Next Round: Sajan Prakash isn’t done yet, but he’s already planning life after swimming

There is something poetic about Sajan Prakash’s swimming career. With his mother VJ Shantymol, herself a former athlete, serving as the driving force behind his pursuit of his dreams, the man from Kerala’s Idukki district has remained at the pinnacle of Indian swimming ever since he first stepped into the pool in the national colours.

From there, he went on to represent India in two Olympics, first in Rio in 2016 and then in Tokyo. While his first performance passed the university quota, the other was obtained entirely on merit. He sealed his place in Tokyo with a historic performance at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome in 2021, clocking 1:56.38 to set a new national record and come in under the Olympic qualifying time.

It was a watershed moment for Indian swimming. Never before has an Indian swimmer secured direct Olympic qualification by achieving the OQT.

However, when he failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, the mental and physical burnout proved too much. A hiatus soon followed, which could very well have spelled the end of his journey in the sport. Sajan qualified for the Tokyo Olympics on merit (courtesy: Reuters)

But Sajan was not ready to leave.

He went back to the drawing board and moved to the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) in 2025, where he began training in an integrated high performance environment. Before long, he was back in the pool preparing for his final push for the 2026 Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

He reserved his place at both events by surpassing the Swimming Federation of India qualifying standards. But now comes the biggest test.

Sajan calls it possibly the last stretch of his career. However, during the interaction organized by the Sports Authority of India, one thing became clear – he is not quite ready to give up the sport that has defined his life.

REDUCTION OF A SECOND FROM THE BEST

It’s been more than four years since Sajan swam the fastest time of his career in the 200m butterfly. But he knows that if he is to get on the podium in Glasgow, he will also have to improve his personal best.

He clocked 1:57.09 at the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships earlier this year. As impressive as that was, history suggests a medal may still fall short.

Times of 1:55.60, 1:55.89 and 1:56.77 decided the podium at Birmingham 2022, leaving Sajan little room for error.

Rather than chasing unrealistic expectations, the veteran took a measured approach and tailored every aspect of his preparation to his priority event.

He also made a point of repeating race day scenarios in practice and believes that consistently hitting those target times in practice is the only way to be ready when it matters most.

“For swimming, we’re working on, say, event priorities. Let’s say I’ve been swimming for 200 years, we’re working on aerobic capacity, different speed engines, and energy cycles.”

“This is my fourth Commonwealth and Asian Games and I know most of my competitors and I know realistically how much time I need to do. If I achieve that, I know where I will stand and if I need to stand on the podium, I have to achieve those goals.”

“That means I have to be well prepared in training. In training, if I go through the process and the training program and reach those checkpoints in training, one by one, and if I see myself in competitions, what I do in competition, I have to repeat it more in training,” Sajan said. Sajan feels the physical preparation will keep him mentally ready for the pressure in Glasgow (Courtesy: Reuters)

For a Sajan, physical preparation and mental readiness are inherent. He believes that confidence is built long before race day – with each training session completed and each training goal met.

“If I do all that, I’ll be more mentally prepared and that will definitely carry over physically, because mental and physical are not two different things. It’s one thing that goes together.”

“So having smaller short-term goals in training plays a big role, which of course helps to see progress in competitions.”

FOR THE OLYMPIC DREAM

So what if Sajan finally fulfills his dream of winning a Commonwealth Games or Asian Games medal? Or perhaps both? Would that be enough to entice him to take one final shot at the Los Angeles Olympics?

There, the certainty in his voice begins to fade.

For someone who has spent nearly three decades in the pool, the thought of leaving doesn’t come easily.

“Sure, we as athletes just want to achieve, be more productive, more realistic and have that kind of progress. But it doesn’t always work in our favor. That being said, I’ve had a few ups and a lot of downs and this chart has been going on for many years.”

“I don’t want to answer that right now because I’m not in a state of mind to make a decision,” Sajan said.

For now, his attention is firmly set on Glasgow. Besides, he doesn’t know either.

But what he does know is that if this is indeed the last chapter of his racing career, he wants the next chapter to be dedicated to shaping Indian swimming from the other side of the pool – as a coach, a mentor and someone who can help the next generation realize the dream he has been pursuing for so long.

“I’m just focused on doing well at Commonwealth.

“I want to go further because no one in India continues to swim after 30 and I am thankful to God that I can still manage without any health problems because at the highest level it is like putting pressure on your health.”

“But I also want to see what’s next, because if it’s not progressive, then I want to take the second part of life as a guide or a mentor and make people achieve. That’s what I would say,” Sajan said.

On July 27, when Sajan starts the next big championship, the hope will not be only for a medal.

What happens is that one last push becomes the beginning of a second wind, rather than the end of an extraordinary journey.

– The end

Published on:

25 Jul 2026 11:24 IST