IRVINE (31 August 2017): Oh what a night Michael Andrew had last Saturday evening in Indianapolis at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. In his swan song swimming in juniors, the 18-year-old American set three new world records on the way to winning three gold medals in the meet in the men’s 50 freestyle (21.75 seconds), backstroke (24.63 seconds) and butterfly (23.22 seconds). Throughout the history-making day, Andrew relied upon his Masimo MightySat pulse oximeter to measure his oxygen saturation (SpO2) to make sure he was at his best when he hit the blocks.
The newest tool in Andrew’s arsenal, MightySat is a fingertip pulse oximeter used to measure oxygen saturation, pulse rate, perfusion index (Pi), respiration rate and pleth variability index (PVi). This noninvasive, accurate, hospital-grade technology is being utilized by a select number of early adopters – world champions, Olympians and professional athletes – across the sports spectrum. Andrew has come to rely on the device to make vital training and recovery decisions.
“While having breakfast, I used the MightySat before my morning session the day that I had the three event finals to check my recovery from the previous days of racing, which were a pretty hectic first two days. After prelims, I again checked to see how my SpO2 levels had changed. They remained surprisingly consistent, but relatively low to what I was used to – at least for race day. My SpO2 readings had been sitting around 96% for the first three sessions and by the day of my triple (three events in one day), for the first time it had risen up to 100%. It was super cool to see how my oxygen saturation levels improved over the course of a day or so. This really helped me mentally knowing I was ready to sprint my heart out and go ‘no breath’ in the last two of my three 50-meter sprints that evening (his first race was backstroke),” said Andrew, who also earned Male Swimmer of the Meet honors at World Juniors for his efforts, which included establishing a fourth junior world record when he broke his own record twice in the 50-meter fly and added a pair of bronze medals in the 50 and 100-meter breaststroke.
The Kansas-based Andrew, who ESPN called “America’s greatest age-group swimmer” because he has smashed the most national age group records in USA Swimming history at more than 100 records, is the youngest swimmer ever to turn professional at age fourteen. Coached by his father, Peter Andrew, Michael follows an unconventional training protocol known as USRPT – Ultra Short Race Pace Training. Clearly unafraid to march to a different drummer in the pursuit of athletic excellence, the future Olympian is the first pro swimmer to utilize MightySat to gather valuable data used to prepare for and produce championship performances.
Masimo MightySat reliably measures data that can help determine overall fitness and exertion levels, changes in blood circulation, how quickly the athlete is recovering, and may reveal changes in hydration, breathing effort, fatigue and stress as well as changes caused by altitude. It is not just for use by elite athletes. MightySat is for anyone who wants to improve their health, wellness or fitness through the use of the best available technology that provides key measurements that are more accurate and not available on other health and wellness devices.
Andrew will compete in the senior ranks next year and has his eyes firmly set upon swimming for Team USA in the 2020 Olympic Games.
For more information, please visit www.MasimoPersonalHealth.com.