Kurt Herzog to appear at Port Macquarie Swimming Club country regional meet

Or even be on the path to it.

It’s the message the 2015 world championship bronze medallist wants to share with some of the best regional swimmers from around the state at Saturday’s Port Macquarie Swimming Club carnival.

“I feel like my story is very different from many other athletes and swimmers especially because I debuted on the [Australian] team pretty late at the age of 23,” Herzog said.

“It’s pretty uncommon for people to do that.”

The 26-year-old qualified for national titles as an age grouper until he was 18 years of age, but never made a final.

“I was never a good swimmer when I was younger,” he admitted.

“I like telling kids that story because I feel there’s a bit of a stereotype that you’ve got to be somewhat good before you leave school to make it in swimming and that’s completely false,” he said.

Herzog claimed bronze at the 2015 world championships in Russia and missed out on the Australian team for the 2016 Rio Olympics by 0.2 seconds.

It was only through hard work that he then made the Dolphins team up until double shoulder surgery ruled him out of action shortly after he missed the team for Rio.

“Country kids especially are the ones that dig a little deeper, work hard in their sessions and the people who work harder always end up making it when they’re up on top,” he said.

“I hope they can be inspired to keep going and fulfill their dreams as well.”

Herzog previously visited Port Macquarie when he underwent a rigorous two-week training program run by coach Michael Mullens in 2013.

A text message from James Magnussen set Herzog on his way to the Hastings for the fortnight where they swam 120 kilometres.

“I was trialling a scholarship in 2013 at the AIS and didn’t enjoy the program so had nowhere to go,” Herzog recalled.

“I didn’t know James at the time, but he let me stay at his house and we trained together for two weeks with Michael Mullens.

“We got through two 60-kilometre weeks and it was tough, old school training that set us up really well for that season.”

Herzog indicated he could revisit that training program in the future.

“We were doing our best times we had ever done in training and that’s something we may even look at going back to in the near future because it’s a good start to a season,” he said.

While Herzog is still monitoring the progress in his shoulders, he hasn’t given up aiming to be selected in the 200-metre freestyle for Tokyo 2020.

“Last year in Italy gave me a bit of confidence where I had only six weeks of training and I got back down to a 1.50,” he said.

“To make the team you only have to go around 1.46-high so to drop four seconds is very doable.

“I’ve got a mentality where if I want to do something I feel like I can do it.”