Nicol rediscovers happiness and confidence at nationals

By Lethbridge Herald on August 11, 2023.

Rachel Nicol competes at the Swimming Canada Speedo Summer Nationals heats in Toronto. Nicol won the three breaststroke events and in the process felt she regained her happiness and confidence in the sport. Photo Scott Grant/Swimming Canada.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Local competitive swimmer, Rachel Nicol, had a wave of success at theSwimming Canada Speedo Summer Nationals  in Toronto recently.

Nicol won the three breaststroke events with times of 30.81 in the 50 metre, 1.07.36 in the 100-metre and 2.25.55 in the 200 metre.

She was also named the female national aggregate winner, which goes to the highest point scorer of the competition.

“Probably the emotion that I could whittle it down to after lots of those races was just happiness,” said Nicol.

“You know I haven’t been that happy anyways after swimming races for ages. It’s been a really rough road, lots of ups and downs and definitely lots of downs. And so, I haven’t swum as well as I have at this meet in a really long time. So, really just after the races it just felt … you look at the time and then a smile just comes on your face and that hasn’t happened in years and years. So it was a really good feeling. One that I’ve missed with swimming for a while now.”

Nicol says this meet was just a lot more simple.

“(I)finally feel like I’m kind of on the other side of the tunnel with the injury and with the things that kind of happen in 2021 and (I am working) with a therapist and those kind of things,” said Nicol.

“So yeah, I think it’s just things are finally starting to fall in place and becoming a little bit easier.”

What Nicol referenced to above was she sustained an injury in the 2018-2019 season which took a couple of years to get a grasp on and she had to deal with narrowly missing the standard at the 2021 Olympic trials and a controversial decision afterwards by the national sport organization to take certain athletes over her.

Nicol focuses on being detail-oriented with swimming and training.

“So I usually focus on those kinds of things, like technical aspects and process-oriented goals going into races,” she said.

“But this time I really just focused on racing. You know I just wanted to get out there and I, in warm up, would kind of remember those technical things (and) get a good feeling of them in the warm up. And then when I went up to race, I just let them be and I just went out and raced ,and just really went on more of just instinct than thinking and just went in with a little bit more freedom it felt like. Like just a little bit more happiness, well a lot more relaxed and just kind of more of the approach of letting the race come to me instead of me trying to fight for the race or the outcome.”

Nicol felt a boost of confidence with the breaststroke wins and at a recent Los Angeles meet and will take that into the Pan Am Games in October down in Chile.

“And so, it just… has really helped with my confidence, it’s helped me kind of view going into the races a little bit different which is kind of funny to me, considering I’ve been in the sport so long,” said Nicol.

“I’m still always learning and so it’s always interesting to kind of go in with a different mindset. So I’m just going to try to, you know, put it altogether and have a really good race when it comes to Pan Ams and these (races) are really good stepping  stones and they couldn’t have come at a better time to prepare for Pan Am.”