Australian sprint-star and 2013 100m freestyle world champion James Magnussen split with long-time coach Brant Best in what he has described to the media as a chance to switch-up his training in heed of the 2016 Olympic Games.
Magnussen stated that he will be starting to look for a new coach, following many successful years under Best’s tutelage. Magnussen boasts a 2011 World Championship gold, a 2012 Olympic silver, and a 2013 World Championship gold in the 100m freestyle while training with Best, but didn’t have as climactic of a season due to a back injury that’s kept him out of the pool.
Magnussen is still currently out of the pool which will give him time to focus his attention on finding a suitable training environment to lead up to the 2016 Olympic Games.
Considering the focus of his training has been predominately sprinting, he’ll be looking for a coach and program with a top-level sprint program and competitive sprint atmosphere. He currently holds the fastest textile time in the 100m freestyle, but has been greatly rivaled by up-and-coming Australian swimmer Cameron McEvoy in the sprints.
Magnussen does play a crucial role not only as one of the fastest men in the world in the blue-ribbon event, but is a staple on the Australian 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay when he’s in top form. Time will tell where Magnussen will train and under which coach, but no doubt he’s going to pick a program that he believes can bring him and the Australian swim team success.
Coach Michael Mullins. Back where it all started.
New coach will depend on where he goes. If he stays in Sydney, most likely Grant Stoelwinder and Scott Talbot (Sydney University Swim Club). If he goes to the Gold Coast, most likely Glenn Baker (Southport) or Richard Scarce (PBC), or possible left field choice Ashley Callus (Somerset College). If he goes to Brisbane, most likely Simon Cusack (Commercial) or Michael Bohl (SPW).
I was thinking Perth with the squad that got Eammon down to 21.66 without anyone realising he was actually training . The weather is better than Qld & the money could be huge . I do think he would have to be top dog in a squad & he might prefer young & upcoming coach with new ideas.
Not that My namesake would have made any offers of course – maybe throw in an Alfa Romeo .to cruise down to the Margaret a River superduperwaves. Nah .
Perhaps a certain Russian coaching legend would like to try his luck at anothe Australian pupil
As long as said coaching legend learned his lesson about telling swimmers to finish freestyle races with dolphin kicks…
This news caught me by surprise. I wonder where he will go next?
hey james, come on over to the states I hear we have a pretty good sprint program over there with Adrian and Ervin.
That would be crazy to have Nathan and James go head to head every day
SwimMac?? with Yannick? 😀 would be HUGE
Agnel will train alone with Horter in the water of Mulhouse.
In Nice he had Clément Lefert as training partner and in Baltimore he had all the group we know.
He will have a coach totally focused on him and that’s probably the main thing he looked for. A training more individualized.
A swimmer with such mindblowing talent like Agnel, Phelps, Ledecky, Thorpe, (laure) Manadou needs a coach who is focused on them to facilitate the talent to bloom flawlessly.
On the same note I am also wondering if Missy would have been better served working with a coach who doesnt have a dozen top swimmers to train.
Maybe there were too many training partners at NBAC, but I think it would be hard to get the best out of yourself every day without ANY competitors training with you. Many athletes do, I know. Somebody commented here that perhaps there was too much racing in practice, making it too intense. That sounds like it makes sense.
From interviews I’ve seen, I think Agnel helped Phelps and definitely earned his respect! Phelps knows if he is racing against Agnel in the 4×200 relay he’s going to have trouble keeping the US close unless he trains seriously (it would be embarassing if Michael lost by over a second, which he easily could)! I’d like to think Bowman and Phelps… Read more »
Bobo, Thanks for the link to “L’Equipe”! I’m sorry to see Agnel leave the US because I think he is fantastic and because I think the swimming world needs more international cooperation and sharing of training ideas and attitudes. I’d like to add to the discussion that I believe his training partners at NBAC learned a lot from Yannick!
Luigi, I agree with you about Bowman’s training approach! But you have to be happy to train well. This summer when I heard Yannick talking about how gray the sky is in Baltimore in the winter and how much he missed the light in France, I wondered if he’d stay in the US. Who could blame him really, France must be… Read more »
“France must be so beautiful.”
Well, it depends of what part of France you talk about for the weather.
Before going to Baltimore, Agnel trained in Nice in the South East part of the country along the Mediterranean Sea and yes, the weather is pretty cool there all year.
But he goes to Mulhouse in the North East of the country near the German border and I can tell you that he doesn’t go to Mulhouse for the weather. 😆
And about the weather overall in France, it has been pretty bad all year with much rain. Fortunately we have a great month of September so far with plenty of sun and warm temperatures.
Absolutely, you do need to be happy with your environment to sustain the amount of work these elite athletes go through. Nevertheless, I got the feeling that, had he stayed a little longer, he would have reaped the fruits at Worlds next year. But this is just talk. Only Agnel knows all the facts.