HARTING Zach

General
CARING FOR HIS PARENTS
In June 2020 he returned to his parents' home in Alabama after his dad, Scott Harting, was diagnosed with kidney failure. His mother, Lori, turned out to be an eligible kidney donor for her husband, and they underwent transplant surgery in August that year. He balanced his training with looking after his parents as they recovered. His mother Lori said, "It was almost like he was our personal doctor. He just went in with a plan as though it was nothing to worry about. He handled everything and made it all seamless. He used his engineering mindset and got behind every number, every stat, all the medicine. He created spreadsheets to stay on top of the details and never stopped asking questions, and the truly amazing thing was he was able to do all of this and still train at a very high level." (usaswimming.org, 07 Dec 2020)

BATMAN ANTICS
He has become known for amusing antics in and out of the pool, including playing his guitar at full volume inside his university's swimming hall at 06:00 prior to training, bringing a gas can full of water to swimming meets instead of a water bottle, or doing handstands and flips into the pool before practice. He has also dressed up as Batman at meets, and in 2016 he walked out at the US Olympic Trials in Omaha, NE, dressed as the superhero as the announcer introduced him as the 'Dark Knight'. "We're performers at the core, so I put on a show. It kind of started out as a joke, I'm a huge Batman fan, big into superheroes. When they called me the Dark Knight, I heard [the cheer] was louder than [it was for Michael] Phelps. I had never really had a cheer that big before." (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 25 Nov 2018; swimswam.com, 02 Jul 2016)

RACE STATEGY
He specialises in the 200m butterfly event and backs himself to finish strongly over the second half of the race. "Butterfly works [for me] because I like how it feels powerful and it feels fast. I've always liked that component of it. I'm not going to say it's the hardest stroke, but it's kind of the hardest stroke. I like that the [200m] is this monster of an event. It's cool to say, 'This is my event.' I like how there's a balance, it's not a sprint, but it's not not a sprint, and if you can sprint at the end, you've got a good shot. Typically, if I'm behind a body length at the 125, I can get 'em. People die, go vertical and I fly by. It's not a foolproof system, but it works for me. But no matter what your strategy is for this race, chances are high that it's going to hurt." He initially started at three kicks off the wall following each turn in the 200m butterfly, then got up to six in his second year at university, and in 2020 was up to eight kicks off the wall. However, he believes he still has room to improve. "Even at this last ISL [2020], I was told my underwaters are trash. It's a constant work in progress." (usaswimming.org, 07 Dec 2020; swimmingworldmagazine.com, 25 Nov 2018)