Australia Fast in April, Americans Preparing for Paris Primetime Clash

Mollie O'callaghan of Australia reacts after winning the gold medal in the 200m Freestyle Women Final with a New World Record during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 26th, 2023.

Australian freestyler and backstroker Mollie O'Callaghan -- Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Australia Fast in April, Americans Preparing for Paris Primetime Clash

Last week’s Australian Championships, not the country’s selection meet for this summer’s Olympic Games, saw most of the country’s top swimmers performing at a high level despite the relatively low stakes of the meet. Perhaps most impressive was Kaylee McKeown, who set Australian records in both the 400 IM (4:28.22) and 200 IM (2:06.99) while also swimming a sub-2:04 mark in the 200 backstroke that fell somewhat unnoticed but only because of the dazzling nature of her medley swims (not to mention news of an anti-doping controversy breaking around the same time).

Mollie O’Callaghan picked up wins in the 100 and 200 freestyle as well as the 100 back, where she clocked 58.09 in McKeown’s absence to firmly plant her status as a medal contender for this year. Ariarne Titmus shined in the 400 free with her first-ever sub-4:00 performance outside of a selection meet or major international competition, and Lizzie Dekkers reiterated her status among the world’s top 200 butterflyers.

Elijah Winnington — Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)

On the men’s side, Australia lacks the firepower of the country’s women’s team but still figures to take a few gold-medal favorites to Paris later this year. The highlight was a showdown between two recent world champions in the 400 free, with Elijah Winnington getting the better of Sam Short while both clocked 3:41s. Kyle Chalmers was in his usual strong form in the 100 free while Zac Stubblety-Cook and Matt Temple continued their strong results in the 200 breaststroke and 100 butterfly, respectively.

In short: extremely impressive results for a mid-April checkpoint two months out from the key Olympic Trials in Brisbane, set to be held June 10-15 and wrap up just hours before the American version of the meet begins on the other side of the world in Indianapolis.

No doubt that each Aussie’s top rivals around the world took notice of these times, recognizing the likelihood that Australia shows up in full force in late July in Paris. Team Australia is currently riding a string of momentum: after extremely disappointing Olympic performances in both 2012 and 2016, when Australia combined for just four gold medals and 20 total medals, the team eclipsed that total in 2021 alone with nine gold and 21 podium finishes.

Then, at last year’s World Championships, Australia won 13 gold medals to beat the United States in that column for the first time since the 2001 Worlds, a meet also held in Fukuoka, Japan. Australia won 25 total medals in the pool at that meet, and four relay wins doubled the total of the United States.

But the Americans, the dominant team in swimming for decades, are refusing to concede the mantle to their foes from Down Under, and it’s not implausible to see the Stars and Stripes back on top this year. During the last two Olympic cycles, the U.S. has bounced back from disappointing year-before results at the World Championships to a resounding Olympic performance.

Todd DeSorbo, the head coach at the University of Virginia and already tapped to lead the U.S. women’s squad in Paris, chimed in on Australia’s recent impressive swimming with a reminder that the Americans had been lighting it up as well, including at the final stop of the TYR Pro Swim Series in San Antonio, Texas, held just days before the Australian meet began. “I think a lot of people were surprised we swam as fast as we did,” DeSorbo said. “I mean, I was shocked that we swam that fast.”

U.S. women’s Olympic team head coach Todd DeSorbo — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

DeSorbo brought up the women’s 100 free, an event dominated by Australia for the better part of the last decade, with the most recent American win over a full-strength Dolphins team occurring back in 2013. Australia beat the U.S. by three seconds at the Tokyo Olympics and then by four in a world-record-setting race last year, but DeSorbo sees the momentum of the event shifting.

“Compared to a year ago, we’re lining up significantly better one-to-one, two-to-two, three-to-three, four-to-four than we were a year ago, so I’m excited about our chances,” he said.

Consider the results from recent meets: Australia’s top-four of O’Callaghan (52.27), Meg Harris (52.59), Emma McKeon (53.09) and Shayna Jack (53.20) adds up to a mark of 3:31.15. The Americans, just over a second behind at 3:32.48 with Kate Douglass (52.98), Torri Huske (53.08), Gretchen Walsh (53.17) and Simone Manuel (53.25). No one would then proclaim the U.S. women as favorites, but they are not out of it, either.

Certainly, the swimmers who qualify to represent the U.S. at the pressure-packed Olympic Trials will be ready for the challenge Australia will pose in Paris.

“I think everybody on the U.S. team should be prepared for them to be really good,” DeSorbo said. “If they are, you’re prepared. If they’re not, oh well. We’ll be prepared.”

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Name*

Email*

1 Comment

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Kanga1

9 days ago

Ofcourse you’d expect Australia to go even faster at the Olympic Trials, possibly breaking World Records, then even faster at the Olympics. Obviously as the historically predominant swimming nation the US will be determined to come back stronger. However the Aussie Star girls in particular come up stronger where it counts!