Cate Campbell, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships (courtesy of Paul Younan)
Australia’s Cate Campbell, finally healthy, has put together an incredible two-year sprinting run that has established her as the world’s best in combination over 50 and 100 meters. That includes a 23.96 Australian and Commonwealth Games Record (a tie for the latter) on Sunday at the 2014 Pan Pac Championships.
But the injury woes that have plagued the 22-year old since her time as one of the best junior swimmers in history have reared their head again.
Campbell revealed after her 50 free win on Sunday that she would be undergoing shoulder surgery to remove a bone spur in her right shoulder that is pinching a nerve.
That means that she’ll be out for the rest of this year, and has accepted that this means she might miss the 2015 World Championships, and will probably at a bare minimum be off of form when Kazaan rolls around in July.
This could be a bit of a blessing-in-disguise for the Australian women. Cate’s younger sister Bronte Campbell has come into her own this season, and was a major part of the reason why Australia won gold in the 400 free relay at both the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pac Championships and also broke the World Record.
While it’s disappointing that the Australian momentum will be at least stalled before Rio, this gives Bronte some spotlight to really cement her position as one of the best sprinters in the world. If Cate then comes back healthy, with Mel Schlanger swimming as well as she has in her career at 27 and a gaggle of young talent behind them, the Australians could be even more powerful than ever when 2016 rolls around.
That potential doesn’t make this any less scary for Team Australia, however. Injuries and illness have plagued this team for the last several international championships, and it will be hard to ignore this surgery as the latest in a run of unfortunate luck for the Aussies.
That would be a big blow to Australia at Worlds next year if she can’t compete. Next summer is a year away but Aussie Nationals are much sooner. The biggest hurdle might be recovering soon enough to qualify to the Worlds team.
Have a fine surgery Cate ! thanks for all the great races u brought to us and wish the best recovery possible . She is a real special talent for swimming .
Good luck to Cate, a wonderful swimmer, and person with her surgery and rehab!
Braden, I think I speak for many here when I say I’m concerned about Bobo. I have not seen any posts from him under Pan Pac or European Champ’s articles. You guys probably have his e-mail, so could somebody drop him a line to say his friends hope he’s OK. Thank you!
U are right Dan ! it’s very unusual for BOBO not to be here at least onece / day ; especially with so many championships going on in the same time . He might well be gone on hollidays but again it would unlikely be that way …. mystery ! Hopefully , someone will have the answer to what happened to him … Maybe Swimswam kidnapped him to get all his infos LOL … just joking of course .
Thanks SWIMSWAM team again for a huge work to keep us fans informed and joyfull for this amazing sport . Keep up the good work , we love it .
I think Bobo was around during the earlier days of the European championships.
This may affected her chances of breaking any world record next year, but hopefully by the time Rio comes around she’s 100%. Best of luck to her and her recovery.