Deans confident on eve of world champs
The Dunedin swimmer had a national championships to remember in May when she swam four personal-best times, collected four medals and shattered an Otago record.
She claimed bronze in the women's freestyle 200m and 400m, silver in the 800m and gold in the 1500m, slashing nearly 6sec off the Otago record she set in April with a time of 16min 12.18sec.
It punched her ticket to her fourth long-course world championships in Singapore as part of a 12-strong New Zealand team.
The Paris Olympian will compete in the 800m and 1500m at the meeting which gets under way on Sunday.
She also swam under the world qualifying time for the 400m but only two athletes from each country can swim in an event at the world championships.
"Really excited to be heading off to my fourth world champs," Deans said.
"I don't think the excitement ever dulls, no matter how many times you've been before."
Heading into the national championships, Deans had no expectation of where she would finish and was taken aback by her results.
"Honestly, it took me by surprise.
"I didn't quite expect to be hitting the times that I did at nationals, so I think that gave me a lot of confidence leading up to this meet and confidence in getting a good training block under my belt before worlds."
Maybe taking the pressure off suits the 25-year-old.
"Nothing that I can think of that was any different.
"Probably just more relaxed than usual, because it was my first time having a big break post-Olympics out of the water.
"Not having that expectation on myself about how I was going to go probably plays a part in it."
Deans made history during her first Olympic campaign.
She was part of the women's 4x200m freestyle relay team in Paris alongside former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather, Eve Thomas and Laticia Transom. They were the first Kiwi women's relay team to make an Olympic final, finishing eighth in a stacked field.
"Going to the Olympics was pretty surreal. It's something that I've dreamed of since I was a little kid, so to actually fulfil that ... I don't think it's sunk in and I'm not sure if it ever will.
"The Olympics is just something else. It's so different to anything else we do, and to experience that is something I'll be forever grateful for."
That experience, alongside having raced at three previous world championships, helps the long-distance specialist as she dives into the pool.
"It definitely helps and plays a big part.
"The more exposure you can get to the international racing scene, the better, and it starts to normalise those big names.
"Obviously having an Olympics under the belt helps with that."
Working alongside experienced Dunedin coach Lars Humer also helped her development.
"Lars bring with him a lot of experience. Obviously I've worked with him for a long time now, so I'm very lucky."
Deans is looking forward to putting her best foot forward at the world championships and getting back to racing, not just for herself but for her support network.
"I've had a lot of people support me in multiple different ways to get to this world champs, whether it's been their time, or financially, all the work that they've put in to help me get there.
"I'm just hoping I can do them, and myself, really proud."
Auckland-based Fairweather, the defending women's freestyle 400m world champion, will also race in Singapore, alongside Olympian Lewis Clareburt.
Olympian Hazel Ouwehand qualified in the butterfly but made herself unavailable.
kayla.hodge@odt.co.nz
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