CBS Minnesota's WCCO recently featured Hammer Head Swim Caps in a segment that aired July 5, 2026, focusing on head safety in aquatic sports. The company, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the creator of the world's first patented protective swim cap, designed to reduce head impact while maintaining performance. The segment explored how founder Theresa Finn's mission, sparked by head injuries suffered by two children during swim practice, is helping change the conversation around swimmer safety.
During the interview, Finn discussed the broader issue of head injuries across aquatic sports, including competitive swimming, open water swimming, triathlon, water polo, artistic swimming, and diving. She noted that while concussion awareness has transformed many sports, head protection in swimming has remained largely unchanged. The segment highlighted Hammer Head's long-term vision of making head protection an expected part of aquatic sports, akin to bicycle helmets in cycling.
"Hammer Head isn't about replacing one swim cap with another," Finn said. "It's about changing expectations. We hope to create a future where protecting your brain in the water becomes as natural as wearing a helmet on a bicycle—not because someone is forced to, but because it's simply the obvious thing to do."
Hammer Head's patented Honeycomb Impact Technology was developed to absorb and disperse impact forces while preserving a sleek, competition-ready design. Independent laboratory testing has shown the cap reduces impact forces to the top of the head by more than 50% compared with traditional swim caps. Additional testing by Olympian Dr. Gary Hall Sr. found improved speed because of its smooth dome design, which reduces frontal drag compared with conventional silicone caps.
The company believes awareness is the next step. "Swimming has advanced tremendously in training, nutrition, goggles, race suits, and technology," Finn said. "Now it's time for the conversation about protecting the one thing every athlete only gets once—their brain."
The WCCO feature is part of growing national interest in swimmer head safety and follows recent podcast interviews and national parenting publication coverage discussing concussion awareness, innovation, and injury prevention in aquatic sports. More information about Hammer Head Swim Caps can be found at hammerheadswimcaps.com.
