Canadian medal hopeful Brent Hayden suffered back spasms at the team’s staging camp in Sardinia, according to his official Facebook fan page.
The spasms have plagued Hayden throughout his swimming history, but he described the most recent bout as the “2nd worst back spasm of [his] career”. That’s not good news for the 2007 World Champion and 2011 Worlds silver medalist in the 100 free. He is looking to improve upon his individual performance from the 2008 Olympics, where the relays were his focus and he failed to even final in an individual event.
His statement is below:
Staging camp in Sardinia did not start off very well. First full day here I suffered the 2nd worst back spasm of my career. Ended up on my hotel room floor unable to move. Getting around the next couple of days was extremely painful but I persevered and won the little battles wherever I could. I am happy to say that despite the early setback, I am finishing the camp feeling amazing. I got down to race weight today and I feel great!