This week on the GMM Podcast, we’re diving into the deep end of storytelling with Ben Brostoff, author of Trials: A Novel of olympic Swimming Dreams and Redemption. It’s a swimming novel for swimmers written by one.
TRIALS follows three swimmers – Hunter Banks,connor Mahoney,and Miles Green – whose lives are intertwined by one defining moment: the 2004 Olympic Trials,where all three break the world record in the 400 IM. What follows is a two-decade journey through triumph and heartbreak, doping scandals, supersuits, world records, marriage, loss, and the relentless chase of a dream that refuses to die.
TRIALS is raw, funny, and painfully real. It captures the emotional cost of chasing excellence when the stopwatch is both your god and your enemy.
In this podcast we cover:
- Ben’s own swimming background and what pulled him back to the sport as a writer.
- Why he chose fiction, and why the story had to include parents and coaches, not just swimmers.