As reported last month, 25-year-old Australian sprint star James Magnussen is back in the water, with the 2012 Olympic silver medalist having been back in full training with Mitch and Lach Falvey for approximately 3 weeks. Said to be ‘training very well’, Magnussen’s return to racing is tentatively set for the New South Wales State Championships, slated for early March.
Beyond that, however, ‘Maggie’ has confirmed that he will be opting out of the Australian National Championships and thus will not be competing at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest. As his shoulder surgery took him out of training and competition in 2015, this year marks the 2nd consecutive World Championships in which ‘the missile’ will not be trying to regain his 100m freestyle title.
As such, the Ravenswood Club swimmer will be going all-in for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on home soil, and his feels good about that. He recently explained to Australian press that he feels better than he has since his surgery and is taking things full steam ahead for the Gold Coast Games.
“I sort of got back in the water after New Years and felt like I hadn’t felt in three years, without having done any training, so that’s really exciting for me and spurred me on to get back into it properly. The shoulder’s really good. It has really gone to a new level this year.
“… Jumping back in the water on January 2, I instantly knew on my first stroke that it (the shoulder) had a certain stability and strength that it didn’t have in those previous 18 months,” Maggie told Adelaide Now.
Although the official selection procedures for the 2018 Commonwealth Games have not yet been published, Aussie Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren has strongly hinted in the past that pre-selection will dominate the Dolphins roster for the meet. This is a radical change from the traditional process in place for 40 years, where swimmers earn the Games’ roster spots via specific trials, akin to qualifying for the Olympics via trials.
Last year, agent Mark Jones told SwimSwam exclusively that Magnussen was planning a full schedule of racing in 2017, which could potentially include appearances in both the USA and Europe around the Arena sponsored meets in the US, European events such as French Open, Mare Nostrum and Sette Colli as well as selected World Cup events.
Magnussen says of his current status, “I’m feeling now I can swim faster (than I ever have). When I sit down and look over the past four years, I’m taller than I was back then. I had a growth spurt of about 3cm after London. I’m a lot stronger and I’m able to do things now from a fitness point of view I didn’t necessarily think important or couldn’t do as well back then.”
Should the green and gold’s major sprinters maintain their current trajectory, we could see a potential three-way match-up between the fastest man ever in a textile suit, Cameron McEvoy, against two-time world title winner Magnussen, as well as the young gun, 18-year-old Olympic gold medalist, Kyle Chalmers in that Gold Coast final.
“… I’ll be looking to peak for the Comm Games. I’ve never swum a big meet on home soil and, the way the 100m freestyle is, you’ve got the fastest man ever (McEvoy) and the Olympic champion (Chalmers).
“So if I win the Comm Games, I’m essentially winning a world title. That’s the way I view it and that’s the way I’m going to prepare for it. I’m going to put a lot of effort into it and that’s my primary objective.”
Too many Australian swimmers get injured. Remembering Eamon Sullivan…wonder if they are overtraining??
lots of dissenters; hard to say. He is only 25. A major shoulder surgery – kinda impressive he was even able to recover in time to make the team in 2016. Perhaps no more 47 low, but he wasn’t consistently doing that anyway. In fact, no one has consistently been 47.0. You can still win Olympic and World titles at 47.5, and that’s a fact, so even if that’s “all” he gets back to, he can’t still compete at the highest level?
I agree. If he’s really feeling and swimming as well as he says, then he will be a threat. He’s 25 and I’m sure sought the best possible medical care he could, as long as he takes his recovery slowly enough, he’ll remain a big asset to Australia and may yet become the first man to break 47 seconds in textile. He’s reaching the “sweet spot” between the conditioning of a young guy and the strength/power gains of the older swimmers. If he can stay healthy, his peak is still ahead. Unlike some others, I’m not gonna write him off so quickly.
But is what we are reading in this piece the truth or just “talking the talk” ? Has he got any quicker with further physical maturity/more muscle or has it been the reverse ?
What has been his best flat start time post operation ?? Just a tick under 48.5. Whilst that could/would most likely earn him a spot on an AUS 4X100 team; that is probably an indictment of the shallow depth in this event once you look past Chalmers & McEvoy. Whilst both Chalmers & McEvoy face their own career issues, I cannot see Magnussen getting down below 48 flat start again.
In all honesty, there is likely to be a significant turnover in AUS swimming over the… Read more »
Probably fairly smart thinking on his part to focus on the Comm Games. The interesting part is the comment about Jacco’s preselection process for future teams. If as done in the past it means the second place getter at Nationals misses out to someone preselected then CAS will be full of hearings from Swimmers aggrieved. Noting of course that Nationals will be in closer proximity to the event so how do we preselect and then deal with the inevitable challenges??? I am sure that the experts have got that all squared away. Its amazing how the ‘new ideas’ forget to look back and work out why they haven’t succeeded when tried previously.
There are 3 per event at Comms & to be honest no events are more than 1 or 2 let alone 3 deep . I think selection will be on whoever is in form over the Australian summer . National titles are usually in April – past the Comms & only pan pacs spots will be up for grabs .
Whatever James decides to do – its his life & if he is seeing life after swimming – good for him . He’s rocking those Hugo Boss siuts .
Wow, big loss for Aussie in the 4×100.
Sounds like the end of a career tbh. He’s not gonna beat Chalmers/Mcevoy from this point on. Can’t believe he fell off so fast.
I tend o agree… Too bad ‘cos he has (had?) a beautiful stroke. He was a pleasure to watch.
I think he can get back to 47.8 from a flat start, he’s still pretty young. Not the end of a career, but I’m afraid to say he probably won’t be going 47 mid/low anymore. Big loss for Australia’s 4×100, at least for this year.
His best swim was when he drafted the entire race. Afterwards, I said he would never go as fast and he hasn’t!
What do you mean drafted? We’re talkig about his 47.10, right?
If I recall correctly, he took the lead right from the start and never looked back. There was nobody around him to draft off of.
Jesus, he’s only 25. You would swear he’s like Ervin’s age by now.
Just realized from the le Clos article – they’re only one year apart in age.
It feels like le Clos is 20 and Magnussen is 30.