Only the toughest swimmers conquer the gruelling butterfly discipline … Then again, only Aussie up-and-coming superstar Madeline Groves could’ve handled the drama-filled lead-up year she’s endured to the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
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After all of that, I went over to Charlotte in North Carolina to David Marsh and his club Swim Mac Elite. Thankfully I did already have some friends over there, so I wasn’t completely alone. It was quite a nice distraction to be over there. I had things to do every day and a whole bunch of new people to befriend and train with and everything. Even though I did have this stressful thing going on in the back of my mind, I still felt like I had a really good time last year and I really got a lot out of it.

WHY BUTTERFLY?
All the different strokes, even between events, you have to do specific work; for the 200m butterfly usually that just means doing … quite a lot of butterfly. You can do special dryland exercises, do things like pilates and whatever, but at the end of the day you have to be in there doing those laps and laps of butterfly; and be willing to do it. It’s always been my favourite stroke; even when I was younger. I’ve always been pretty good at it. You always enjoy the things you’re good at. I like that it’s a difficult event. I like that not many people feel like they can do it. Doing a lot of butterfly training makes you feel pretty tough sometimes! My shoulders and arms have had a lot of maintenance; it’s taken a lot to look after them, but I’ve been lucky with injury.
As told to James Smith, Inside Sport magazine

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