SEEBOHM BACK IN THE SWIM OF THINGS
THE well of disappointment that Emily Seebohm fell into after failing at the Rio Olympics was so deep there were times when she could not see the light.
Her partner and fellow world champion, Mitch Larkin, says she was “tossing up whether to keep swimming or not, especially early on, straight after Rio’’.
But inch by inch, step by hard-won step, 25-year-old Seebohm has climbed out of that “black hole’’ and rediscovered her love for the sport.
First she addressed the health issues that plagued her in the lead-up to the Olympics, having surgery for the painful condition, endometriosis.
Then she and Larkin put their financial affairs in order, with the aid of his father Peter.
“We took some time out of the water and sorted out our life,’’ Larkin said.
“My dad’s in finance and he ticked a few boxes for her and she’s really happy with how life is outside the pool.’’
Then it was time to get back to doing the right training in the pool with her coach David Lush and yesterday all that had work paid off at the world championships, where Seebohm swam her way back on to the medal podium in the 100m backstroke.
It took a world record of 58.10sec from Canadian Kylie Masse to deny her a shot at a second world title.
Masse, 21, was the bronze medallist in Rio but she has made big gains this year to take down one of the few remaining supersuit world records in the women’s program, Gemma Spofforth’s 2009 benchmark of 52.12sec.
Seebohm, too, has pressed that record but this time she was happy just to be on the podium.
She was out-touched by American Olympic silver medallist Kathleen Baker (58.58sec) at the wall but recorded her fastest time since she won the world title in 2015 (58.59sec).
“It’s exciting. It just goes to show how much hard work I did after Rio and how tough it was on my body, and I think if I didn’t get a cold last week I could have been a little bit stronger on that back end, but I’m stoked with that and so proud to be back on the podium,’’ Seebohm said.
Another medal now beckons later this week in the 200m backstroke, which she also won in Kazan two years ago.
Meanwhile, Olympic silver medallist Larkin fell short of the podium in the men’s 100m backstroke, finishing sixth in 53.24sec behind China’s Xu Jiayu in 52.44sec.