James Magnussen confident for the 2011 World Championships
James Magnussen expressed his confidence for the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai this July, as he claimed the crown for the 100m freestyle at the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships.
Magnussen earned the gold medal for the 100m event in a time of 48.29 seconds. His time was comfortably under the FINA Time Qualification Standard of 48.76, whereas he also defeated the four times Australian Champion and the 2008 Beijing Olympics’ silver
medallist, Eamon Sullivan.
James’ time placed him on top of the early world rankings for 2011, which means that until now, he is most likely to own the crown at the World Championships in Shanghai.
Expressing his happiness, Magnussen said, “I set myself that goal about six months ago and that’s what I’ve been training towards so I was obviously happy to achieve that.”
Magnussen considers this a big opportunity, as he will be representing his beloved country for the first time at one of the world’s biggest stages. He stressed that he will revise his swimming strategy to ensure his podium finish at the World Championships
in China.
Even after his wonderful victory at the Australian Nationals, Magnussen admits that there is always a room for improvement in swimming strategy and said, “I possibly went out a little bit quicker than I expected to in that final, in the first 50m, and the
back-end suffered a little bit.”
20-year-old Magnussen claims that the burden of the World Championship will urge him to work hard and sustain his place in China. With the upcoming World Championships that paves the way for the 2012 London Olympics, Magnussen desires to finish at least
in the top five swimmers though his focus remains on retaining the podium. He believes that if he achieved his goal, his confidence for the London Olympics will reach new heights.
While answering a question, Magnussen commented that he is not triumphed over by stress in fact he enjoys participating in big meets, as this gives him a chance to prove his identity among the big fish. He also stressed that he might require a little pressure
in order to attain a spark for his event at the world level.
Magnussen returned to the pool on Thursday and said that he will be at his peak performance in a maximum time of two years. The 20-year-old claims that it is hard for him to reach his performance levels until he is 22 or 23 years, but he agrees that he will
have to do something out of the blue for the upcoming world events.
James claimed the crown for the 100m freestyle at the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships, which were also a trial basis for the national swimmers to qualify for the Australian team to Shanghai.
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