event. I will stay doing a lot of events. But I hope butterfly is more of an option.”
In college, Sims’ focus seemed to shift towards the 200 free and the backstroke events at Florida, moving away from the 500 free while keeping the 200 IM in her repertoire, and then last year at Michigan, she fully embraced the 400 IM.
Last summer, she stuck to the same lineup at both the U.S. National Championships in June and the U.S. Pro Championships in August: 50, 100, 200 and 400 free, and the 200 IM.
She spoke to Swimming World about how, after joining Aitken’s group as an eighth-grader, he worked to develop her into a true all-arounder.
“I don’t think I ever had a main event,” Sims said. “I joined Ron’s group when I was in eighth grade. When you are little, you dabble in all the strokes. I was backstroker, then a flyer, then distance, and now back to the backstroke. But I hated the backstroke in eighth grade. I would do anything to swim fly. That is what my mind was set to. He wanted me to swim all the events that I wanted, but he didn’t want any events to define me. It panned out to be perfect for me. If I am ever tired of any events, I have so many others that I can do. I love being versatile like that.”
Despite making the 2025 World Championship roster, Sims did not crack the U.S. team for this summer’s Pan Pacific Championships, meaning her focus will likely be on the U.S. National Championships, which run a few weeks before Pan Pacs in Irvine at the end of July.
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