Swimming, but not as you know it: Aussies take on world
Murray Wenzel |
A heritage-listed Brisbane outdoor pool will be “ground zero” for a new take on swimming as Australia’s Olympic champions take on the world.
Olympic champions Cam McEvoy, Kaylee McKeown, Zac Stubblety-Cook and Mollie O’Callaghan will headline the home nation’s squad in Friday’s Valley Pool spectacle dubbed Aus vs The World.
Swimming Australia has lured a stacked World team, headlined by two-time defending 100m women’s freestyle world champion Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands and Paris gold medallists Duncan Scott, Thomas Ceccon and Lukas Martens.
The teams event will disregard times and focus on points, with a return of the popular skins knockout format as well as the introduction of power plays and relays with twists that include a roulette wheel and fan-voted formats and strategy.
It’s the latest attempt to push the sport forward, in the same boutique venue Tracey Wickham broke the 1500m freestyle world record in 46 years ago.
“People are looking for this within the sport, so for Australia to be the ground zero for unearthing that and putting that out into the world of swimming is something special,” reigning 50m freestyle Olympic and world champion McEvoy said.
“You could make a full series out of it, you could have multiple teams … have a championship in-season conference that leads up to a finals.
“The world will get around it … it’s definitely somewhere the sport is trending and I’m all for it.”
McKeown said “there’s not really anything like this in the world” and is thrilled the Games’ medal machines will receive some worthy exposure outside the Olympic window.
“Especially leading in Brisbane 2032, it’s so important to get a home crowd invested in the sport of swimming,” she said.
“We go really unrecognised considering we bring in the most amount of Olympic medals.
“You see athletes in athletics make the semi-final and it’s the best thing ever, but you see swimmers making the semi-finals and it’s hardly making the papers.
“More investing in these types of things, and just being in the public eye, is going to be really good for swimmers across the board.”
McEvoy, 31, broke through for Paris gold after famously, and drastically, cutting back his time in the training pool.
On Thursday he revealed he’d stacked on 13kg after last year’s Olympic triumph and had only recently returned to the pool after focusing on weight training.
“I kind of relaxed a little bit and had a few too many pancakes and choccy crepes … I’m in the process of unwinding that and getting back into good shape,” he said.
“I’m still on the experimental side of things within that realm, doing new things every season.
“But I’m moving well, I feel good, I’m throwing weights around pretty well in the gym so I’ll continue to do that as long as it’s fun.”
AAP
