Next lap: Sajan Prakash isn't done yet, but already planning life after swimming

There is something poetic about Sajan Prakash’s swimming career. With his mother, V.J. Shantymol, a former athlete herself, 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 wearing the national colours.

From there, he went on to represent India at two Olympic Games, first in Rio in 2016 and then in Tokyo. While his maiden appearance came through a university quota, the second was earned entirely on merit. He sealed his place for Tokyo with a historic performance at the 2021 Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, clocking 1:56.38 to set a new national record and go below the Olympic Qualification Time.

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

Yet, when he failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, the mental and physical burnout proved too much to bear. A break soon followed, one that could very well have marked the end of his journey in the sport.

But Sajan was not ready to walk away.

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

He booked his place at both events by surpassing the Swimming Federation of India’s qualification standards. Now, however, comes the biggest test.

Sajan calls it possibly the final stretch of his career. Yet, during an interaction organised by the Sports Authority of India, one thing became abundantly clear — he is not quite ready to let go of the sport that has defined his life.

TAKING A SECOND OFF THE BEST

It has been more than four years since Sajan produced the fastest swim of his career in the 200m butterfly. But he knows that if he is to climb onto the podium in Glasgow, he will need to better even that personal best.

Earlier this year, he registered a time of 1:57.09 at the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships. Impressive as it was, history suggests it may still fall short of a medal.

The podium at Birmingham 2022 was decided by times of 1:55.60, 1:55.89 and 1:56.77, leaving Sajan with little room for error.

Rather than chasing unrealistic expectations, the veteran has taken a measured approach, tailoring every aspect of his preparation around his priority event.

He has also made it a point to replicate race-day scenarios in training, believing that consistently achieving those target timings in practice is the only way to be ready when it matters most.

“With regards to swimming, we work on, let’s say, the priorities of the events. Let’s say I’m swimming a 200 fly, we work on the aerobic capacity, different engines of the speed, and the energy cycles.”

“This is my fourth Commonwealth and Asian Games, and I know most of my competitors, and realistically, I know what time I need to do. If I get that, I know where I will stand, and if I need to stand on the podium, I need to achieve these targets.”

“That said, I need to be well prepared in training. In training, if I go through a process and a training programme and achieve those checkpoints in training, one by one progressively, and if I see myself in competitions, what I do in competition, I need to replicate more of that in training,” said Sajan.

For Sajan, physical preparation and mental readiness are inseparable. He believes confidence is built long before race day — through every session completed and every target met in training.

“If I do all that, I’ll be more mentally prepared and that definitely transfers physically because mental and physical, it’s not two different things. It is one thing which is all connected.”

“So it plays a big role having smaller short-term goals in training, which will of course help see a progression in the competitions ultimately.”

BEYOND AN OLYMPIC DREAM

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

That is where the certainty in his voice begins to fade.

For someone who has spent nearly three decades in the pool, the thought of stepping away does not come easily.

“Definitely, we as athletes just want to achieve, be more productive, be more realistic, and have that progression. But it does not work in our favour all the time. Being said that, I’ve had little ups and many downs, and that graph has been going for many years.”

“I don’t want to answer this now because I’m not in the state of mind where I can take decisions,” said Sajan.

For now, his attention is firmly on Glasgow. Beyond that, even he does not know.

What he does know, however, is that if this truly is the final chapter of his competitive career, he wants the next one to be spent shaping Indian swimming from the other side of the pool — as a coach, a mentor and someone who can help the next generation realise the dream he has chased for so long.

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

“I want to go more ahead because nobody after 30 in India has continued swimming, and I’m grateful to God that I’m still able to do without any health issues because at the highest level it’s just like putting pressure on your health.”

“But I also want to see what’s next because if it is not being 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,” said Sajan.

On July 27, when Sajan steps onto the starting block for yet another major championship, the hope will not simply be for a medal.

It will be that one final push becomes the beginning of a second wind, rather than the end of an extraordinary journey.

– Ends