In a bittersweet return to the pool, Bronte Campbell has capped her swimming comeback with 50m freestyle bronze at the Queensland championships in Brisbane.
The former dual world champion is ecstatic to be back in the water after taking a post-Gold Coast Commonwealth Games break to treat a litany of injuries before a Tokyo Olympics tilt.
But it was also a sad occasion for the 24-year-old who was contesting her final Queensland titles as a local.
Campbell had been contesting the Brisbane event since she was 11.
"It's sad to look around and see all the people who I'm leaving behind," she said.
Campbell and her sister, former world champion Cate, will leave Brisbane and relocate to Sydney with their coach Simon Cusack in the new year.
The Campbell siblings confirmed in September that they would depart with Cusack, who has been poached by the NSW Institute of Sport.
Campbell was relegated to 50m bronze on Tuesday night after young gun Shayna Jack claimed the state title in 24.68 seconds - just 0.02 of a second ahead of fellow Dolphin Emma McKeon.
Campbell - who also claimed bronze in Monday's 100m freestyle final - will now prepare for life in Sydney before setting her sights on her biggest meet before the Tokyo Olympics, the 2019 world swimming championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
She took a sabbatical from the pool in a bid to overcome niggling shoulder, back and hip dramas that had plagued her for years.
Campbell committed to the break before April's Commonwealth Games but seemed reluctant after rediscovering her mojo on the Gold Coast, upsetting her sister Cate in the 100m freestyle in a Games record and collecting three gold medals.
However, Campbell was finally convinced to enjoy time away and get herself fit for a Tokyo 2020 tilt after witnessing her sister Cate's own remarkable rejuvenation.
Cate Campbell took 12 months off after a disastrous 2016 Olympics and returned with a vengeance, exorcising her Rio demons by winning the 50m-100m freestyle double and five gold overall at August's Pan Pacs in Tokyo.
