Mollie O’Callaghan has abandoned her bid to add the Commonwealth Games 50m backstroke title to her golden collection as she continues to carefully manage her injury concerns.
The Australian team announced on Monday the five-time Olympic freestyle champion was withdrawing from the heats of her ‘add-on’ backstroke discipline, but the 22-year-old had already signalled it was too much to tackle during her busy program.
O’Callaghan has already won a couple of gold medals in Glasgow in the 4x100m freestyle and the 200m freestyle, during which she outsprinted her double gold-winning teammate Lani Pallister.
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The 11-time world gold medallist was also set to pursue a third gold in the blue riband 100m freestyle on Monday night (Tuesday AEST), starting as the fastest qualifier.
O’Callaghan has been battling with spinal stress fractures, bone oedema and a shoulder injury, and had initially been told by doctors to stop swimming immediately and miss the major events of 2026.
But after gaining medical clearance, she’s still undertaken a tough program while managing her race schedule.
“I won’t be doing the 50,” explained O’Callaghan, who announced her brilliance at the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where she won five golds.
“It was put in as a maybe.
“I like going in to a competition, open to everything and seeing what I’m capable of doing. I never want to close any opportunity off.
“If I can swim, then I can swim. But unfortunately, this one I decided to scratch it. It’s just gonna be too big of a day.
“I’m always happy to race. I think this week has been a whirlwind. It’s very up and down. I’ve had to go back and kind of go from scratch. It’s really just swimming and then figuring it out. So it’s definitely a big learning thing.”
O’Callaghan was cagey when asked whether she was suffering from back pain when swimming.
“It’s a difficult answer. I kind of want to keep it to myself because it’s very difficult to describe and it’s very up and down. So, if I can contain that and keep that within the group, then that’s good,” she said.
“But at the end of the day, if I’m swimming, I’m swimming. So I’m happy.”
