Laure Manaudou has exercised a woman's prerogative to change her mind: she will, after all, race at French nationals in Angers this week and then at the European s/c Championships in Rijeka next week.
Manaudou announced in October that she would skip the short-course season that followed a woeful Olympic summer that followed a woeful toing-and-froing in her preparations for Beijing in the wake of a hugely successful Melbourne 2007 campaign while still under the guidance of coach Philippe Lucas.
Now, Manaudou is with Romain Barnier's group at Marseilles, a programme that has long had its differences with the French federation. Only two weeks, the swimmer repeated that she wanted to give herself "more time" to be truly ready to race come French trials for Rome 2009. A dialogue with Barnier appears to have changed her mind.
Manaudou will race 50, 100 and 200m backstroke at French nationals and then the 200m and 400m free and 100m and 200m backstroke in Rijeka, according to French media reports today.
She is up to around 60km a week in training and last month clocked a 2:07.02 200m s/c backstroke after just a month back in the water following a lengthy post-Beijing break. Tests have confirmed that she has asthma and needs to work on respiratory development as part of her training but the pressure to win is now gone. Few expect a miraculous comeback.
After her talks with Barnier, Manaudou, coming to terms with her new status, is reported to have said: "I should be good enough for a third place at French s/c nationals."
