McKeon’s practising to relax on big stage
EMMA McKeon says the impressive cache of international racing she has built over the past two months will help her relax behind the blocks at the World Swimming Championships.
McKeon, Australia’s most successful swimmer at the Rio Olympics with a gold, two silver and a bronze medal, sees room for improvement and is building a base of racing so strong that by Tokyo 2020, international action will be second nature.
McKeon snared bronze in the 200m freestyle in Rio but suffered badly from nerves in the 100m butterfly, missing a medal after qualifying second-fastest for the final.
To help combat that, she has embarked on a heavy racing schedule leading into the world titles, competing in five major meets throughout Europe during June and July – a move she credits with bolstering her confidence ahead of the world championships in Budapest next week.
“Because we have done so much international racing since trials this year and racing those top girls, I definitely feel a lot more relaxed going into worlds because I’ve already raced them so many times in the last couple of months,” said McKeon, whose massive program starts with the 100m butterfly and 4x100m freestyle relay on the opening day of competition on Sunday.
“I just feel really relaxed going into the meet and that’s how I race my best. So I’m pretty excited to see how I go.
“In Australia most of us are training with our competitors … every day and racing against them in main sets every day.
“So it’s good to be able to have that practice against other guys over (in Europe).”
While Swimming Australia has marked next year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as a “pinnacle” meet in the four-year cycle leading into the 2020 Olympics, McKeon said the world titles were also important as she builds towards Tokyo.
“I think they’re all important just because they’re the main event of the year and I want to be able to lower my PBs each year at all of the meets, so I find them all equally important,” she said.
McKeon, who trains with Michael Bohl – the Brisbane coach rumoured to be the target for Swimming Australia’s high performance program at Griffith University – will target the 200m in Budapest but is looking forward to gauging her progress in the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle before likely adding the 200m fly to an already heavy Commonwealth Games program.