Hodge Lowers His Own World Mark In the SM9 200m IM

Para swimming’s man-of-the-moment and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Tim Hodge has broken his own world record for the 200m individual medley, swimming 2:12.97 during the final preliminary heats session of the Australian Championships on the Gold Coast.

Hodge’s record comes ahead of the Australian Dolphins team for the Para World Championships in Manchester being named tonight.

The 22-year-old SM9 athlete from ACU Blacktown (NSW) shaved 0.30secs off his own world mark of 2:13.27 set earlier in the year at the Para World Series at the Melbourne Sports And Aquatic Centre.

He wasted no time this morning, setting a cracking pace in the Multi Class IM, starting with a slick butterfly split of 28.55, the backstroke in 33.88, followed by a 38.97 breaststroke leg and finishing off with a solid 31.57 freestyle to set the new world standard.

And it remains to be seen what he can do in tonight’s final.

Hodge, the Tokyo Paralympic silver medallist in the 200IM from the 2020 Games, will spearhead the Australian team to be announced tonight for the Para World Championships in Manchester from July 31-August 6.

He said that his ability to continue to break his own world record comes down to refining the weak events in his race.

“I like to target the weaker points of my race. My coach has been very vocal with me about targeting the weaker points of my race, to try and get an edge over my competitors who might be better at like the fly specifically or back specifically.

“My breaststroke used to be my weakest link and now it’s one of my stronger events and kind of switching it up and finding the new points to work on in the race,” he said.

While the Para World Championships are firmly in his sights, with just under 500 days to go until the Paris Paralympic Games, Hodge said the results in the last 12 months has given him a boost.

“This gives me a huge amount of confidence, it feels like I’m going in the right direction of working hard with my coach and the results are starting to pay off.  Hopefully it’s onwards and upwards heading towards Paris [Paralympics],” he said.

Article and image courtesy of Swimming Australia