Effort over data, "old school" Stewart McSweyn plots path to Paris

Back home after spending four months on the other side of the world, Australia's top middle-distance runner closed the door to his St Kilda apartment behind him and headed for the familiar surrounds of Melbourne's Albert Park lake before dawn.

"I was awake at 3am with jet lag so waited until 5:30am to head out," Stewart said.

"It's not often I get out that early to train so it was kind of nice, the lake was still and there was no one else around, it was quite calming.

"I actually don't mind running by myself, it's nice to go at your own pace and I like the solitude of running, especially in the morning because it allows you to plan out your day and even map out the rest of the week."

After two weeks off - which flew by in a blur to the brain but what felt like an eternity to his legs - Stewart began the build up to what he hopes will be his second Olympic Games with a 7km jog on home soil.

"It was nice and slow, just getting the muscles firing again," he said.

"But that's the annoying thing about running, you can train for three months and not see much improvement but you take two weeks off and it feels like you've lost a lot more.

"It takes you a while to get your breathing going and you don't feel like you're moving that smoothly, but you need the break mentally. During the season you've got to be up for so many months that you need the break to be able to reset.

"But unfortunately in our sport if you have more than a couple of weeks off, the rest of the world is out there training and you're behind.

"So I'm back building and in the gym, it's a long process leading up to next year but it's about laying the foundation now."

Stewart didn't take his watch, he rarely runs with one anyway, instead preferring to run "on effort rather than data."

"I'm old school," he explains.

"I don't even use a GPS watch, most of my runs I just do in my head. I have a loop that I know is 7km from home, or I just run to time.

"As an athlete you get pretty good at knowing what shape you're in without seeing all the data that goes with it.

"I like to keep it simple because a lot of numbers can come into running and you don't want to compare too much because there are so many variable factors in a build up such as conditions.

"I'm just focused on myself, I know if I do the right things and follow the pattern that's worked for me in the past, I can get into good shape.

"On the international circuit you're pretty much racing the same guys in the Diamond League who you'll be racing at the Olympics so you get a good idea how they're tracking and how they like to race."

Stewart finished the 2023 season in good shape but didn't necessarily feel that way throughout the year as he battled the first major injury setback of his career.

First was his tibialis anterior which forced him to stop training, and then a hamstring strain while trying to make up for lost time when he got back.

But despite that, he was still one of only seven runners in the world to contest all three major world championship events (track, road and cross country).

"It was obviously a pretty big year with the three championships, but I was injured twice before I went to Europe and battled for the first few weeks," Stewart said.

"That meant I had to ease into the season a bit more than what you'd like. Normally you want to come in pretty hot because if you're not at 100 per cent those races in Europe are pretty hard.

"But I feel like I was able to turn it around, run quick and get some good results and I finished the season fit and healthy for a build up to next year which with the Olympics is important."

For all that Stewart has already achieved, he is now gearing up for the biggest 12 months of his career and will have the nation behind him.

The 28-year-old entered the broader national sporting conscience with a gutsy seventh place in the 1500m final on Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, which was the best result by an Australian in the event for 61 years.

But Stewart had established himself as a rising star of middle distance running long before that.

He was fifth in the 5000m and 11th in the 10000m at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 which was the same year he won the Zatopek 10 in Melbourne.

In 2020 he claimed the 1500m national record to go with running the fastest mile of anyone in the world for the calendar year.

And in 2021 he became the first Australian to run a sub 3:30 1500m with 3:29.51 at the Monaco Diamond League event, which was a precursor to his seventh place in the Olympic final in Tokyo.

On the biggest stage of his life, Stewart rounded the field to sit fifth after the first 400m, two spots behind compatriot Oliver Hoare, and moved to third as Kenyan world champion Timothy Cheruiyot drove a furious pace at the front.

As Cheruiyot threw down the gauntlet, Stewart went with him along with Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen to put a gap on the rest of the field at the bell.

But that's when Stewart began to lose touch as the leaders produced another turn of speed. As Ingebrigtsen claimed gold in an Olympic record of 3:28.33, Stewart finished strong to place seventh.

"I was proud of how it went," Stewart said of the race, which has since been viewed 1.2 million times on the official Olympic YouTube channel.

"If you had told me as a kid growing up in Tassie that I would finish seventh in an Olympic final I would have been pretty happy.

