Stanford star and US National Teamer Grant Shoults is back in the water after undergoing a shoulder surgery at the very beginning of this year. Here is Shoults’ original statement announcing that he had undergone surgery on his shoulder and that it was successful:
“After 3 months of battling chronic pain, I underwent successful shoulder surgery. Thank you to my family, friends, teammates, coaching staff, athletic trainers, Dr. Geoff Abrams, the Stanford Medical staff, USA Swimming, and Dr. Warren Kramer as well as the Kramer family in their never ending support and dedication to my mental and physical health. I am excited to go through life pain free with the ultimate goal at getting back to the competitive level I was at in the water. Everything happens for a reason and this is just a testament to God’s plan. I am sure that this bump in the road will allow me to grow as an individual and as a athlete. As always, I will continue being my Stanford teammates’ biggest fan as we continue striving for our goals together in and out of the water.”
Shoults has been on the road to recovery the past couple months, and just about a week ago, he got back in the pool, or rather, the ocean for the first time since the surgery. On March 31st, Shoults uploaded a video on his Twitter and Instagram accounts showing his first strokes since the surgery three months prior. Shoults is swimming in the ocean in the video, and writes in the caption “labrum feels great”, and “It’s good to be back”.
Labrum feels great! First strokes after 3 months of physical therapy. It’s good to be back 🏊🏼♂️ pic.twitter.com/EOc12GjVNW
— grantshoults (@grantshoults) March 31, 2019
Shoults is qualified to swim the 400 free at the 2019 FINA World Championships this July in Gwangju, South Korea. With roughly 3.5 months from the point where he took his first strokes to when World Champs start, it’s still possible, though certainly up in the air, whether Shoults will still compete in Gwangju. Anyone dropping off the World Champs roster has to do so by June 20th, that way the next swimmer in line can be put on the roster. In this case, Shoults backing out of Worlds would bump Conor Dwyer in.
Chris Wieser (3rd at nationals in the 400) is a prime option for the spot too. Heard he’s super cute too 🙂
Can’t wait to see you swim the 2 fly this summer, mate. If this is the real Justin Wright I’m talking to here lol.
Dang shoulter injury
Hehehe
Why would Dwyer be the bump in if he was not in the A final at Nationals last year?
Yes I’m so confused as to why it would be Dwyer???
Dwyer doesn’t have the 400 fina A cut so technically I believe no one else can swim the 400 at worlds unless one of the athletes already going achieves the cut prior to the meet
That’s correct – though in theory someone could go after the “A” cut between now and July to fill the spot.
Or, they could just call up FINA and say “but commeee onnnn” like Mexico did a few years back and FINA would be like “yeah it’s cool.”
Isn’t Dwyer already in for the 200 free relay?
No offense to Grant at all, but this seems like a prime example of why the US needs to do World Champs Trials the year before the Olympics instead of relying on the past summer’s meets. Anything can happen going into an international competition, and that variability is taken down tremendously when the qualifying meet is done closer to the championships as opposed to farther away.
Exactly… I don’t understand it because a lot can happen in a year…
We go thru this discussion every quad but the most important thing is what happens during the olympic year. Having an early Trials every summer isn’t worth the sacrifice. This way of picking the team gives everyone a full season to train the year before the Olympics, as well as giving everyone a chance to race internationally which probably helps with US at the Olympics!
Exactly. There are always a few instances where early trials hurts us for Worlds. That is a KNOWN risk, and teh schedule is preferred anyway. Everyone focuses on the downside — but might there be a countering upside? This schedule allows for a full summer of training the year before the Olympics. We sacrifice a little 2019 success to gain 2020 success. And we’ve been VERY good the last 3-4 Olympics. Let’s stick with that…
Tore my labrum and broke my collar bone this swim season as well and am finally able to start getting back in the water so I share his excitement! congrats to Grant wish him the best recovery and return to competition next season!
Grant Shouts might be in better shape than Dwyer is right now! Just saying!
If you look closely on that pan out, you can just see Conor on the beach with a mojito.
Dwyer is on perpetual vacation.
thats fairly possible ….Dwyer has desapeared for a while
He is probably hanging with zac Efron and his brother
If I was turning pro, I’d find out who his agent was post 2012. I’ve never seen someone gain so much popularity/deals/sponsors after a relay gold medal.
I’m not discrediting that a relay gold medal ain’t a massive achievement, he is just a genius at marketing himself
you forgot that he’s like 6’5, chiseled and handsome lol