Olympic Medalist Mike Orn On Malmsten, LA28, And Why Lane Lines Are Faster Than You Think

GMM by @SwimOutletGear
In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with Mike Orn, Olympic medalist, NCAA champion, and CEO of Malmsten Inc., the U.S. division of Malmsten AB.

Mike was an NCAA champion in the 200 freestyle, going 1:36.02 in 1983, and later won Olympic hardware as part of Sweden’s 4x100 freestyle relay at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Now, more than four decades later, he is preparing for a very different kind of return to LA. This time, Mike won’t be racing between the lane lines. He’ll be helping put them in.

Malmsten is the official lane supplier for World Aquatics, European Aquatics, and PanAm Aquatics, which means its lane lines sit in the water for many of the biggest meets on earth. That includes the road to LA 2028, where Mike returns to the Olympic stage 44 years after his medal-winning moment (this time helping install Malmsten lane lines in the Olympic pool at SoFi Stadium).

In the podcast, Mike talks through Malmsten’s continued expansion in the Americas, including a pending four-year extension with the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, one of the most influential NCAA Division I conferences in water polo. He also discusses Malmsten’s new four-year extension with PanAm Aquatics, continuing a partnership that began in 2022.

Then the conversation gets into the deceptively nerdy question swimmers might care about:

Why does a lane line matter?

Mike breaks down Malmsten’s focus on product development, wave-energy dampening, durability, and the constant push to make racing environments faster and more athlete-friendly. He explains how lane-line technology can influence racing conditions more than casual fans realize. He also discusses Malmsten’s testing of more bio-friendly lane-line materials, including real-world durability comparisons between traditional plastic and newer bio-friendly discs. After six months of testing in Scottsdale, he says the early results showed no meaningful difference in durability.

For swimmers, coaches, facility operators, and anyone who has ever looked at a lane line and thought, “Yeah, that’s just floating plastic,” this conversation offers a deeper look at one of swimming’s most overlooked pieces of performance infrastructure.

Many thanks to @SwimOutletTV for their 14 year partnership and support of this swimming news and media.

Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (swimswam.com)

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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.

Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.