Tessa Giele, Albane Cachot Bring Medal-Winning Experience to College Swimming
The ongoing women’s college swimming season has already shaped up to be a strong one for international competitors. During the fall semester, three freshmen established themselves as legitimate difference-makers for their respective squads: Virginia’s Sara Curtis and Texas’ Eva Okaro in the sprint freestyle events and NC State’s Eneli Jefimova in sprint breaststroke.
More recently, Anastasia Gorbenko has enrolled at Louisville with her sights set on big scores in the breaststroke and individual medley events. Mizuki Hirai, an Olympic and World Championships finalist in the 100 butterfly, is now part of the women’s swim team at Tennessee. International swimmers currently occupy the top three spots in the national rankings for the 100 breast, Florida sophomore Anita Bottazzo first with Jefimova and Gorbenko tied for second.
Two further women arrived at their respective institutions at midseason, both having collected World Championships relay medals last year in Singapore; none of the other women in this conversation reached the podium at all. Now, Tessa Giele of the Netherlands will bring some speed to the Alabama Crimson Tide while France-native Albane Cachot is already perhaps the top freestyler on the Arizona State roster.
Giele begins her career in Tuscaloosa, Ala., months after she played an important role in the Dutch women earning 400 free relay bronze at the World Championships. The race for gold was in the middle of the pool with Australia and the United States, a fact which became clear on the second leg as Meg Harris and Kate Douglass both split 51s. Giele, meanwhile, went 54.13 as her team dropped from third to fifth, but it would be enough to give Marrit Steenbergen a chance to storm back and steal a medal ahead of China. Giele came close to earning another medal in the mixed 400 medley relay, in which she split 56.29 on the butterfly leg, but Canada held off the Netherlands for bronze by seven hundredths.
Individually, Giele swam the 50 and 100 butterfly at Worlds and reached the semifinals in both distances. She ended up ninth in the 100 fly, her time of 57.17 six hundredths away from eighth-place swimmer Yu Yiting. In short course meters, Giele won global silver in the 100 fly in 2024 and then four medals at the European Short Course Championships in December, individual silver in the 100 fly plus three on relays (two gold).
Early on in her adjustment to short course yards racing, Giele has posted solid swims for Alabama. She ranks 13th in the nation in the 100 fly at 51.13 and 25th in the 50 free at 21.91, although it’s worth noting that most swimmers ahead of her achieved those times at midseason rest meets. Expect a jump when she competes at the SEC Championships later this month. Relays featuring Giele alongside Cadence Vincent could place top-eight nationally.
Similarly, Cachot has yet to make a huge dent in the rankings upon her arrival to college swimming, but the times have been solid. Her best performance has come in the 100 free at 48.32, which ranks 49th in the country, and she has been as fast as 1:45.63 in the 200 free. Cachot came to Arizona State after she was a prelims swimmer for France in the mixed 400 free relay at Worlds. She swam in prelims before Marie Wattel and Beryl Gastadello took over the women’s legs at night as France earned bronze.
In total, Cachot took part in three French relays at Worlds, including prelims and finals appearances with the women’s 400 free relay, and she clocked splits between 53.91 and 53.95 on all four occasions. Now on the college level, Cachot is a big addition for a team that graduated three key sprinters (Caroline Bentz, Erin Milligan and Charli Brown) from last year’s team that won the Big 12 title and placed 19th at the NCAA Championships.
Giele and Cachot join the large group of international competitors, especially those from Europe, seeking opportunities in college swimming and translating that into international success. Certainly, the France-to-ASU pipeline has been a successful one over the past half-decade with Leon Marchand. Moving forward, the success of this group, the largest to come from foreign waters in many years, will convince more international women to follow suit and pursue NCAA swimming.
