Simone Manuel claimed a tight victory in the women’s 50-meter freestyle at the US Olympic swimming trials on Sunday, edging out Gretchen Walsh by 0.02 seconds.
Manuel, a five-time Olympic medalist, recorded a time of 24.13 seconds at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, almost half a second faster than her qualifying time.
Having already earned a spot at this year’s Paris Olympics as a relay swimmer, the victory means that Manuel will also contest an individual event at her third Games.
To get to this point has not been easy for the 27-year-old Texas native. She struggled with overtraining syndrome ahead of the last Olympics in Tokyo, a condition in which an athlete suffers physical and emotional decline as a result of intense exercise.
According to Manuel, she started to experience an increased heart rate, insomnia, depression, and anxiety, all while her performances began to get worse.
“Anybody who really knows my journey,” Manuel told reporters earlier at the trials, “knows how hard it was to get back into the pool … going to practice and getting my butt kicked every day, missing intervals, having to modify things until I finally got strong enough to complete even a whole week of work. I basically started from ground zero.”
Continue reading… (via CNN)
