A temporary, yet powerful training collaboration is about to go down at Griffith University later this week under storied Aussie coach Michael Bohl.
Gathering at the Queensland swimming mecca for a training camp through February are Japanese Asian Games MVP Rikako Ikee, fellow Japanese National Record holder Suzuka Hasegawa, Swedish Olympian Michelle Coleman, and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Alys Thomas of Great Britain.
The aforementioned group of visitors will train with existing Griffith Aussie stars Maddie Groves and Emma McKeon, along with their Korean mainstay squadmate An Sehyeon.
For Ikee’s part, this is another stop along her world tour of butterfly training, having already spent a stint with World Record holder Sarah Sjostrom in Turkey last October.
Both Ikee and Hasegawa have visited and trained under Bohl back in 2018, while their male counterparts Yuki Kobori and Daiya Seto have also visited for weeks-long camps in the past.
Thanks to an existing working relationship with Japanese National Head Coach Nori Hirai, Bohl tells SwimSwam that he ‘always welcomes high-level Japanese swimmers, as they have a great work ethic and are prepared to train at a world-class level consistently.’