World Junior champion Freya Anderson was among the squad of 16 British swimmers who recently trekked to Colorado Springs, Colorado to take part in a 3-week altitude camp. This particular camp represented the 4th in a cycle of 10 taking place around the world leading up to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, with swimmers then moving on to the British Swimming Championships (as part of the Edinburgh International meet) in March, the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia in April, as well as August’s European Championship in Glasgow.
For 16-year-old Anderson, who hails from the Ellesmere Titans, the trip represented her first high-altitude experience and it’s coming after a huge last year in the water. Anderson was one of the few swimmers in the world who made her nation’s junior and senior World Championships squads. She wound up claiming the World Junior Championsihps gold in Indianapolis in the 100m freestyle, clocking the only sub-54 second time of the field. In Budapest, she went further than expected, qualifying for the semi-final of the 100m free where she finished a very respectable 12th in 53.91.
Returning from her trip to United States Olympic Training Center, Anderson recently shared her overall thoughts with SkySports upon her return.
“During the first two weeks, I found it quite difficult to breathe and suffered from altitude sickness, which wasn’t great. My main reason for going to altitude,” said the teen, “was to get my back injury under control by being surrounded with world-class equipment and a great support team.”
Anderson detailed her 3-week routine in the Stated, which included ‘clocking up the distances in the pool, plus rehab sessions and land training sessions.’ She said, “My goal was to go from swimming five sessions a week totalling 20km to 10 sessions a week totalling 40km. It was daunting at first but we made sure I eased into it gently. I was definitely surprised I managed to do it eventually!”
As far as her back injury, the World Championships freestyle semi-finalist stated she had a few minor issues, which gave her a scare, but “as I made so much progress and I thought that everything was ruined but it all worked out in the end.”
Praising the world-class site commonly visited by the greatest athletes in the world, Anderson said, “The facilities were so good. The pool was amazing, even if it was really cold, and the gym was insane!”
After visiting a few local attractions in Colorado, Anderson was ready to come back home, feeling refreshed and ready to move onto what she’ll be tackling this year in the pool. The teen commented, “Having come back home, I already feel stronger and more confident with my rehab and managing my injury, so things are finally looking up.
“The British Swimming Championships are at the start of March in Edinburgh and I’m looking forward to racing there and hopefully my back will be able to handle it.
“On March 23 I’ll be heading to Australia for the Commonwealth Games. I cannot wait.”
All quotes courtesy of SkySports.
Anyone else see OTL where they talked about IOC and NGB money?
This was one of the points they brought up, that the OTC is a profit center and routinely rents to other countries for training. It’s an interesting topic.
Do any other countries offer “reciprocity” on such an arrangement? Can the USA go to the British training centers too?
marklewis – I would imagine that for the right amount of money they could.
Don’t forget that many of our athletes train regularly in other countries. Not in swimming – but this is an “Olympic Committee” level matter, not a “USA Swimming” level matter.Our ski jumping team has been training with Canada in Slovenia, for example.
We’ve far from seen anything like the best if this young lady; Injury niggles over the last two winters are far from ideal, but quite expected as her body underwent big changes. Not sure what to expect from her in Australia, but she’ll be firecracker by the time Tokyo rolls around.
Best of luck.