On the final day of the Tokyo 2020 swim meet last year, after the most successful Australian Olympic swimming campaign in history, head coach Rohan Taylor was asked about the secret to the Dolphins’ golden performances. “When you get on a roll, momentum gets going and people start believing,” he said.
At the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, individual talent, meticulous preparation and that elusive intangible – momentum – carried the Australian team to nine gold, three silver and eight bronze medals in the pool. It was an emphatic return to the pool after disappointment at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Eleven months later, the momentum has largely dissipated. Following a tumultuous and Covid-interrupted five-year journey to Tokyo, the majority of the Dolphins squad took lengthy breaks from the pool. Training sessions were replaced with sponsor appearances, early morning starts with sleep-ins.
Now the Australians must go again. On Saturday, the world championships begin in Budapest. The meet marks the start of a frenetic quarter for Australian swimming, with the world titles followed in quick succession by next month’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and in August the much-anticipated Duel in the Pool, a two-nation meet involving the USA to be held in Sydney. The next three months will provide an early indication of whether Tokyo was a high point for Australian swimming or the start of a new golden era.
There are plenty of promising signs that the momentum will continue. Swimming Australia has sent 39 athletes to Budapest, including 11 debutants. Surprise Tokyo gold medallist Zac Stubblety-Cook was in flying form during the recent Australian trials, breaking the 200m breaststroke world record. His remarkable backend speed will make him the man to beat in that event. Backstroke sensation Kaylee McKeown will also be highly-favoured to back up her Olympic form with multiple world titles, and demonstrate her potential in the 200m individual medley (an event the young star unexpectedly skipped in Tokyo). The individual medley has long been dominated by Katinka Hosszu; if McKeown can beat the Hungarian in her home pool, it would mark a significant changing of the guard.
Following her return from a controversial doping ban, Shayna Jack – who denied culpability and was partially vindicated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport – will be eager to make up for lost time. She faces tough international competition in the short-distance freestyle disciplines, but was on form at the trials. Teenager Mollie O’Callaghan is another Australian to watch; a break-out relay star in Tokyo, the 18-year-old appears destined for big things.
One of the few Australians to endure a disappointing Tokyo campaign, Elijah Winnington, will be hoping to avenge those demons in Budapest. Winnington was favourite in the men’s 400m freestyle, but failed to secure a spot on the podium. And after a turbulent past month – during which he found himself in the middle of a media storm – Kyle Chalmers will be hoping to let his swimming do the talking.
Potential medals therefore abound for Australia in Budapest, including in the relay, after the nation finished on the podium in six of the seven races in Tokyo. But there are also several notable absences from the Dolphins squad.
Ariarne Titmus elected to skip the world titles and focus on the Commonwealth Games – and stuck to her plan even after breaking the 400m freestyle world record in Adelaide last month. Titmus’s non-attendance only adds to the hype surrounding her rivalry with American Katie Ledecky: the 15-time world champion is expected to take back her 400m crown, after a teenaged Titmus shocked Ledecky at the last world titles in South Korea in 2019. With the US not part of the Commonwealth Games, and Ledecky signalling recently that she will not travel to Australia in August, a rematch of the Tokyo thriller could be another year off.
Emma McKeon is another opting to miss Budapest and instead will join the squad in Birmingham. The 28-year-old made history in Tokyo, her seven-medal haul constituting the best ever performance at a single Olympics by an Australian. McKeon’s absence will be felt by team Australia at the worlds, on the medal chart and in the relays, albeit this lighter schedule might aid her longevity in the years ahead.
The coming months carry extra significance given the truncated Olympic cycle, following the Covid-induced postponement of Tokyo 2020. The 2024 Olympics are already just two years away. Athletes and squads do not have the benefit of a full cycle to recover, reset and prepare, making these interim meets all the more consequential.
Of course much can change in the 24 months between now and the Paris Olympics. But the forthcoming events provide the Dolphins with the opportunity to begin this cycle in the best way possible – by continuing the momentum of their unstoppable performance at the last Olympics. As head coach Taylor added on that last day in Tokyo: “It comes down to competitive IQ. You need to have athletes who want to win, know how to win and are determined to push through that pressure to win. We have quite a few – but we just need to keep developing them.” That task continues this weekend.
