Five-time Olympic champion Nathan Adrian headlines next week’s Tyr Pro Swim Series meet in Bloomington, Ind., his first competition since his testicular cancer diagnosis and a pair of surgeries.
Adrian, a 30-year-old, three-time U.S. Olympian, is entered in his primary events -- the 50m and 100m freestyles. Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA airs live coverage of finals next week on Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. Coverage also streams on NBCSports.com/live, the NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com and the Olympic Channel app for subscribers.
Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, Lilly King and Michael Andrew are the other marquee names entered. Ledecky is set to race new Canadian rival Taylor Ruck in the 200m free. Ruck, an 18-year-old who trains in the same Stanford pool as Ledecky, beat Ledecky in the 200m free at last August’s Pan Pacific Championships.
But let’s focus on Adrian here.
The gentle giant announced Jan. 24 that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and that the prognosis was good.
Lance Armstrong and fellow swimmer Eric Shanteau, fellow Olympians who overcame testicular cancer, were among those who reached out. Adrian and Shanteau, both Olympic rookies in 2008, spoke at length, according to FINA World Aquatics Magazine.
“Hearing his experience – especially from someone who was the same level as me [athletically] was really important because there is not a whole lot you can find online about that,” Adrian said, according to the magazine.
Adrian and others are gearing up for the world championships in July in Gwangju, South Korea. Though Adrian last summer failed to qualify for an individual event at worlds, ending a 10-year streak of racing individually at major international meets, he is part of the 4x100m freestyle relay pool.
Of course the road back will be difficult. Adrian spent two weeks out of the pool after his inpatient surgery and said it was probably his longest break from swimming since he was 5, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Adrian lost 10 to 15 pounds and, though he was back to full training in early March, said he could feel the loss of explosiveness, especially on turns, according to FINA.
“I have to be much more cognizant about each and every movement to relearn it,” he said, according to the magazine.
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