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Nick D’Arcy has always found a reason to keep on swimming, no matter the setback.
So with the words of his late grandmother urging him on at the Commonwealth Games trials in Sydney on Tuesday night, he was never going to be headed in the 200m butterfly.
Doreen D’Arcy died last week and her grandson proudly dedicated his third straight national title in the event to her memory.
This time there is a difference, a major international meet with the national team beckons.
Sure, he still must convince US consular officials next week to let him compete at the Pan Pacs in California because of his criminal conviction.
But national head coach Leigh Nugent hinted on Tuesday that Swimming Australia could use their discretion to select him for the Delhi Games even if he is barred from the US.
“If we got to that point, that might be the case,” Nugent said.
D’Arcy (1minute 54.61 seconds) said his grandmother had spurred him on to keep swimming despite his disastrous past two years in which he was booted off the 2008 Olympic and 2009 world championships team for assaulting former swimmer Simon Cowley,
“That was a little bit tough, she got a little bit sick and we knew it was coming and I thought she would be around just for this,” he said.
“It has been a big stretch and she always calls me up when I do well.
“She was always telling me to keep going and she has been a huge support.
“When I went down (to the Gold Coast), she just said ‘Look, can you just swim well for me’ and that was one of the biggest motivations.”
Stephanie Rice (2:10.07) earlier showed young challenger Emily Seebohm (2:10.75) she was still the medley queen by mowing down the teenager in the final lap.
But Rice admitted to her concerns about the threat from Seebohm.
“0.7 is not a big difference and for someone so young who is always improving she has been on my radar for the last two or three years, she has really come through,” Rice said.
As expected, the times were a bit off the mark from the past few years where supersuits have savaged the world record books.
But distance swimmer Blair Evans (1:57.38) showed not even the move back to textile swimsuits could slow her down as she trumped a quality field in the 200m freestyle.
The West Australian teenager was in shock after she held off Olympic relay gold medallists Bronte Barratt (1:57.46), Kylie Palmer (1:57.69) and Stephanie Rice (1:58.13).
Evans, who made last year’s world championships team in the 800m, slashed more than a second off her best time for the four-lap race.
In the men’s 400m freestyle, Bobby Hurley (3:47.67) produced a comfortable win.