Short Course swimming meet makes debut in Malaysia

BUKIT JALIL: A new chapter will begin for Malaysia with the start of their first Short Course Swimming Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil beginning tomorrow.

The races take place in a 25m pool as opposed to the standard 50m long course pool and is popular in the United States.

There has been minimal emphasis on short course training in the past but national coach Eric Anderson is hoping to change the mindset.

Anderson said the short course training focuses on developing power and speed, which can benefit swimmers during the long course competitions.

“The goal is to bring Malaysia into the global short course arena and establish itself,” said the Dane who previously coached in Odense before taking up a new position in Malaysia.

“We will give emphasis on this in the second half of the year after the Olympics and Sukma (Malaysia Games).

“What I am doing now is to set national short course records, which will be done over this weekend,” he said.

It certainly has been awhile since Malaysia have competed in a world short course event such as the World Cup or World Championship.

The last time was at the 2017 World Cup in China where Malaysia were represented by Welson Sim, Keith Lim, Tern Jian Han and Chan Jie.

Eric said it would be an exciting experience for the team especially for those who have different strengths and weaknesses.

“Some may be good at details such as turns and underwater, which matter way more in this size of pool (25m) where there is double the amount compared to a normal pool (50m),” he said.

“It definitely helps them sharpen their skills as they do more turns.”

The four-day meet will serve as a qualifier for athletes to earn a spot in the short course World Cup meets in China (Oct 18-20), South Korea (Oct 24-26) and Singapore (Oct 31-Nov 2) as well as the World Championships in Budapest (Dec 1 -15).

“Those who are not able to qualify for these world meets, will have the chance to participate in the Asian Indoor and Martial Art Games in Thailand (Nov 21-30).

“That way everyone in the team will get some sort of short course exposure at the international and national level.”