Comeback Kid Dan Smith Moves To St. Peters Western

Australian Olympian Dan Smith announced he would be partaking in the post-Rio training shuffle by making the move to continue his career under storied coach Michael Bohl.

A longtime Miami Swimming Club member since his stellar age group days, Smith posted on Instagram that he is headed to train at St. Peters Western, the club recently vacated by double World Champion and Olympic silver medalist backstroker, Mitch Larkin.

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After winning bronze at the 2015 FINA World Championships as a member of the Aussie 4x200m freestyle relay, Smith solidified his post on the Australian Olympic roster by finishing 4th in the 200m freestyle event at the 2015 Australian Olympic Trials.

Although he helped his squad make it to the finals in the relay event in Rio, Smith’s split of 1:47.37 was among the slowest of the entire field of competitors across all 8 teams. The green and gold had to settle for a 4th place finish and off the podium.

For Smith, however, the fact he was even in the pool at all was a victory of sorts, as the once Ian Thorpe-esque age grouper dipped into a five-year drug and alcohol addiction that sidelined his career until 2014.

While at Miami Swimming Club, Smith has trained under the direction of legendary coach Denis Cotterell, the man who helped engineer Grant Hackett into the Australian distance ace that re-wrote history books. Tommy Fraser-Holmes, a teammate of Smith’s on that men’s Olympic 4x200m freestyle relay, also calls Miami Swimming Club home, as does Junior Pan Pac double bronze medalist Jacob Vincent.

Smith’s move is just one of several recently announced changes. As mentioned, Larkin is on the move to a to-be-determined club, while Western Australian stand-out Brianna Throssell is headed to UWA West Coast from Perth City.