SWIMMERS are adept at working to a deadline.
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Their countless hours in the pool are usually geared towards one meeting.
Or, more specifically, one race and one time, down to the second.
COVID-19 restrictions, which forced pools to shut and threw swimmers' training schedules into chaos, mean competitors are now waiting for a new deadline.
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They just want to jump back into the water.
Hamilton-based teenager Sebastian Christie-Crane, who was training for the Australian Swimming Championships and was even eyeing the Olympic trials, is one swimmer waiting for restrictions to ease.
His plans were "thrown straight out the window".
He had qualified for the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke at the national titles, which were scheduled for Perth last month before they were cancelled.
"Everything is put on hold until we get the OK to go back to it and then it's hammer and tongs until the next big competition and (then you) try and be better than everyone else there," Christie-Crane said.
"A deadline, something to aim for, will be nice.
"They put the date out, for something like the Olympics, it's four years in advance.
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"They (Swimming Australia) put out deadlines and dates for meets a year out so you've know 'this is what I am aiming for'."
Christie-Crane, who trains up to eight times a week in Warrnambool, is getting sick of dry land.
"I haven't been in the water since the pools got closed (six weeks ago)," he said.
"It's not great, it sucks really."
The closest beach is an hour from his home.
But social distancing restrictions also ruled a line ocean swimming.
"I kind of wish that was an option but you can't be in groups of more than two and you're not meant to swim alone so you kind of need someone who can swim with you which makes it difficult," he said.
Christie-Crane, 19, is working in Hamilton to keep busy but his mind keeps wandering to the water.
"I've got work delivery driving," he said.
"It is good to have a break (from training) and to sleep properly. But I miss it, I want to be back doing it.
"Swimming is fun. It sounds kind of basic, not much behind it, but I just enjoy it."
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