James Magnussen, Eamon Sullivan and Geoff Huegill stay home to prepare for the World Championships
Swimming Australia’s most elite swimmers, James Magnussen, Eamon Sullivan and Geoff Huegill, abandoned the Australian
Swimming camp to North Hemisphere and have decided to train in their homeland for the upcoming 2011 Shanghai World Championships, this July.
Swimming Australia has organised a five-week altitude training camp for their swimmers at the North Hemisphere,
to enhance their potential for the upcoming world titles in Shanghai.
The camp will be attended by 30 Australian athletes including the likes of Stephanie Rice, Alicia Coutts, Leisel
Jones and Hayden Stoeckel. These swimmers will flourish their skills at the camp and then compete at the upcoming world events, including the Santa Clara Grand Prix and European Championships to limber up for the Shanghai titles.
Magnussen, Huegill and Sullivan have decided to train at the Sydney Olympic Park to prepare for the battle in
China.
Magnussen is the current 100m freestyle Australian champion, who confirmed his Shanghai spot by overwhelming five-time
national Champion, Eamon Sullivan at the Australian National Championships. Sullivan settled third at the championships, securing his spot in the Australian team for the 4*100m freestyle relay. Huegill, who is the 2010 Commonwealth Games butterfly gold medallist,
protected his spot in the Australian team by conquering the 100m butterfly gold medal.
The three swimmers will now train under the guidance of New South Wales Institute of Sport’s (NSWIS) coach, Grant
Stoelwinder. Stoelwinder explains their step of separation from the national camp, as an act of retaining normality.
While explaining his experiences of the previous training camps, Stoelwinder said, “We've travelled to Europe
and done big, long trips for the past two years and found that is was actually a little bit to the detriment of the athletes. We're also trying to mimic what we might do next year - leading into the Olympic Games. To travel to Europe and back before (the Olympics)
next year is probably not an option.”
In addition, Huegill, Magnussen and Sullivan will participate at the Australian National Championships, starting
from July 1, 2011 and then will head towards Shanghai for the world titles.
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