French backstroker extraordinaire Camille LaCourt, who had the world’s top time in both the 50 and 100 LCM distances last year, is battling a case of elbow tendonitis. He was seen at the recent French International meet in Nancy wearing pink and blue Kinesio tape on his left elbow. The tape (which is also known as “Elastic theraputic tape”) is designed to, among other things, provide support for weakened joints and either limit or encourage certain motions at joints.
The injury, as of yet, hasn’t appeared to hurt LaCourt’s training: In early-season returns, he snatched the world’s top time in the 50 (24.88) and 100 (53.54) backstrokes. It’s still a situation to watch moving towards Shanghai and London.
LaCourt also took a shot at the 100 free: an event that he has considered toying with for some time. In this event, he swam a 51.61, which is a pretty swift time for this time of year. Unfortunately, he was DQ’ed in the heats for wearing the aforementioned tape during the race. He’s not quite at the elite level yet in the 100, but it will be interesting to see if he continues to pursue this race.