Last weekend 100 freestyle world champion James Magnussen had to pull out of the Canberra Grand Prix due to a shoulder injury. The sub-scapular muscle tear is something that he has been dealing with since February.
At the time Magnussen’s coach Mitch Falvey was very strong in his opinion that the injury was not serious and would not prevent Magnussen from defending his world championships title, “It’s just a ‘niggle’ he’s been carrying for about four months now. With worlds coming up we decided to be cautious and pull him out of racing,” Falvey told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The world champs is where he needs to be and we’re confident he’ll be competing, for sure.”
“It’s certainly not something which requires surgery, the seriousness of it has been exaggerated a bit.”
Just three days later it has been revealed that the injury may be worse than originally reported. After being seen by a specialist he has been told to rest his shoulder and will most likely be missing from Mare Nostrum races in Canet-en-Roussillon and Monaco next month.
Falvey told The Australian that, “Anything he does at racing intensity aggravates it.”
Even with this being the case they will be seeking a second opinion from another specialist.
Magnussen currently ranks third in the world in the 100 freestyle.
2014-2015 LCM Men 100 Free
NING
47.84
| 2 | Cameron McEVOY | AUS | 47.94 | 08/05 |
| 3 | Vladimir MOROZOV | RUS | 47.98 | 04/19 |
| 3 | Santo CONDORELLI | CAN | 47.98 | 07/14 |
| 5 | Federico GRABICH | ARG | 48.11 | 07/14 |
I am dreading the excuses if he goes & looks like he did at nationals.
I would like his spot to go to Kyle who was much more impressive at nationals rather than the number3 .
I have to say I’m not overly impressed with Mag’s coach, Mitch Falvey’s approach of ‘it’s a niggle he’s been carrying for four months now’…
If niggles don’t heal, then it’s not really a niggle and you can’t just swim them off. Now if this turns out to be a serious issue as it appears to be from professional medical assessment, this might seriously disrupt his training until he can heal properly and throw the WCs out, whereas if they had gotten it looked at beforehand maybe something could have been done about it sooner.
I really hope that the 47.10 we saw from Trials in 2012 doesn’t turn out to be the apex of his career followed by a… Read more »
His new coaches may be good, but by virtue of their age, they are relatively inexperienced. The way they have handled this issue, looks very amateur. Let’s hope we see a full recovery for Rio. That’s all that matters now.
Agreed. If it’s been a problem for four months, it’s more than a “niggle.” And it sounds like this coach let an allegedly small issue drag his swimmer down for four months rather than making the necessary sacrifices to handle it in one or two months.