Canada’s Julia Wilkinson has dropped the 200 IM from her 2012 London Olympic event schedule, according to her personal website.
The 200 IM has long been Wilkinson’s best event, in long course, including a 7th-place finish in Beijing at the 2008 version of the games. At last week’s Canadian Olympic Trials, she won the 200 IM in 2:12.78 to out-duel countrymate and friend Erica Morningstar. But even though she had the win in that race, it was really the only time of that meet that wasn’t an outstanding time (for her).
“As of a few days ago I am officially retired from the 200 IM,” Wilkinson told the Stratford Beacon Herald. “Ya, it has been my event and I thought that coming out of the 200 IM would be upsetting and kind of scare me. I’ve been doing it for so long, and yes I was in the final at the Olympics, but I’ve been in so many finals and I’ve been seventh and eighth so many times over and over again. It’s stagnant, basically.
Instead of spending time focusing on her weak strokes – the breaststroke and butterfly – she has decided to really focus on the long-axis strokes – freestyle and backstroke. This was spurred on by the motivation of finally getting over-the-hump in the 100 backstroke, where she swam a 59.85 to break a minute for the first time in her career. With that, combined on a three-second drop in the 200 backstroke (though she was only third, so no Olympic swim in that), shows that this might be a smart decision for her, especially after she had to drop the 200 back in Beijing due to fatigue.
This leaves her Olympic schedule at a probable 5 – the 100 back, the 100 free, and the three relays.
She currently ranks 6th in the world in the 100 back, and is a former NCAA Champion, in yards, in the 100 freestyle at Texas A&M.