He's got a choice of lanes, he's got a squad to train with and he's making inroads on his personal best. It seems Lewis Clareburt's move north is having plenty of benefit.
"The best way I can explain it is surviving versus thriving. I'm currently thriving in this environment and we are having a ball. I never realised how much happiness actually effects your performance in the water," Clareburt concedes.
His performance was indeed impacted. Last year his best time in his favoured 400-metre individual medley was almost four seconds slower than his personal best of 4:07.47.
It came after a tough year for the 2019 world championships bronze medallist. He's been forced to move to the North Shore from Wellington after constant struggles to get lane access while also having run-ins with local coaches. It's meant he's had to end his partnership with long-time mentor Gary Hollywood and join the squad under the tutelage of coach Mitch Nairn.
The swimmer is back to his very best after making the tough decision to leave his hometown of Wellington. (Source: 1News)
"I think it made me have more fight," Clareburt says about the struggles towards the end of his time in the capital.
"Maybe those bad experiences or those tough experiences make you a better athlete and make you stronger. I feel like I'm unbreakable now."
His squad is also packed with leading talent in the country, including backstroke specialist Andrew Jeffcoat, who won Commonwealth Games gold in the 50 metres in Birmingham in 2022.
"Andrew takes time out of his session to give feedback," coach Nairn says. "When you have the opportunity within your home programme to have guys around you like that that are all willing to help and want you to succeed, it's massive."
To put the bow on what appears to be a transformational few months since the move, Clareburt's just spent all of December in Phoenix at Arizona State University, invited to join the training squad of French 400IM world record holder Leon Marchand.
"He's known for having really good underwaters (breathing skills) and I wanted to go over there and figure out why and how.
"My biggest struggles is doing those underwaters under pressure. I think I figured out why they're so good at it, they do an underwater session right at the end of their practice."
Clareburt has a local meet this weekend before ramping up preparations for the World Championships in Doha next month, with the Paris Olympics a tick over six months away.
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