What a difference a few weeks make, especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just last month SwimSwam spoke with multi-World Championships medalist Bruno Fratus of Brazil, with the 30-year-old sharing his at-home training regimen while longing for the day he could dive back into his chlorinated domain.
The time of return has come, as the state of Florida in which Fratus resides has begun lifting restrictions on public spaces, including indoor and outdoor swimming pools. That means freestyle ace Fratus has been able to get wet once again at his home pool of Coral Springs Swim Club.
When asked about his gameplan for training now that he can get back to semi-normal, Fratus told SwimSwam, “We’re planning on patiently and steadily building back up as we have about 15 months to ‘the big meet’. The big meet, of course, is a combination of the Brazilian Olympic Trials and then the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games now set for July of 2021.
Fratus had been settling for hand weights and dryland, as most other swimmers forced out of the water have had to do the past couple of months.
The training changeup is par for the course for this sprinter who already had made a big move last fall in terms of his coaching lineup. After parting ways with longtime leader and former Auburn University head coach Brett Hawke, Fratus announced in February of this year he’d be returning to Arilson Silva.
Silva serves as the supervisor of the 2019 World Championships silver medalist’s training program, while Fratus’ wife Michelle Lenhardt continues to be his daily coach. Helvio Affonso is the physiologist, while Carla Di Pierro is the psychologist component of the collaborative coaching effort helping steer Fratus to another potential Olympic final.
Glad he is back in the water. A great sprinter, if not mistaken, I believe he is also a fairly popular athlete, no?