British speedster, Fran Halsall, may look a little different walking on the Kazan pool deck for the 2015 FINA World Championships as she has appeared in the past. Since the 2012 London Olympic Games, the two-time 2014 Commonwealth gold medalist from Southport, England has changed up her training routine, focusing more on muscle-building, power and increasing overall strength.
Through a combination of heavy weight-lifting and a high-protein diet, Halsall has added 7kg (15 lbs) of muscle since her appearance in London. In her own words, she tells The Daily Mail, “I’ve been getting stacked….It’s been a hard year, I’ve done a lot of eating – eating to maintain all the sessions in the pool and for the extra work in the gym. I’m hoping to be up around 10kg (22 lbs.) heavier next year.”
The laser-sharp focus on building strength is motivated by Halsall’s event specialties, the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle races. She believes the extra physical fortitude will translate to an ever-valuable explosive start over the opening 15m of her events to stay on top of the competition. Halsall recognizes that, with her sprint specialties, “everything has to be absolutely perfect every bit of the race.”
Halsall looks to test out her training regime in Kazan to then see if she needs to change it up continuing on her road to Rio.“The worlds are a great opportunity one year out from the Olympics to see where I’m at and to see where everyone else is at. I feel like I’m in a really good place mentally,” she told The Guardian. “I always race to win – it’s what I do and what I love. For my event you have to be confident and feel like you have a shot of winning just to be competitive.”
Halsall earned bronze in the women’s 50m freestyle at the 2013 edition of the FINA World Championships. For 2015, Halsall comes into Kazan as the second seed in the women’s 50m butterfly and tied for the world’s number one in the women’s 50m freestyle.
Francesca Halsall really found a new hunger for the sport post London and she started reaping the rewards in 2014. She was injured from December until quite far into 2015 so I am not sure about her shape – Her 24.3 at Nationals was positive. I expect her to struggle a little in Kazan, but if she is fit she’ll be back in the 23. area in 2016.
Am I the only one to read “stabbed” instead? My first thought was that the Kazan Curse continues (thank goodness I was wrong)
GBR looking scary good going into these world champs, watch for their 4×100 medley relay to get out fast and not look back…a possible USA upset is in the makings here , much potential for a real young team.