Bronte needs breather to help heal
BRONTE Campbell will take a break from swimming after the Commonwealth Games in a move she hopes will rejuvenate her career in the same way older sister Cate has benefited from time away from the pool.
While Cate’s post-Olympic hiatus was more of a mental break, Bronte – the 2015 world champion in the 50m and 100m freestyle – will take three months off training and miss August’s Pan Pacific championships to rehabilitate her troublesome shoulders.
The Brisbane-based sisters will be among 20 Olympians and Paralympians in action at the NSW state championships at Homebush over the next three days in the final hitout for Australia’s elite swimmers before next month’s Commonwealth Games trials.
Bronte said the shoulder issues that plagued her past two major campaigns – at the Rio Olympics and Budapest world championships – would not halt her Commonwealth Games campaign, but the best long-term solution was rest.
“It’s been about two years now that I’ve been managing it, so after Commonwealth Games I’m going to have a few months off, maybe up to three months off and just do rehab,” she said.
“Surgery isn’t really an option. There’s nothing hugely structurally wrong that surgery will absolutely fix, it’s more of a risk than anything else.
“So I’m definitely not looking at surgery but looking at some intensive rehab without the load of swimming to get everything back to a normal baseline.”