Swim ace has Games gap to fill in glittering resume
Roger Vaughan |
Cam McEvoy has one glaring hole to fill in his swimming career when he returns to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games.
The 31-year-old, who broke the 50m freestyle world record in late March, has ticked off most of his sport’s main achievements.
He’s a four-time Olympian who broke through for a gold medal in the 50m free at the Paris Games. McEvoy also has two world titles in the event.
But oddly, McEvoy is yet to win an individual Commonwealth Games gold medal.
That surely would have been fixed had he competed at Birmingham in 2022. Then, McEvoy was in the midst of a 12-month break that rejuvenated his swimming career and led to the Paris triumph.
He won two relay gold medals at his debut Commonwealth Games at Glasgow in 2014 and another at the 2018 edition on the Gold Coast.
“It’s the championship competition of this year, it’s the one competition I haven’t won a (individual) gold medal in as well,” McEvoy said on Wednesday.
“It’s going back to my roots, my first Commonwealth Games were in Glasgow. I got three silver medals there.”
McEvoy’s break from swimming led him to overhaul his training, incorporating much more fitness work such as rock climbing and spending less time following the black line in the pool.
It’s a regime he will continue to follow as McEvoy heads back to Scotland with unfinished business.
“I’m not changing anything in the approach, but the goal is still the same,” he said.
“I’d like to do my best over there and hopefully come home with a gold medal.”
McEvoy and rising Australian track and field star Delta Amidzovski were in Sydney on Wednesday morning to launch the team’s opening and closing ceremony uniforms for the Glasgow Games.
Australian bootmaker RM Williams will supply the uniforms. The Games will run from July 23 to August 2.
AAP