MILDURA Swimming Club rising star Willem Allen returns to the big stage this week for the 2020 Victorian Country Long Course Championships in Warrnambool.

After breaking his collarbone late last year, the 13-year-old Sunraysia Academy of Sport athlete said he was confident his injury had healed well and wouldn’t be an issue for him this weekend.

“It’s back to normal now,” Allen said.

“I broke that in footy in the grand final (playing for Mildura in the under-14s SFNL decider).”

Despite not competing at championship level for a while, Allen will take on five events – the 200m individual medley, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly – across the three-day event from Friday to Sunday.

“I’m trying to get personal best times, to see where I’m at – just trying to not worry too much about other people,” Allen said.

“We’ll see where it takes me. Hopefully I’ll go to the short-course state championships in either Victoria or South Australia.”

Mildura Swimming Club coach Josh Barila said he was confident in Allen’s chances.

“Over the past few years attending these championships Will has done extremely well, medalling in the majority of his events,” Barila said.

“He has had a fantastic lead-up to the championships, training all weekday mornings and two afternoons for two hours each session, and one gym session a week. 

“I’ve pushed him really hard this season so it will be interesting to see his times coming out of this weekend.”

With Mildura to host the 2021 version of this weekend’s event, Allen said he was looking forward to getting a good read on how tough the competition would be and the work required to help the club prepare.

“It will be good to go down there and get a feel for things next year, go down and see what it’s like,” he said.