Swimming Australia Finishes Late-Night Competition Simulations To Prepare For Olympic Midnight Racing In Rio

Mitch Larkin Pan Pacs 2014 Swimming Australia
Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

finis_logo_black

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

The Australian Dolphins Swim Team united at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra this week for the Rio Protocol Camp that included a unique combination of midnight racing and enforced sleep-ins, with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games front of mind.

The camp schedule saw a sleep in, followed by breakfast from 10:30am, lunch from 5pm and dinner from 1am with the swimmers sticking to a schedule that will replicate the competition times in Rio.

Healthy sleep strategies, nutrition and recovery testing were put in place to help maximise performance at a time when the athletes are normally fast asleep.

Swimming Australia Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren said this camp was an innovative way to collect research, educate the swimmers, coaches and staff and help prepare them for Rio.

“It’s a very special experience, but a very good experience to have for Rio. As a whole they have adapted very well, we’re gathering a lot of data so we will have to look in detail at what needs to happen before Rio and make these plans individualised,” Verhaeren said.

“Overall they are swimming very well in the competition simulations and they’re handling themselves very well and taking good care of themselves and that’s really the base line where we should be. The meal times are very different, the times you rest are very different, but it’s still competition times and if they are focussed they will be ready for whatever.”

Verhaeren added that the camp was also a great chance for the team to come together and share their learnings with each other in a non-pressure environment.

“This is quite unique, we’re bringing the team together in a non-pressure environment, they have more time for each other, they train together, coaches work together in training and I think it’s really important for the bonding within the team, sharing knowledge, knowing that they can help each other is really important going forward.”

After settling in to the late night schedule on Monday and Tuesday, the swimmers took to the blocks on Wednesday night for short course racing.

With the theme for the night short, fast and fun, the swimmers were in high spirits and judging by some of their performances, they had adapted well, and the late start had little effect on their performances.

Dual world champion in the 100 and 200m backstroke, Mitch Larkin made midnight racing look easy when he took out the men’s 100m backstroke (short course) in a time of 49.51. The time was just outside his Australian short course record in the event and faster than his world short course time that saw him win gold in Doha, last December.

Then Cameron McEvoy tested his backstroke skills and recorded a personal best (PB) in the 100 back (51.31) and almost beat his world short course time in the 50m freestyle on the first night of racing.

McEvoy, who won silver in the 100m freestyle at the World Championships, clocked a time of 21.82 for the 50m free.

“I just did a three second PB in the 100m backstroke tonight so that’s another good sign that everything has been going well,” McEvoy said.

“In the 50m freestyle I almost beat the time that I did at the World Short Course Championships last year in December, so that’s two races in one night where both races are pretty much the best I’ve ever done and they ‘ve all been done really close to midnight so I guess it’s been pretty good so far!”

Team spirits have also been high, with the positive vibe and high energy from the World Championships in Kazan continuing on to the camp here in Canberra.

“Just to go through such an unusual camp with everyone just brings us all closer together. We’re already good mates with each other and we get on really well, I even think that out camaraderie helps us to adapt quicker. When you’re walking through the dining hall at 1:30 in the morning and you’re having dinner, you’re not doing it alone, you look around and there’s 40/50 other people there with you.

“We have a great mix of experience on the team, we have some swimmers that are just coming out of the junior ranks, right up to people like Grant Hackett who have been on the team since the last millennium,” McEvoy said.

With three Olympic Games under his belt, and experience extending back to the ‘last millennium’, as McEvoy said, on the anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Hackett said he was still enjoying the sport and continuing to learn.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s 15 years on, I don’t quite feel that old. It was a great Olympics and to have that opportunity to win an Olympic medal in your own backyard is pretty special and here I am 15 years later still swimming, having a go and really enjoying it.”

Thinking about the prospect of qualifying for Rio, Hackett said it would be an amazing opportunity.

“That would be pretty unbelievable; it would be my fourth Olympics if I got the opportunity to go to Rio. So I’m training hard at the moment, improving all the time so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

The final day of competition on Thursday saw simulated heats from 1pm until 3pm and finals from 10pm until midnight, with broken 50 metre efforts the focus.

Australian champion in the 200m butterfly Maddie Groves lined up on the blocks alongside the butterfly boys and said racing this time of the year was a challenge but exciting.

“It’s good to get a bit of racing in so early in the season, giving an indication of where we are at the moment and where we’re looking to go moving forward. You don’t notice the time, only afterwards when you’re warming down and you see the clock and it is 1am,” Groves said.

Research and learnings from the camp will play a major role in the team’s journey to the Rio Olympic Games and Verhaeren said it will also aid in preparation for the Australian Championships coming up next April.

“This will definitely benefit us, because it’s not only preparing us for Rio, it is first and foremost preparing us for trials. We’ve learned a lot during this camp…that is very valuable information regardless if you are swimming at midnight or not. So all in all it is a great kick off in the season and I’m very happy with it.”

The Dolphins will next come together at the Australian Short Course Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from 26 to 28 November 2015.

Swimming World has reported previously about the time schedule for swim competition at the RIO Olympics

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x