Johanna trains harder to ease her pain

Johanna O'Connor is training hard for the Lifesaving World Championships next year. Picture / Alan Gibson

New Zealand lifesaving representative Johanna O'Connor aims "to be the best in the world".

That ambition might not be so far-fetched: in two years the Mt Maunganui 22-year-old has fought her way back from a road accident that left her critically injured and killed her boyfriend.

The couple were walking to a party when a distracted driver drove into them. O'Connor's boyfriend Jared Selby, a soldier who had twice served in East Timor, died of his injuries.

O'Connor suffered a fractured skull, ligament and nerve damage to her legs, a dislocated and fractured shoulder, a broken right hand and a badly injured face.

Since then, she has clawed her way back to peak physical condition and has her sights set on winning the Lifesaving World Championships in Melbourne in February.

"This worlds I've got a chance to make it up," she told the Herald.

The "it" she referred to was narrowly missing out on a medal when she came fourth in the surf race at the most recent world champs last September - a year after doctors told her she would never swim again.

It was a kind of reckless determination that drove her out of her hospital bed and back into training.

She was told the damage to her knees was so severe they would need time to heal before they could be operated on.

Her reaction: "I thought, 'If I can't do any more damage, then what's going to stop me [training]'."

She began cycling, aqua-walking and, within three months, running.

The intense physical pain she experienced helped numb her devastation at losing her boyfriend of 18 months.

"Basically I'd hurt my body to try to balance the pain out," she said.

"The emotional pain drove me on."

Even now, her boyfriend is never far from her thoughts.

"He was a big part of my life so I don't want to forget about him."

O'Connor still endures the physical pain but accepts it with good humour, laughing as she pushes a broken bone that is yet to be repaired in her nose.

She is also looking forward to getting the braces off that were needed to fix her teeth.

Her main focus, though, is her sport.

This summer her goal is to improve her speed for the various events she will compete in for the surf and pool components of the world champs.

Her swimming coach, Clive Power, said she has already achieved wonders.

"Anybody could not fail to be impressed with what she's done."