Fierce Australian backstroker, Emily Seebohm has been on the world’s list of top backstrokers for some time after earning 100m backstroke bronze at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, followed by an improved result of silver at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona. After much hype leading into the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Seebohm came away with the silver medal in the same event, finishing behind American then-teenager, Missy Franklin.
However, Seebohm has since blasted off like a rocket, wrapping up the summer of a swimmer’s lifetime in the form of multiple world titles and World Cup wins over the past several months.
Seebohm scored some silver-in-London redemption by coming out of Kazan as a double world champion, winning both the 100m and 200m backstroke events over Franklin, among other international rivals. Seebohm’s 100m backstroke time in Kazan was just .03 of a second off of her own Australian National Record, while her 200m backstroke time of 2:05.81 scored a new National Record and Commonwealth Record for the 23-year-old.
Seebohm continued her winning ways scorching a path along the FINA World Cup Series trail, particularly in the 100m backstroke. Over the 8 world cup stops, Seebohm went 8 for 8 in terms of first place victories, as well as in clocking sub-59-second marks. Seebohm’s swiftest time of 58.34 logged in Doha just a tenth off her gold medal-winning time of 58.26 in Kazan.
When interviewed in the midst of her World Cup streak, Seebohm cited more traditional keys to her success, including trusting her coach David Lush’s plan, race specificity training, and a renewed focus on starts and turns, all of which have landed the Aussie at the top of the world rankings. However, Seebohm also injects some more untraditional types of activities into her training regimen, that of horseback riding, as well as pole dancing.
In terms of horseback riding, if anyone wasn’t aware of this sport as the Aussie’s hobby, they knew after the announcement of Seebohm’s having dislocated her knee back in May. The incident was what the athlete called a “freak accident” but was involved with horseback riding.
Says Seebohm of her love of horseback riding to the Sydney Morning Herald, “I started riding when I was 15 but stopped after my first horse passed away. I started again when I got Platinum [her horse] in 2013 and he stays on acreage outside of Brisbane, so he can roam around. He’s helping me out in so many ways. I’ve learnt so much from having him and when I go there and ride I unwind; don’t worry about what may have happened during that morning or that afternoon. It’s great.”
Emily in equestrian action, courtesy of Emily Seebohm
An additional skill Seebohm has picked up over the last year is pole dancing. Seebohm has found her twice weekly sessions on the pole very effective in increasing the strength of her core muscles and body strength overall. “I started doing pole training about a year ago for my core strength and it’s really good,” Seebohm said. “The pole fitness gives me that something extra, it’s a good workout and is another outlet because it’s so different to anything else you can do in the gym.”
“I used to do gymnastics, so it’s kind of fun for me. I’ve been really flexible my whole life, I’ve always been able to do the splits, so it’s just helping me kind of stretch out after training and work on flexibility which is like nothing I do in my gym program or swimming”, stated Seebohm.
Whatever Seebohm has been doing physically has certainly been working for the speedy siren who competes at the Australian Short Course Championships next week. However, Seebohm has also been focusing on her mental health as well. Citing extreme nerves in London at the 2012 Olympic Games, Seebohm says she now understands how to feel comfortable with pressure, hype and anxiety leading into a big competition.
“That’s been the biggest help and it’s something I’ll take into next year,” she said in the SMH piece. “It’s actually helped me become a stronger swimmer. I’ve learnt I control the outcome of the race and just before I go out onto the deck I take a few breaths … push out my nervous energy … and relax. I’ve realised [swimming] is something I do every day. I won’t forget how to swim, it’s just really a matter of letting my competitive nature take over. You have a race plan you work through with your coach but the best thing is to focus on yourself once the race starts. You don’t worry about the person next to you, you control your lane and whatever anyone else does is out of your control. In your mind you have to realise it’s just you out there.”
“I’ve worked so hard on being mentally strong and physically strong it’s helped my swimming a lot,” she said. “Sometimes your body wants to do something but it’s hard if your mind is struggling. You really need both to be working in unison to get that one good race.”
“I don’t know if I can point to one reason for that [self belief] because there’s always been a lot of support from my team – my coach, my family. Maybe it’s just taken a few years for me to believe in myself.”
The Australian Short Course National Championships take place in Sydney November 26th -28th. Seebohm is slated to swim the women’s 100m IM event, in addition to the 50m, 100m and 200m bacsktroke races at the meet.
And now Mitch Larkin is also horse riding with her. God forbid any accidents happen to them!