For the first time in forever, Nathan Adrian truly has no idea if he'll have a strong swim Friday. And at this point, it doesn't really matter to the five-time Olympic gold medalist. He's simply elated to be back.
Adrian, a 30-year-old three-time Olympian, was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had two surgeries - one in December to remove the tumor and one in late January to remove some lymph nodes - which forced him to pause his swimming career for the longest time since he was 4, he explained. But this weekend at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Bloomington, Indiana, he's making his return to the pool and is nervously excited about it.