Off-pace Winnington is searching for answers
EXASPERATED Elijah Winnington will head back to the drawing board with coach Richard Scarce to find a way forward to next year’s world swimming championships after Pan Pac disappointment.
Winnington sealed his place on the Pan Pac team with wins in the 200m and 400m freestyle at trials in Adelaide last month. But he could not replicate that form in Tokyo, making the B final in both events but swimming slower than he did at trials.
“I’m not swimming at my best, which is a bit of a shame,” the 18-year-old said after his final event in Tokyo. “But how can I learn from my mistakes if I don’t make any?
“I’ve just got to go back home, train with Rich but go back home and make sure I work on the little things, get those right and make sure I’m coming back better than ever.”
Winnington notched a new personal best for the 400m freestyle to gain a Pan Pac qualifier and while he was unable to replicate that form in Tokyo, the experience is likely to play heavily in his favour. Winnington knows his experience – and preparing and racing in Tokyo two years out from an Olympic Games in the same city – will pay off.
“It’ll be good to come back in two years’ time and race but I’ve got to make sure I go back home and fix up a lot of these things so I don’t make the same mistakes,” he said.
But the most befuddling thing was being unable to put his finger on what went wrong.
“I don’t really know right now. Rich (Scarce) didn’t make the team unfortunately, so I can’t really pinpoint anything (until we examine it together),” he said. “The disappointment is shattering. When I go back home I can really analyse what I’ve done here.”