Simply diving into a pool again was considered a victory by former champion sprinter James Roberts ahead of the national swimming titles in Brisbane.
Yet the man once ranked as the world's second-fastest 100m freestyler could not hide his bitter disappointment after narrowly missing the final of his pet event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games trials.
Roberts lost his bid to regain full fitness from a lower back complaint when he was relegated to equal 10th fastest (49.92) in the 100m semis on Thursday night, falling desperately short of the top eight cutoff.
It also slammed the door on his Glasgow Games hopes.
Roberts considered it a major win just being able to dive into the pool again after a degenerative disc injury flared in his back when he overzealously returned to training following the 2013 world titles in Barcelona.
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However, he could not help but wonder what might have been after watching the man he had been expected to threaten - James Magnussen - effortlessly top qualifying for Friday night's 100m final in 47.83, just shy of the time that won him the 2013 world title (47.71).
"The back came good for me to dive here," said Roberts, a member of the infamous "Stilnox Six" 4x100m freestyle relay team at the London Olympics initially dubbed the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" but bombed by finishing fourth.
"My preparation hasn't been ideal but few are.
"I was hoping to do a lot better than that to be honest.
"I just missed out on the final but I now have time to go back to the drawing board and get strong again."
