Ikeda arrived in Wānaka in mid-December and is now preparing Wānaka Swim Club athletes for a variety of meets and competitions this year.
In the UK, she was working as a public health researcher for a university and for the NHS, as well as coaching part-time.
She had gone to the UK just before the Covid pandemic and ended up staying for longer than expected because of travel issues.
‘‘This is a chance for me to come back,’’ she said.
Ikeda is from Japan and lived in Auckland before moving to the UK to further her public health research career.
During her time in Auckland, she joined the North Shore Swim Club as a coach, working alongside coaches Belinda Donaldson and Cameron Stanley, who, in more recent years, moved to Wānaka and continued coaching.
Term 1 swim training begins in earnest in February.
