James Magnussen Misses Second Meet In Two Weeks Due To Back Injury

After missing the Singapore Swim Stars meet in early September due to a back injury, it appears as though Australian sprint-star James Magnussen is still tending to his back as he missed the Raia Rapida or “Fast Lane” challenge despite being on the original roster.

Magnussen’s season has been ridden with injury which has effected the 2013 100m freestyle world champion’s results, including those at one of the major international meets this summer: the Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.

At Pan Pacs, Magnussen spoke about receiving Epidural and cortisone injections in hospital due to pain before Pan Pacs, and being forced to take eight days away from the pool. In the 100m freestyle Magnussen ended up settling for bronze behind countryman Cameron McEvoy and American swimmer Nathan Adrian. His time was over a second slower than his personal best.

Following the 100m freestyle Magnussen sent out this tweet, indicating the condition of his back.

Photo via Twitter.com

He swam the following night in the Aussie 4x100m freestyle relay team which won gold, and was even able to throw down a solid split of 47.68. Clearly his back wasn’t holding up though as he scratched the 50m freestyle which was scheduled for the next day.

Since then, Magnussen hasn’t done any racing and the absence of him at the “Fast Lane” Challenge marks the second meet that he’s missed in the past two weeks.

Magnussen is currently out of the water due to his back condition, but has been putting up some impressive numbers on the stationary bike. On the 10th of September, Magnussen took to twitter to show the world his stationary bike results which showed he was able to go 10.35 miles in just a few seconds over half-an-hour with an average heart rate of 148 beats per minute.

Photo via Twitter.com

Magnussen hasn’t released a statement indicating the exact condition of his injury, but based on his presence on twitter it seems as though he’s in good spirits. Earlier, he posted a photo to Instagram with the team Australia physiotherapist captioning it, “Australian swim team physio Amelia spent so much time working on getting my back…”

It seems as though Magnussen is taking proper action to deal with this injury and keeping in shape with his eyes set on a successful return to competition.