USC Spartans talent Braedan Jason says “Tokyo is on the cards” after a morale-boosting experience with the national Paralympic swim squad at his club pool.
The visually impaired 22-year-old was among a selection of athletes invited to take part in the Dolphins’ training camp at University of the Sunshine Coast.
He clearly benefited from the week-long initiative.
“The camp was really good. It was the first time in a long time we’ve had the majority of the Australian Paralympic swim team together in one spot to train,” he said.
“We got to mix up the squad a bit and we did some hard sets together and we made the most of the facilities there.”
Jason said it had been almost a year since they converged for a training camp, largely due to the restrictions surrounding COVID-19.
And he said he noticed some significant improvements during the week.
“I definitely made progress. Every time you go into a training camp your whole world revolves around training and performance, whether it’s in the pool or gym.
“When you’re there you are training, training and training so it put me in really good stead.
“I think that one week of really hard training really sets the mood for the rest of the year.”
Multiple events targeted in delayed Games
Jason was a finalist in four events at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was a finalist in five events at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London.
For Tokyo, he’s eyeing off the 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle and to a lesser extent the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle, with the Australian trials scheduled to be held in June.
Jason was in good form early last year before the Games were postponed to August this year.
“I’m getting an extra year of training which hopefully makes me faster,” he said.
“Hopefully, I make the team. Tokyo is definitely on the cards for me if I can swim the way I want to swim.”
Many members of the Spartans are building towards trials.
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Jason is optimistic the Games will be held.
“Everyone is saying it’s a green light for now so we’re training like it’s going to be on,” he said.
With interstate travel restrictions changing all the time, he said he could compete in some meets within Queensland during the next few months to hone his skills.
“It will be kind of cool to go to local meets and give them a red-hot crack,” he said.
“It’s cool to do grass-roots meets because it makes you realise and appreciate where you’ve come from.”
Jason’s been with the Spartans for the past eight years, after moving to the Sunshine Coast from Cronulla in 2008.
His Spartans club-mates Blake Cochrane and Katja Dedekind were also involved in the training camp, which included their club and national team coach Nathan Doyle.
