Pieter van den Hoogenband advises James Magnussen to compete in 200m freestyle – Swimming News
The three-time Olympic champion, Netherlands’ Pieter van den Hoogenband has advised 100m freestyle world champion, James Magnussen to add 200m freestyle to his Olympic event roster, expressing that his stroke is natural and he is perfect for the 200m event.
The 33-year-old Hoogenband was quite impressed with Magnussen’s early-season performance in the 100m freestyle at South Australian Championships, where he clocked 48.05 seconds and claimed victory.
When he came to know about Magnussen’s nerve-wrecking form in early 2012, Hoogenband said, “Whoa ... nice. That is fast ... and in January. I hope his coach knows what he is doing because that is so fast. He is not shaved. He is not rested.”
Magnussen, whose international career started with a phenomenal gold winning 47.49 seconds effort at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, has announced that he will try to post a sub 48 seconds effort at the New South Wales State Open Championship in Sydney, starting on February 10.
The 20-year-old Magnussen has planned to participate in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle swims at the upcoming meet in Sydney. He will be facing former Australian champion and one of his strongest rivals, Eamon Sullivan in all three events at the upcoming event.
Nevertheless, Hoogenband could not stop praising Magnussen and articulated that the young Australian definitely has what it takes to claim the title of leading event at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
“I really love the way he is swimming. Cielo is more powerful, when you see all the water splash whereas James is more smooth. He is more natural, for me, I like the natural swimmer,” Hoogenband added.
He also encouraged Magnussen to represent his country in the 200m freestyle, as he considered his stroke wonderful for the mediocre distance event.
The Australian Selection Trials for the London Games are scheduled in mid-March, meaning that Magnussen has almost a month to decide whether or not to add the 200m event to his Olympic event plan.
Nonetheless, it is expected that Magnussen will take a decision about the 200m event after he swims the mediocre distance at the forthcoming NSW meet.
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