Olympic 1500m finalist Stewart McSweyn suffers breathing issues after Covid booster
Aussie Stewart McSweyn’s coach says the breathing problems the Olympian suffered after receiving his Covid booster should serve as a warning to other athletes.
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A Covid booster shot has been identified as the reason behind Stewart McSweyn’s dramatic episode during a race earlier this week.
The Tokyo Olympic finalist was struggling to breathe in a 5000m event at Box Hill on Tuesday night and was forced to stop with three laps remaining.
McSweyn’s team quickly assumed the incident was related to Covid which he’d contracted in January but further examination has found it was a booster shot last month which has caused the issue.
The Australian 1500m record holder has been diagnosed with periocarditus which is inflammation around the heart and is a known side-effect of the Covid booster.
McSweyn’s coach Nic Bideau said the alarming circumstances around what happened to the distance star was a warning to all athletes.
“What the doctors have told me is that you really shouldn‘t be having a booster so close after having Covid because it is just too much,” Bideau said.
“It doesn’t serve as a vaccine then and it can make you sick again which is what seems to have happened.
“It has got around his heart and obviously affected his breathing. He could certainly get through normal life without any issue but it‘s only because we’re trying to make him compete against the best in the world that it has opened up.”
McSweyn was getting the booster to ensure he could travel to next week‘s world indoor championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
That is obviously now off his agenda and he will see a cardiologist on Friday for further tests.
“The first step is he sees his cardiologist for more blood tests and an ECG which will tell us more,” Bideau said.
“He won‘t be running for week and will probably have to take some medication. If all this fine he should be back training within 10 days.”
Next month’s national championships in Sydney remains in the schedule pending his recovery with his first international race marked down as the May 13 Diamond League meet in Doha.
AUSSIE STAR’S Covid FEARS AFTER SCARY INCIDENT
Olympic star Stewart McSweyn‘s immediate future is up in the air as he battles the after-effects of Covid which saw him dramatically pull out of a race in Melbourne.
The Tokyo Olympic finalist was struggling to breathe during the 5000m event at Box Hill on Tuesday night and was forced to stop when 40m clear of his nearest opponent with just under three laps remaining.
As a result of the scary incident, McSweyn has been forced to pull out of next week‘s world indoor championships in Belgrade and will instead undergo a series of medical tests over the coming days as his team searches for answers.
His coach, Nic Bideau, was alarmed when he saw the Australian 1500m record holder start to slow down during the race in which he was chasing a qualifying time for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
“He stopped right in front of me and looked like he was being strangled,” Bideau said.
”He just kept saying, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’.
“Stewie has never pulled out of a race in his life. This had happened a couple of times in training recently but then he seemed to be over it, but obviously racing is a level above training and it‘s flared again.”
McSweyn contracted Covid during the Burnie Gift carnival in Tasmania in January.
Bideau said he‘d already spoken to medical experts who fear McSweyn may have inflammation of the lungs caused by Covid virus.
“We are going to test his lungs because there is clearly a breathing issue there,” he said.
”This is going to be a real problem for athletes and footballers moving forward.
“Everyone has different reactions to the virus and everyone recovers differently.”
McSweyn isn‘t the only big name to come out of the world indoor team with Australia’s fastest man Rohan Browning and Olympic high jump silver medallist Nicola McDermott both late scratchings.
Browning, who returned to the track in Adelaide last month running 10.12sec, has hamstring soreness and didn‘t want to take any risks ahead of the national championships while McDermott has changed her plans after withdrawing from Saturday night’s Sydney Track Classic, which was to mark her return to competition.
Australia will send a team of 15 athletes to Serbia led by Olympic decathlon bronze medallist Ash Moloney, who is competing for the first time indoors, and in-form high jumper Eleanor Patterson, who recently broke the Australian indoor record in Birmingham.
Originally published as Olympic 1500m finalist Stewart McSweyn suffers breathing issues after Covid booster
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