TE AWAMUTU NEWS | 1
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2020
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FEBRUARY 28, 2020
Chasing her dreams
Nikita Howarth, pictured after winning gold in the Women’s SB7 100m Breaststroke in Melbourne. Photo: Martin Philbey/ Swimming Australia.
Retirement was short lived for a Te Awamutu Paralympian – she’s now aiming for Tokyo. Jeremy Smith talks to Nikita Howarth. New Zealand’s youngest Paralympian, Te Awamutu’s Nikita Howarth, is back in the pool – nine months after it seemed her career was over. Competing at the Victoria State Championships, a World Para Series meet in Melbourne this month, Howarth won gold in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 50m breaststroke. It’s a triumphant return - the event was her first competitive event in the pool in almost three years. Howarth was born with a bilateral upper limb deficiency which means she has no hands – and a return to the pool looked most unlikely last May when she cited medical reasons and announced she would retire. Nine months on she is making waves again and recapturing form which saw her become the country’s youngest Paralympian when she was selected for the 2012 London Paralympics at just 13. She won two medals in the pool at the 2016 Rio Paralympics - a gold in the 200m individual medley and a bronze in the 50m butterfly. Then she hung up her goggles to give cycling a go and found success there too. Competing in the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in the C4 classification, she set a then world record in the C4 flying 200m time trial event at the Southland Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill. Howarth is making no secret of the fact that now the “love of swimming” has drawn her back into the pool, she has the Tokyo Paralympics in August in her sights. “For sure, that’s my goal,” Howarth, who is
coached by Matt Woofe, said. While she’s not sure what events she would compete in yet, if she was to qualify for Tokyo, it would be an impressive third appearance at a Paralympic event for the 21-year-old. “I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the meet,” Howarth said of Melbourne. “At the moment, competing is a bit of an experiment for me. I’m simply back swimming because I missed it. For me, it’s the feeling of being free when I’m in the water. “For now, we’ll see how we go – it’s just really nice to be back in the pool.” Given Melbourne though, she did concede the signs for Tokyo were looking “all good”, so far. Howarth, who regularly trains at Livingstone Aquatic Centre, said she was grateful to the Perago Trust because without its support she couldn’t be back on the competitive circuit. Asked what keeps her going in the face of adversity, Howarth had a straight-forward answer. It’s a motto she said she lives by. “You’ve got to chase your dreams because they can’t chase you. You have to go and get them and be determined to always put in the effort.”
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