Monash student triumphant after FINA World Cup
Jack
Gerrard is over the moon with his results at the FINA Swimming World Cup in the
Middle East and Europe, where he competed for Australia.
The Monash University student finished with three bronze medals – one in the 200 metre backstroke and
two in the 200 metre freestyle. He achieved a personal best in the 200 metre
freestyle with a time of 1:44.4, and another in the 100 metre freestyle with a
time of 47.8.
“My results
in the World Cups were pretty much everything I’d hoped for,” he said.
Gerrard was
also part of the Australian swim team that won two silver and two bronze medals
in numerous mixed relays.
He has so
far achieved all this while studying a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of
Surgery (Honours).
Growing up
in sunny far North Queensland, swimming was always a part of Gerrard’s life.
But he says it wasn’t long before he became addicted to the competitive side of
the sport. He started competing at the age of nine, and hasn’t looked back
since.
Previously, he missed out on the 2016 Olympics by 0.4 of a second. He is now training for the
World Short Course Championships team with trials in November, for competition
held in December. These Championships provide an opportunity for Australia’s
best swimmers to compete for the title of Australian Champion, and is the
selection process for the Australian Dolphins Swim Team attending the
competition in Canada in December.
Gerrard is
currently ranked 12th in the world in 200 metre freestyle, 14th
in 100 metre freestyle and 20th in 200 metre backstroke after the World
Cups. But he still has his sights set on the Olympics in 2020.
“Tokyo is
definitely the goal moving forward,” he said. “It’s hard to fill in the details
so far into the future but the general plan includes a tough juggling act
between many, many hours of swim training and full-time medicine.”
