Swimming: Games medallist takes on short course

Penny Marshall. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Commonwealth Games medallist Penny Marshall returns to Tauranga for the New Zealand short course swimming championships starting tomorrow.

Marshall left Tauranga four years ago to further her swimming career. Last year that dream was shattered when she needed life-threatening brain surgery after she was hit by a vehicle.

But 18 months later, the 21-year-old returns after not only making a remarkable recovery but with two medals from Delhi.

Marshall was part of the New Zealand team who earned a silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay and a bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

It will be the first time she has competed back in Tauranga in a serious swim meet.

"I am pretty excited to be back in Tauranga competing. Even though it is an off-meet for me, it will still be pretty cool," Marshall said.

All eight New Zealand medallists from the Games will compete in the three-day championships at the Baywave Aquatic Centre in Mt Maunganui.

Gareth Kean, Glenn Snyders, Daniel Bell, Hayley Palmer, Lauren Boyle, Amaka Gessler, Penny Marshall and Tash Hind, will all be unrested after only returning to training in the past week or two.

"I guess it has got my name out there a bit more," Marshall said. "It's made me want to keep going, to get better and improve my world ranking. I am really happy that I have achieved something after all the hard work.

"It has definitely given me more confidence in my own ability.

"I am not swimming many of my main races so I don't have any expectations this week, just get in and swim as hard as I can."

Marshall said the short course competition would allow her to concentrate on the key skills of starts and turns.

"I will definitely be focusing on my skills which are really important in short course but also transfer over to help swim faster in long course. Because the Commonwealth Games swimmers have not trained much, then those skills will help us be more competitive at the weekend."

Marshall grew up in nearby Matamata before moving to Tauranga when she was 12, making waves as a promising swimmer.

She moved to North Shore in 2007 to take her swimming further, now in the Swimming NZ high performance centre and coached by former Olympian Scott Talbot.

There is also interest in the return to the competitive scene of Beijing Olympian Corney Swanepoel, last year's world championship teammates Kurt Bassett and Michael Jack, Youth Olympic swimmers Matt Stanley and Chloe Francis, and rising 15-year-old star Sophia Batchelor.

- NZPA