Larkin stuns critics
Maligned Mitch breaks record to claim silver at Pan Pacs
TROUBLED by a messy break- up with teammate Emily Seebohm, Mitch Larkin had been written off ahead of the Pan Pacs in Tokyo – even by his own national head coach.
But his stirring display in Japan has convinced his mentor and Dolphins assistant Dean Boxall that the 25- year- old has regained his “mongrel” ahead of the 2020 Olympics.
Not much was expected from Larkin at the four- day Pan Pacs, which concluded on Sunday, after the former dual world champion’s very public split threatened to derail his preparation.
National head coach Jacco Verhaeren even dismissed the backstroke specialist’s chances in his new event, the 200m individual medley.
Asked if Larkin was an IM threat, a brutally honest Verhaeren said: “No. Not on the podium level, not at the world standard.”
But Boxall could only chuckle over the comment after Larkin clinched a shock 200m IM silver, breaking a nine- year- old national record to add to his impressive Pan Pacs haul.
Larkin, 25, finished with one gold, one silver and two bronze.
“It is quite funny Jacco said to the media he was not world class. I think that was the 11th fastest ( 200m IM) time in history,” Boxall laughed.
“It’s about confidence for Mitch and he found it.”
Larkin bounced back from a less than ideal preparation after his fallout with teammate Seebohm to grab 200m IM silver in one minute, 56.21 seconds – breaking Leith Brodie’s national mark, set in a now banned supersuit back in 2009.
Remarkably, Larkin mowed down Japan’s Olympic silver medallist Kosuke Hagino on the final freestyle lap to finish less than a second behind world champion Chase Kalisz of the United States, who clocked the sixth fastest time in history.
“Hagino won it at the last Pan Pacs. For him to go past him, that’s mongrel – that’s fighting,” Boxall said.
“For Mitch to go over the top of him, that is will. That’s the dog fight ( I want to see).”
But Boxall admitted Larkin’s preparation had been “challenging”.
“We spoke about it. But if you can get through this, you can get through anything,” he said of the split.
“I thought he has been very professional through it. I think he has handled himself well and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”