Back to the beach
Scarred but healing, shark bite victim gets back into the water for a California race.
IT” S a bay, not the open ocean, and there are more than 100 other swimmers nearby.
There are no sharks here right?
It’s the first time Maria Korcsmaros has gone back into saltwater since an estimated 10- foot great white shark bit down into her body on May 29 as she swam off Corona del Mar, the United States. The incident happened not far from where she stood, as she prepared for her first race, the Coveathlon, a run- swim event staged weekly at Newport Dunes.
For Korcsmaros, the event isn’t a competition. Not yet, anyway. For now, it’s about training and control, a way for her to feel like she has her life back, to feel less weak.
She wants to be the triathlete and Iron Woman she once was. But her mind needs to get there first.
“I’m getting nervous now,” she said as she edged toward the water, where other swimmers prepped to take the plunge.
Under her breath, she calmed herself. She smiled. “Just race jitters.”
“It was tiring,” she said. “By lunch, I was like, ‘ I need a nap.’”
Korcsmaros jokes that Herkimer has healing hands. Herkimer rubs her scar tissue to loosen it up, movements that cause her to cringe yet again. To beat the pain, she tries deep breathing.
“This one sucks,” he said, semi- sympathetically, digging into her scar tissue.
Herkimer wants to help her get her athletic life back. He’s confident she’ll return to 100% of where she was before the shark attack.
“We have to retrain that strength, mobility and function to a level for daily life, to a level for a competitive athlete,” he said.
Herkimer knows Korcsmaros is going to want to do more than just be able to do a few squats without shaking.
“Basic life,” he added, “is not going to be enough.”