Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS
Australia became the first nation to actively prepare all of its top swimmers for the late-night racing they will endure at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with a special training camp this week. The conditions were set to mimic the radically different times of the day that they will be racing in Brazil, from sleep schedules to meal times.
The camp started with a couple days of training to ease the athletes into the new schedule. At 10 p.m. Wednesday, the athletes stepped up for some short course meters racing as coaches and medical officials watched and recorded data to go along with times on the scoreboard. The racing continued on Thursday with a mid-afternoon prelims-style session followed by another 10 p.m. time trial.
“After a couple of days, once you settle into it, it’s OK,” said distance swimmer Mack Horton. “It’s been more confusing for the mind, because it’s late and you should be tired but you’re feeling quite alert. It takes a little bit to get used to.”
“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,” said butterflyer Maddie Groves. “You don’t notice the time, only afterwards when you’re warming down and you see the clock and it is 1 a.m.”
Video: Swimmers, coaches speak about late-night racing preparation (courtesy Swimming Australia)
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Classy Aussies.