Adam Peaty hopes training in a canoe with his broken foot will allow him to take the plunge at the Commonwealth Games.
Britain’s greatest swimmer is in a race against time to be fit for the Birmingham multi-event showpiece after fracturing a bone whilst training in Tenerife.
The three-time Olympic gold medallist will miss this month’s World Championships in Budapest as he has yet to swim out of the boot encasing his right foot.
And with only seven weeks until Birmingham, where he is two-time defending champion at 100m breaststroke, every possible training option is being utilised.
“It’s going to be tight,” admitted Peaty’s coach Mel Marshall. “It’s going to be an interesting journey. He’s still in his boot at the moment and we’re in week four of a six-week injury.
“We took a decision to protect the training modalities in every area so we’ve had him in a canoe, we’ve had him on a bike doing adapted training without putting any force through the foot - and he’s been swimming in his boot the last two weeks.
“British Canoeing have been really amazing with helping him and teaching him how to get that different aerobic stimulus.
“What we’ve been able to do over the last five weeks from a programme point of view is nothing short of a miracle.
“It is still a tight turnaround for the Commonwealth Games, but we are trying everything and we will make the call as late as possible.”
Marshall believes the setback, which came just as the hardest part of the training block was done, will stand Peaty, 27, in good stead going forwards.
“It’s been a different challenge for him to have to deal with but, if anything, it’s come at the right time,” she said.
“There’s still two years to the Paris Olympics. This adversity has made us all be better and that’s a really good space in which to be.”
Marshall was speaking as UK Coaching partnered with seven major sports to drive more diversity and younger people into coaching.
Latest Sport England data suggests an alarming drop in the number of people giving up their time to support others to be active.
To support the recruitment drive, UK Coaching have launched #Born2Coach - an initiative that aims to significantly boost the coaching workforce by inspiring people to become coaches and empowering current coaches to enhance their abilities.
Marshall said: “I feel incredibly passionate about the recruitment drive, having progressed from athlete to coach myself.
“The coaching workforce at all levels needs to be inclusive, diverse and accessible to all, and people need to be aware of the incredible opportunities coaching can bring to our lives both as participants and as coaches.
“Coaching is an innate skill that sits within you, whether you’re a new mum, a dad of four, a primary school teacher, an ex-athlete, or working in an office-based role, there are so many opportunities out there, to help shape the future of sport and physical activity.”
Mark Gannon, UK Coaching CEO added: “We are proud to be spearheading this industry-wide partnership to provide deeper insight into the life of a coach, and what great coaching looks and feels like.
“Coaches will be an important conduit for engaging a broader range of people from more communities in physical activity and sport, which will improve the nation's health and happiness.”
To find out more about how you can get into coaching, visit www.ukcoaching.org/born2coach
