TANCOCK TARGETS MARE NOSTRUM COMEBACK
Commonwealth Champion Liam Tancock will use next month's
Mare Nostrum tour to see how well his recuperation has gone
as he lines up on the blocks just eight weeks after breaking
his wrist.
The 21-year-old Loughborough University swimmer has been
steadily building back up since breaking his wrist in a fall
at the family home in Exeter at Easter.
But both Tancock and coach Ben Titley now feel the time is
right to return to the competitive arena to analyse the progress
made while taking care not to cause further damage.
Tancock appreciates the balance needed in his recovery as
he aims to complete the healing process while regaining the
kind of form that gave him one World Championship, three Commonwealth
and three European (25m) medals over the past nine months.
"It will be my first competition since breaking my wrist
in April so I'll be using the tour as a test to see how it
is recovering," said Tancock.
"I have no idea how it's going to go because it's a
total first for me. I've never had to recover from a major
injury before so I don't know what to expect. It's feeling
much better but I don't want to aggravate things.
"I'm looking forward to it but I won't be doing my main
events, it will be a case of testing it out while keeping
in touch with that competition atmosphere.
The Mare Nostrum series takes place at three Mediterranean
cities and British Swimming will have a large squad at the
Canet (7th-8th June) and Barcelona (10th-11th June) legs.
The open-air, 50m tour comes at the right time for Tancock
as he is desperate to get back to full fitness as soon as
he can in order to be competitive at this summer's European
Championships (50m) in Budapest.
Despite his broken arm Tancock has managed to keep the same
quantity of training throughout but he has targeted areas
of his backstroke that injury would allow.
"The break didn't keep my out of the water at all. I
just focused on my kick until the wrist was strong enough
to start using and I've been back in the water properly for
the past three weeks," explained Tancock.
"The process is gradual as I increase my swimming but
many of the sets I'm doing at the moment are still legs based
to give the wrist a chance to recover properly.
"It seems to be going well and I've been religiously
following the exercises given to me to try to build the strength
back into the arm. I need to do this if I'm to make a full
recovery."
Unfortunately the Mare Nostrum tour will come too soon for
Tancock's close friend and fellow Commonwealth Champion David
Davies who is recovering from a foot infection and subsequent
surgery.
The 21-year-old 1500m Freestyle Olympic medallist is still
recuperating after a routine operation on an infected left
ankle and is consigned to the poolside.
Davies plans to start training again early next month but
the City of Cardiff swimmer won't have long to prepare for
the European Championships in July.
"I'm out of the cast now but I'm not allowed in the
water as I still have a wound and it's susceptible to infection,"
said Davies.
"I've been continuing my land work and hopefully this
will give me a new strength when I'm fit enough to get back
into the water.
"I'm trying to stay positive and in some respects I'm
sure the break and change of training will be of benefit to
me in the future. I've just had to shift my focus and my priority
now is next year's World Championships in Melbourne."
|
