Australian Olympic legend Grant Hackett spent over six years out of the pool, but he’s wasting no time getting back to racing now that he’s returned.
The three-time Olympic gold medalist will race two time trials at the Miami Super Challenge this Saturday, The Australian reports. (Note: the article is behind a paywall, but you can also read about Hackett’s reported swims on Brazil’s BestSwimming site here.)
Per World Anti-Doping Agency rules, Hackett must be back in the drug-testing pool for six months before he’s eligible to compete, so the 34-year-old can’t do any official racing until March 1st. But with Hackett aiming to compete at the Australian World Championship Trials on April 1st, he and coach Denis Cotterell are looking for more opportunities to get back to racing. That led to Cotterell setting up two time trials for Hackett during the Miami Super Challenge meet this weekend.
You can find more information on the meet at the Miami Swimming Club’s website here.
I wish him the best, but he will probably be slower than Michael Andrew’s 100 & 200 free PB’s from last year.
Do you think he can still Hackett?
We can take it for granted.
Brilliant reply, Briand. But you should have written “We can take it for Grant-ed” to make sure nobody missed it.
Eight upvotes, and not a single downvote? That’s not punny…
Any word on what two events he will be swimming?
I’d say the 2 events would most likely be the 100m & 200m freestyle. I doubt he’d be up to doing a 400m right now.
Yeah that makes the most sense. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him try the 400 and see where he’s at.