WAIS Swimmers Head for the Heights for World Champs Edge

A number of WAIS swimmers have begun high-altitude training at a 28-day swim camp in Mexico ahead of the World Championships in Shanghai, China in July.

The group will be based at La Loma in San Luis Potosi, directly in the heart of Mexico, with an altitude of 1900m.

WAIS swimming coach and head coach of City of Perth club Matt Magee said the group decided to train in Mexico because of close competitions.

“Coach John Fowlie and his team of swimmers at the AIS use Sierra Nevada in Spain with much success,” he said.

While not regarded for its high performance training, Mexico is home to a number of world-class altitude training centers and is providing a good base for the WAIS athletes as they prepare for World Championships.

“Mexico is somewhat cost-effective for such a project and Swimming Australia and in particular High Performance Sport Science Manager Bernard Savage has been instrumental in supporting our athletes,” Magee said.

WAIS swimming performance manager Greg Hodge shares Magee’s view that the high-altitude training will give the athletes an edge for future competitions.

“In the past our athletes have struggled with altitudes and also jetlag, but in these new Mexican facilities they should be ready for Shanghai and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil,” he said.

“The ideal length of time for high-altitude training is between 21 and 28 days, while the ideal altitude is somewhere between 1900 and 2200m.

“Mexico has been recommended by other groups and seems a logical training camp.”

He said that training at a higher altitude produces more red blood cells due to their higher demand for oxygen and once athletes return to sea level and adapt, their performance should increase.

The group spent a week in Florida to not only recover from jetlag, but as a chance to race in events such as the Fran Crippen Memorial Mile Swim in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Olympian Travis Nederpelt is among the group training in Mexico and has arrived with form by winning the Memorial Mile Swim ahead of USA Olympic gold medalist Peter Vanderkaay (second) and City of Perth swimmer Simon Huitenga (fourth).

“Vanderkaay and some of the other Americans were a great challenge as they are very fast so I found it hard to shake them off my drag,” Nederpelt said.

“I was relying on the fact that I grew up on the beaches in Perth and I would know how to wade and run through the water better than those boys, so I based my race around a really fast finish.”

The dual-Olympian said he enjoyed the opportunity to take 10 years of local open water experience to an international arena.

“I’ve done so many open water races in Perth but rarely had the chance to see how I fair with the rest of the world,” he said.

Magee is confident the group, who are training at high-altitude for the first time, will respond well after a simulation in Perth as preparation.

“In this trial we took the athletes to well in excess of what they would experience in Mexico and monitored their reactions accordingly and none of the athletes showed any adverse effects,” he said.

“We expect to establish improvements in all the athletes while at altitude and we will bring those changes with us back to the home pool in readiness for Shanghai.”

Beau Pearson