(Reuters) – Australian swimmer Cate Campbell professed a new-found love for her sport after breaking the 100 meters freestyle short course world record upon her return from a long break.
The 25-year-old clocked a time of 50.25 seconds at the Australian Short Course Swimming Championships in Adelaide to beat Swede Sarah Sjostrom’s record time by 0.33 seconds.
It was Campbell’s first competition since the 2016 Rio Olympics where she failed to medal in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
The former 100 freestyle world champion described her Rio campaign as “possibly the greatest choke in Olympic history” and took a prolonged hiatus, opting out of the world championships earlier this year.
“I’ve come back refreshed and I’ve got a new love for the sport, a new perspective and I’m more motivated than ever for the Commonwealth Games,” Campbell said after her record-breaking performance on Thursday.
“It’s great to be swimming fast. I’ve put together some really good solid weeks of training and I’ve really been working hard.
“It’s great to see it’s really starting to pay off.”
Campbell, who won the 100 freestyle world title in Barcelona in 2013, is now targeting the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast in 2018, followed by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
