Australia’s Stephanie Rice, who was a triple gold-medalist in Beijing and is the world’s reigning medley queen, returned to competition at the Queensland Swimming Championships this weekend.
Her return is right on schedule from the arthroscopic surgery that she underwent 3 and a half months ago. It was originally predicted to be a four month rehab before she could return to competition at any level.
Though she had long known that surgery was probably on the horizon, Rice attempted to push through the Pan Pacific Championships in August and the Commonwealth Games in October. After a day of competition in Irvine, however, Rice held a press-conference to announce that her season was done and that she would have surgery to prepare for next summer’s World Championships in Shanghai.
Her return to the 400 IM was a resounding success, with her touching in 4:44.60 in the long course pool. Though this mark is about 9 seconds off of where she was at Australian Nationals earlier this year, it is still a great time for having just progressed on from rehab after shoulder surgery. Things look to be all gear’s forward headed towards March’s World Championship Trials.
Emily Seebohm, who was originally reported to be swimming at the Short Course World Championships, was also at this meet and took three golds. After an 8-medal performance at the Commonwealth Games, Seebohm appears to be too worn out to take on Dubai, but that didn’t stop her from swimming some impressive times in Queensland. She won the 100 back, 100 fly (over National Record holder Jessica Schipper) and the 200 free in a personal best time of 1:58.93