"I knew on that day I was in good shape, I'd had a good season so I gave it 110 per cent and ran the race to try to win, and even until the bell I felt I was a chance to medal.

"With 450m to go I thought 'could I win this?' but unfortunately I ran out of legs.

"But I gave myself every chance to medal so walked away proud of how I executed, I just wasn't good enough on the day.

"It's good to know I can perform under that pressure, I understand the build-up to an Olympics, so hopefully I use that to my advantage the second time around."

Post-Tokyo, the 2022 season didn't quite go as smoothly.

After being diagnosed with pericarditis which set him back for two Diamond League races in May, Stewart fought his way back to full fitness in June only to suffer from influenza which forced him to miss the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

He again rebounded to run a 5000m PB of 12:56 in the second half of the year, before launching into a busy 2023 schedule which featured his first global medal with bronze in Australia's 4x2km mixed gender relay at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst.

Now plotting the road to Paris in 2024, Stewart plans to get home to Tasmania's King Island for two weeks over Christmas where his training will consist of undulating laps around the family's sheep and cattle property.

King Island stretches just 25km at its widest point and has a population of just over 1,500, which has a nice symmetry to it given Stewart's pet event.

It's famous for its golf courses, cheese, beef, wool and seafood industries.

"It's under-hyped how good it is, the air is the cleanest of anywhere I've been in the world and there is awesome running through the farms and along the beach," Stewart said.

"I love getting back there and when I do, I'm doing 70 per cent of my training on the farm and nice rolling hills.

"And if I'm doing my long run I'll go from the farm to the beach which is a tick over 23km."

Growing up on King Island, Stewart played footy until he was 15 when injuries took hold and he discovered running.

"It was my PE teacher in Grade 5, he saw a bit of ability and he started coaching me actually," Stewart said.

"My first cross country race was in some Dunlop tennis shoes and I think I came second that day which wasn't too bad."

He would constantly compete with his twin brother Angus.

"Not so much in running, he was a bit heavier than me so I had him covered but he was way better at other sports like footy and cricket," Stewart said.

Still the brothers must share some running genetics with Angus, who now works as a physio, clocking a 34-minute 10km during the COIVD-19 pandemic.

"Not bad for a guy who doesn't train," Stewart said.

At the age of 13 he moved from King Island to boarding school in Ballarat which accelerated Stewart's running career.

At high school he was trained by Rod Griffin, who also coached Collis Birmingham, and ran with the great Steve Moneghetti on Wednesday nights.

"It was cool having a guy like the King of Ballarat to run with," Stewart said.

"Mona's been awesome for me, I don't see him as much anymore, I saw him at the Melbourne Marathon a few weeks ago, but he's always interested and helpful if I ever need some advice.

"He's not bad on social media either so he's always quick to shoot you a message when you're racing around the world."

Away from running, Stewart has almost finished his education degree to become a secondary school PE, health and English teacher. But that's on hold until after the Paris Olympics.

His next race will be a mile in Fukuoka in Japan this weekend, and he plans to run the Christmas carnival series in front of a home crowd in Burnie and possibly Davenport over the break before gearing up for the national championships in Adelaide.

Stewart is one of three men to have already run the 1500m qualifying time for Paris and victory at the national championships will book his ticket.

He hopes to qualify for both the 1500m and 5000m, but whether he competes in both will depend on scheduling.

"That was the problem in Tokyo - I qualified in the 1500, 5000m and 10000m but the program wouldn't allow it," he said.

"It's just impossible to run different rounds in different events on the same day.

"So I'd love to qualify in the 1500m and 5000m and decide which is my best chance to be in the mix to possibly win a medal."

The 1500m remains his favourite.

"Just because you always feel like you're in the mix, you always feel like you're right there," he said.

"And it goes a lot quicker, if you're not having a good day it's over a lot sooner than the 5km."

But that also begs the question, which hurts more?

"They're a different hurt," he explains.

"The 1500m is the most painful because you're out there for long enough and it's quick the whole time, there are also three rounds which means you have to survive the first two just to make the final."

The Paris Olympics might be still eight months away, but as Stewart continues his pre-season back in Melbourne, he admits the thought of returning to the biggest stage in the world is driving his every step.

"As they say in footy you try to take it week by week, but there is definitely that extra motivation coming into an Olympic year," he said.

"And you know those top guys who you're hopefully going to be competing with are going to be out there working hard, so you're definitely keen."

By Australian Olympic Team 
Posted: 10/112023