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Monday, 16 October 2017

UWA-West Coast’s Brianna Throssell has her sights set firmly on the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

The 21-year-old recently finished eighth at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women’s 100m butterfly and 12th in women’s 100m butterfly semi-finals at this year’s Swimming World Championships.

Speaking to local radio station 6PR, Brianna said, “The Commonwealth Games doesn’t really have the competition that the Olympics has, without the European countries there, and the Americans, but I would like to improve on my performance from Rio.”

Coming out of the Olympics, Brianna learnt how to deal with the pressure of an elite level of international competition, with the expectations of a nation on her shoulders.

The exposure to racing against the current best swimmers in the world inspired her to the belief that she belongs amongst the elite.

Brianna also spoke to 6PR about the change from Perth City Swimming Club, where she trained for seven years, to UWA-West Coast and the WAIS High Performance Centre under coach Michael Palfrey .

“It was a bold move, but one that I would never ever regret; it was probably the best decision of my life. The facilities we have and the training we do, it’s just incredible, and I’m really enjoying it.”

With the Commonwealth Games trials coming up in late February, Brianna will need all the training and skill required to ensure she has a spot in the Australian team.

Not just content with butterfly, Brianna is also looking towards freestyle relay teams in a bid to maximise her involvement on the Gold Coast.

She has just come off the back of a strong training regime that has included WAIS’ high altitude program, and a lot of land-based strength conditioning.

Brianna will travel to Adelaide later this month for the Australian Short Course Championships. In the state competition in September she was a part of the UWA-West Coast team that dominated the majority of races. Of particular note was her win in the women’s 100 m freestyle just above rising stars Jemima Horwood and Kara Broadbridge , both from UWA-West Coast.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games will be held on the Gold Coast from April 4-15, with 18 sports represented including triathlon, swimming, table tennis, netball, hockey, Rugby Sevens and weightlifting.

Media references

Louis Humberstone

Graduate Officer, UWA Sport Marketing, Communication and Events

[email protected]

6488 3768

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