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Just days after Swimming Australia announced the Gold Coast would host the 2018 Trials five weeks before the Commonwealth Games, Courier Mail reports that USA Swimming national team director Frank Busch will meet with the Australian coaches to “explain the mysteries of a double taper.”
The Trials will be held February 28-March 3 five weeks before the Commonwealth Games in the same pool. Busch will be meeting with the coaches in September in Canberra, where he will be 10 days removed from his National Team director job.
The Australians are trying a new system that the Americans have perfected for years. The Australians will be ditching the usual four-month gap between nationals and a major international meet in favor of a shorter turnaround to continue momentum after Nationals. Australian head coach Jacco Verhaeren said the change will create significant racing between major events.
The US has traditionally put their Olympic Trials as close as five weeks to the Olympics, and has won 64 total medals in the last two Olympics, so the system has showed it works. Swimming Australia boss, Mark Anderson said they “are committed to using this system for the next cycle to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.”
The Australian swimmers are supporting the decision like two-time Olympian sprinter James Roberts. “I for one am looking forward to the change because one of my old coaches John Fowlie always said there must be something to it if the best swim nation in the world has always done it,” Roberts said. “Personally, I know I swam fast at the trials in 2012 and slower at the actual Olympics so I feel it will be easier to keep the ball rolling with two meets close together.”
Busch will roll out the details of peaking physically for two meets so close together in his September meeting with the Australian coaches.
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said the swimmers would be the final team selected and he was in favor of having the trials in the same pool that the Games will be held in, citing a competitive advantage.
“The pool is going to be a cauldron of noise come the Games and to get a taste of it at the trials will be invaluable,” Phillips said.
Read the original report here.
Thanks for selling out the US Frank.
Boo hoo
Fear of competition will not advance the sport.
I always wondered how coaches tapered the swimmers successfully for back to back big meets. My daughter who was a distance swimmer would do great at her conference meet but not so well at the NCAA’s. Hope he shares a few tapering tips publicly.
It seems that we have been forced into this situation by virtue of the NCAA championships being in March and thus limiting our athlete’s long course training time. Perhaps what we have been doing is best but I wonder if the ability to train long course for the indoor season and a long course NCAA meet might be even better preparation. Other nations do not seem to have this short course restriction and several of our most serious athletes already sit out a college year in order to train long course.