Mack is ready to attack
Olympic champion Mack Horton has a simple expectation for the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo — swim fast. The middle distance freestyle star kept it nice and straightforward earlier this week when chatting at Cairns’ Tobruk Pool about what he was hoping to work towards next month in Japan. “We just give it our best and whatever happens, then happens. I just want to swim fast.”
OLYMPIC champion Mack Horton has a simple expectation for the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo – swim fast.
The middle distance freestyle star kept it nice and straightforward earlier this week when chatting at Cairns’ Tobruk Pool about what he was hoping to work towards next month in Japan.
“I know what I want to achieve,” Horton said.
“We do not really set expectations as a group.
“We just give it our best and whatever happens, then happens. I just want to swim fast.”
The 22-year-old from Melbourne won gold in the 400m freestyle at the Rio Olympics and finished fifth in the 1500m final but a five-month training stint alongside the winner, Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, helped him decide to target the 800m and 400m in Tokyo.
The Australian Dolphins team will follow the same path in 2020 as they are this week – a camp at Cairns’ Tobruk Pool before pursuing a hefty gold medal haul at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
“It is great that we are able to practice it now and fine tune it next year and be ready for 2020,” Horton said.
“Hopefully by then we will have it perfect.
“It is nice to be able to enjoy some warmer weather and get ready for Tokyo because it is going to be hot there.”
Members of the Australian Dolphins Swim Team will swap the pool for the coral covered ocean on a Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef expedition this Saturday with Horton keen to learn as much as he can about the Far North during his fortnight stay.
“I am really looking forward to the reef trip,” Horton said.
“I want to see the reef with the team but I also want to learn about it and see what we can do to help save it.”
Australian swim team director Jacco Verhaeren says the team is in for a hard slog in Cairns.
“This is the emphasis in our training camp strategy, to be here for hard work,” he said.
“We want to enjoy the environment as well as recovery.
“It is not a holiday, it is about work.”