Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee reportedly set a goal to return to swimming competition in October from a February 2019 leukemia diagnosis.
“I think my swimming ability has returned to about the level in my first or second year of junior high school,” Ikee, who turns 20 on Saturday, said Thursday, according to a Kyodo News translation. “My aspiration as a 20-year-old is to compete in some kind of event, get an accurate read on my current status, and then find more and more ways to get stronger.”
Ikee, Japan’s premier female swimmer in 2017 and 2018, was discharged after a 10-month hospitalization in December.