The Bolivian swimmer out of Santa Cruz has made the most of his first months as a World Aquatics Scholarship holder at the Training Centre "Azura" in Davie, Florida.
Over the past few years, Azura has hosted more than 30 swimmers from over 20 countries under the World Aquatics Scholarship programme, helping athletes qualify for the Olympics, reach qualification standards for the World Aquatics Championships and put themselves on the pathway to get an education and continue their racing at top universities.
Count Esteban Nunez del Prado as one of these athletes, with the 18-year-old recently making progress at last month's World Swimming Championships where he captured two national records.
We caught up with del Prado immediately after his 50.75 performance in the 100m freestyle heats in Melbourne.
The last time we saw you was at the Swimming World Cup in Indianapolis.
Yeah.
How was that experience?
Swimming in the World Cup is always great; you’re competing with the world’s best athletes. I was there getting experience. It’s so nice. So nice.
Did this experience help you today?
Yes, definitely. Now, I just swam the 100m free like in the World Cup and I think I just improved by 4710ths of a second here. In the 200m IM, I improved by, like, one-and-a-half seconds so I’m happy.
Along the way, you set some Bolivian national records.
Yes, I did the junior national record in the 100m free and the absolute record in the 200m IM.
How do feel about these performances here in Melbourne?
Incredible. I’m so happy to be here. I get to see the best of the world, again. I’m just so, so happy.
You’re a World Aquatics Scholarship holder, training out of Davie, Florida if I’m not mistaken. How is it at this high performance training centre?
It’s so good training with Azura. There’s so many faster swimmers to train with, a lot faster than I find back in Bolivia. I can go with them, or try and go with them and try to improve. I think it’s a very good environment there.
Do you have any specific training partner that you’re really working well with?
Oh, he’s a lot better than me; he’s so good, but I have a training partner from Puerto Rico. It’s great to train with him; trying to catch him, you know? It’s so good.
What do you see when you are training with him that you try to learn from, mimic, emulate? Is it the way he swims, the way he goes about all the things that go into finding speed outside the pool?
He’s so good with underwaters. With this, I try to copy him. His kick is so fast. In the pool, I try to train like him.
And how are you finding living in Florida?
It’s so different than Bolivia. There’s lots of competitions in Florida, lots of great pools. There’s many beneficial parts to being at the training centre in Florida.
Sounds like you’re liking the Floridians and the American way of life and getting on well there.
I’m learning English, but in Florida you can also speak a lot of Spanish. There’s a lot of Latin roots there. I’m happy with my progression in learning English. I really want to go to university and swim; that’s my goal.
How has having this World Aquatics scholarship helped you, given you additional support?
A lot. Of course, there’s more competitions and great training we’ve talked about. But there’s also things like learning to cook for myself, buy my own groceries, wash my clothes, just learning to take care of everything. I’m learning a lot, both in and out of the water.
We’re not so far away from Fukuoka and the upcoming World Aquatic Championships. How does the short course world champs here in Melbourne set you up for success next summer in Japan?
I hope to go; I’m training for that. I want to improve, get better and better, and be there in Fukuoka.
My goals are to improve. I just went 2:01.4 in the 200m IM in the short course. I want to improve to 2:04, 2:03 in the long course for Fukuoka.
I’d just like to end by saying thanks to my mom, my family, my coach and my coach in Bolivia, too. I just want to say thanks.