Swimmer Mitch Larkin will tackle five individual events at the Commonwealth Games

MITCH Larkin is set to become the ironman of the Australian swimming team, tackling five individual events at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Mitch Larkin after winning the Mens 400m Individual Medley at the Commonwealth Games trials.

MITCH Larkin is set to become the ironman of the Australian swimming team, tackling five individual events at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Larkin won the 400m individual medley, dipping under the A qualifier by 0.01sec, before lining up in the 50m backstroke in the very next event to finish third — just 0.25sec separating him from winner Zac Incerti and an amazing double.

Larkin had just 10 minutes between touching the wall in the 400m and the gun going off in the 50m backstroke.

But he managed to back up in an effort that has him convinced he can take a mammoth Games program.

A former world champion in the 100m and 200m backstroke, Larkin has added the individual medleys to his program since joining coach Dean Boxall, returning to the events he excelled in as a junior.

Mitch Larkin after winning the final of the mens 400m Individual Medley at the Commonwealth Games trials. Travis Mahoney is below.

While it leaves him with a mammoth program on the Gold Coast, Larkin has embraced the challenge, enjoying the training load he believes leads to peak fitness and his best results.

And after racing the events over four days at trials, Larkin is confident adding a single relay to what will be a six-day Games program will be achievable.

“A few of the changes that I made (to my training program) are just about building that confidence again and trusting my stroke and knowing it’s there under those pressure situations,” Larkin said.

After fading in his pet 200m backstroke at the world championships last year, Larkin said he was nervous before the event this week.

“Just knowing what it felt like in Budapest and the amount of pain I was in and I still had to convince myself I had a 200m medley after that as well,” he said.

“So I was really feeling the pressure and it was nice to get that solid swim out and then hopefully build from there.”

Saturday night’s double-up was not as tough as the one he performed on Friday, where he won the 200m backstroke before backing up to win silver in the 200m medley less than an hour later.

“(Friday) was tougher for sure, (the events were) very leg dominant and it sort of is on that aerobic/anaerobic level more than the 400m medley,” he said.

Larkin’s partner Emily Seebohm won the 50m backstroke earlier in the night, sealing her 23rd national title.

While Seebohm decided to concentrate on the 200m backstroke — the event in which she is world champion — rather than double up with the 200m medley, the versatile veteran is likely to put her hand up for any vacancy that exists on the team.

Originally published as Swimmer Mitch Larkin will tackle five individual events at the Commonwealth Games