Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash eyes CWG podium

Competing in his final season, ace Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash has a simple goal for his last hurrah at the Commonwealth Games — a podium finish and a personal best performance. After taking a break post the Paris Olympics due to a “burnout”, Sajan returned to swimming last year. He qualified for the Commonwealth Games, starting from July 23 in Glasgow and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in September, breaching the qualification time in the men’s 200m butterfly set by the Swimming Federation of India earlier this year. “A medal will be nice, swimming a personal best time will be nice. I’ve put in all the work. I’m aiming for a 1:56 or a 1:55s,” the soft-spoken butterfly specialist told PTI.

For Sajan, though, success in Glasgow will not be measured solely by the colour of the medal. “But giving my best effort is the most important thing here I just want to do the process right and give my best effort now. What people will see the time, or the medal. But for me to be happy inside, I need to know I gave it my absolute best effort.” It’s been five years since Sajan clocked his personal best of 1:56.38 at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome in 2021 that made him the first Indian swimmer to achieve the Olympic ‘A’ qualifying standard.

While the podium remains his target, Sajan, who clocked 1:57.09 at the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships in March, knows the challenge will be formidable. “To make the podium is the goal, but it is going to be very difficult because the Australians and the British swimmers are going to be extremely fast in this event.” Sajan is currently in Edinburgh for three-week speed-training camp, where he hopes to fine-tune himself for the CWG.

“The idea is to get acclimatised to the weather and the conditions, and we are much more prepared for the Games. So, with that 1:57s, I’ve put in all the work. I’m aiming for a 1:56s or a 1:55s,” he added.

If the two-time Olympian manages to dip below 1:56s, he could well find himself in medal contention. At the Birmingham CWG in 2022, Lewis Clareburt won gold in 1:55.60, Chad le Clos took silver in 1:55.89 and James Guy claimed bronze in 1:56.77.

Before heading to Edinburgh, Sajan spent three weeks in Sierra Nevada in Spain for high altitude training. “Coming to a higher altitude, there is less oxygen in the air and it’s very dry, so recovery gets much slower here and it’s hard to train,” he explained the need for high altitude training.

“We build up that aerobic capacity to train in tougher situations. When we go back down to sea level, the recovery is much better and metabolism works at 2x. So the performance will also get better.” Sajan’s comeback has also brought an unexpected coaching partnership with former India swimmer and Asian Games medallist Sandeep Sejwal donning the coach’s cap. Sejwal is also the last Indian swimmer to stand on top of a podium at a multi-sport event.