STARPLEX Swim Club member and Australian Olympic team hopeful James McKechnie has been forced to get creative with his training after COVID-19 restrictions signalled the closure of swimming pools, even for elite athletes.

McKechnie, who was born and raised in Gawler, was in the pool for nine sessions per week, with three gym sessions as well before the restrictions were put in place.

“The Monday after Scott Morrison announced that first wave of everything closing down, things advanced pretty rapidly,” he said.

“In the morning we thought it would be training as usual, but then around lunchtime we got a message saying training has been moved because Marion Aquatic Centre is closing down.

“Later on that same lunchtime the message came out that if Australia weren’t going to be sending an Olympic team if it’s being held in July 2020… that night was our last session as a swim team.”

Since the pool closure, McKechnie has been battling to hold onto the significant progress he had been making in the lead-up to this year’s Olympics, where he would have been 25 years old and in his athletic prime.

“My partner has a pool, so they get a bungee cord and tie it around a fence and I can just swim,” he said.

“I try to get out to the beach – I tried a morning swim out at Brighton once and decided that wasn’t for me – so I’ve kept it in the afternoons since then.

“It’s a bit frustrating that all that hard work and progress we made didn’t lead to a competition to see where we’re at, and how fast we’re swimming.

“I am sort of getting towards that right age – breaststroke does tend to be a bit of an older field – but in training I was swimming the best times in my life, I was the fittest I’ve ever been… it was hard to deal with at first, but I have 15 months to attack it and prepare for 2021.”

McKechnie said he trusts the advice being given by medical professionals, and, when cleared to return to the pool, will do so with no reservations.