Davies Looks to 2007 After Infection Setback

By Dave Richards

LONDON, July 14. OLYMPIC, World and Commonwealth Games medalist David Davies has been forced out of this month's European Championships after struggling to recover from a foot infection and subsequent surgery.

The 21-year-old distance freestyler will be forced to watch the 1,500 freestyle from a distance after missing too much training since undergoing the operation to his foot at the beginning of May. The City of Cardiff swimmer was consigned to minimal dry land training for seven weeks before his foot healed enough for him to return to the water.

And with just a month's preparation behind him both Davies and coach Dave Haller made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Europeans in Budapest.

"It's a real blow because swimming for me is all about competing against the best swimmers in the world at the major international meets," explained Davies. "The Europeans is the only meet I've never competed in and it's a medal I desperately want in order to complete the set alongside my Olympic, World and Commonwealth medals. I love racing and I just know it's going to be a fast meet. It's going to be hard for me watching at home in Wales but I'm confident the British team is going to do well. Not being a part of that will hurt though."

Davies' condition first became apparent following the Commonwealth Games, where he was crowned 1,500m champion, but disappointment over his winning time and subsequent problems with his foot saw him seek medical attention.

He's remained upbeat throughout his ordeal and now believes the forced break could well be of real benefit to future performance.

"A priority for me has been to remain positive throughout," he said. "I know that it could have been much worse. If it was two years down the line, just before the Beijing Olympics, it would be an absolute disaster.

"I'm sure the break from swimming will see me come back stronger and with more fire in my belly. I'll need that over the next two years as they are going to be massive for me."

Davies is now looking to the World Championships next March in Melbourne and has until the end of this year to post a time that will qualify him for the competition.

However, he is taking his rehabilitation slowly to properly prepare for the volume and quality of training needed to return him to the top of his discipline while avoiding injury on the way.

"Seven weeks out of the water is a long time and I've been careful to gradually get back into training. It's going to take a while but I've gone about things the right way," said Davies.

"I've just returned from two weeks in Malta where I took small steps to increase my training and I'm now back up to around 90% of what I would normally do over the course of a week. It won't be long now until I'm back in full training.

"My first aim is to get my fitness back and I think that's going to take a couple of months to achieve. My season will start properly in September and I'll be focusing on achieving qualification for next year's World Championships."

It will be the first time since 2001 that Davies hasn't made an international team and, whereas he's disappointed at not being involved with the team in Budapest, he is looking forward to seeing his teammates in action.

"It's a massive squad that shows there is real talent coming through the system and highlights the fact there's real depth to British Swimming.

"There will be a lot of youngsters competing for their first international final and we're going to be in the hunt for medals to show we're one of the top swimming nations in Europe."

The European Championships (50m) take place in Budapest, Hungary from July 26 to August 6 and features swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and open water swimming.

Swimming will take place at the Alfred Hajos Swimming Complex between July 31 and August 6.

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