Swimmer keeps eyes on Games berth prize

Winter Heaven

Whangarei's Winter Heaven will be going hell for leather next week at the Oceania Championships in Auckland hoping to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.

The 20-year-old former Hurupaki School student is representing Samoa at the championships, just months after returning to the pool from a year's lay-off.

"The first couple' weeks were so rough," Heaven chuckled in his heavy American accent, adding that it will be his debut international event. "Monica [Cooper] really knew how to kick me back into shape.

"It's a good group of guys with Northwave [Swim Club] - they made me stay on course, made me lead sets when I didn't want to, it was definitely the fast track to getting back in shape."

Boasting an American accent and representing Samoa may seem like an interesting combination, but for Heaven it's something he aimed for as a youngster.

With Heaven's family living in Northland, he returned to the region where he was born to continue studying and reignited talks with the Samoan team.

"It's something I've always looked into; in my senior year of high school I looked into a college who could let me [represent Samoa].

"I was going to swim for Samoa at the Youth Olympics in Singapore but the security issues were so bad I decided not to go."

Since deciding to get back in the pool and have a crack at qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, Heaven has been pushed to make the times.

The former Utah college student has had to get through eight hour-and-a-half water sessions and two gym sessions to get close to the times.

And he still feels it will be a tough ask to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.

"The qualifying criteria for Samoa are a little hectic; I'll still try and have some fast swims [next week] but we'll see. Fingers crossed."

One thing for sure is that Heaven will get plenty of race practice under his belt at next week's Oceania Championships, racing in eight events. He will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly, 200 individual medley, and the 50m and 100m backstroke.

Heaven's coach Cooper is confident, saying his dedication has been right up there.

"He has trained with commitment since day one of training to bring his fitness back up and raced hard producing good times at Opens [last month]," Cooper said.

Now into his eighth year of swimming, Heaven isn't sure how long he'll stay in Northland, adding that 20-year-old swimmers are generally considered old in New Zealand.

"Back in the States I was still pretty young and I was one of the youngest in my groups.

"It wasn't until I got here that I was the oldest guy and, for the Samoan national team, I'm the oldest guy. I guess it's interesting to try and switch roles and be a bit more a leader in how I swim."

About 150 swimmers from 14 countries will compete at the Oceania Championships in Auckland next week.

The meet runs from Tuesday to Friday at the West Wave Aquatic Centre in Henderson with heats from 10am and finals from 6.30pm. Synchronised swimming sessions will be held on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1pm.