Australian swimming trials: The must-watch event as world championships race heats up

Simpson v Chalmers, O’Callaghan v McKeon and Titmus v Jack — wherever you look, the Australian swim trials are going to be box office. These are the 10 events you can’t afford to miss.

Australia's Ariarne Titmus at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Picture: Oli SCARFF / AFP)

With just over a year to go until the Paris Olympics, Australia’s swimmers are getting ready to take the plunge back into international waters.

Next month’s world championships in Japan are shaping up as the major dress rehearsal for Paris but before anyone can think about being crowned champion of the world – first they have to earn their place on the Dolphins team.

That’s not going to be easy because the Aussie swimmers are flying at the moment and this week’s national trials are shaping up as one of the most cutthroat competitions in decades where only the fastest will survive.

Here are the 10 events to watch at the Australian swimming trials

Australia's Cody Simpson needs to finish top two in the 100m butterfly next week. Picture: Pat Hoelscher / AFP

Men’s 100m butterfly

This is the race that everyone was talking about at last year’s trials after pop star Cody Simpson initially thought he had made the team for the world championships then found out he hadn’t after Kyle Chalmers exercised his right to join Matt Temple as Australia’s second representative in the event. Simpson, whose now dating Olympic swim Queen Emma McKeon, did get picked for the Commonwealth Games - and won a gold medal in the relays - but needs to finish top two this time and there are more contenders than just Temple and Chalmers, with Ben Armbruster, Shaun Champion and Jesse Coleman all making waves.

Women’s 100m freestyle

Australia has got so much depth in women’s freestyle sprinting that the race for the two individual spots could be harder than winning a medal at the world championships. Not only does Australia boast the reigning Olympic champion (Emma McKeon) and the current world champion (Mollie O’Callaghan) but also seven of the top 20-ranked competitors in the world this year, including Shayna Jack (3rd) and Meg Harris (9th). Even with Cate Campbell skipping the trials to focus all her energy on trying to qualify for next year’s Paris Olympics, Australia will be red-hot favourites to win the 4x100m relay in Fukuoka with the top six from the trials expected to get picked.

Men’s 50m freestyle

Australia hasn’t won a medal in the men’s splash and dash since Michael Klim snatched bronze at the 1998 titles. Veteran sprinter Cam McEvoy is Australia’s leading hope this year after bulking up in the gym and changing his training program. So far, it’s paid off after he won the national title then jumped to sixth in this season’s world rankings but he still needs to grow his fingernails to shave another 0.01 seconds to meet the insane qualifying times. Thomas Nowakowski and young gun Flynn Southam are the dangers.

Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Women’s 200m freestyle

Another event where Australia is overflowing with talent. Three of the top six in the world on current rankings - Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, Commonwealth Games champion Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack - all train together under Dean Boxall and were separated by less than a quarter of a second at the national championships in April. The fight for relay spots will be intense because everyone wants to be on the team after the Aussies broke the world record last year. Even Kaylee McKeown has joined the fray to get on - and has spared up the rankings to 14th in the world.

Men’s 400m freestyle

This is traditionally one of Australia’s great races - and once again there’s a cracker field lining up at the trials. As the reigning world champion, Elijah Winnington is the one to beat but he will need to get his skates on after Sam Short pipped him at the recent national champs to jump to the top of this season’s world rankings. The 2026 Rio Olympic champion Mack Horton finished third behind Winnington and Short at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham but with only two spots available, he’ll have to produce something special.

Women’s 400m freestyle

Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus is the overwhelming favourite to win her signature event with Lani Pallister and Kiah Melverton likely to battle out the second spot. But the real interest will be in what sort of time Titmus posts. The Terminator broke Katie Ledecky’s world record at last year’s Australian trials only to see Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh break the Australian’s new mark less than three months ago. Titmus will know that the real showdown will come at next year’s Paris Olympics but she will still want to send a message to her younger rival this week.

Mack Horton, Zac Incerti, Flynn Southam and Elijah Winnington won gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay in Birmingham. Picture: Michael Klein

Men’s 200m freestyle

While Romanian wizkid David Popovici is rated a near-certainty to retain his world title in the individual 200m, Australia has a real shot at getting a medal in the men’s 4x200m relay. There’s a stack of swimmers vying for selection, including veterans Mack Horton and Kyle Chalmers - who were part of the Aussie team that won gold at the 2019 world titles. There’s plenty of youngsters snapping at their heels, including Elijah Winnington, Flynn Southam, Tommy Neill, Sam Short and Kai Taylor, the teenage son of Hayley Lewis.

Women’s 100m backstroke

As the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, Kaylee McKeown holds all the aces in this event. Her best time this season (57.84) was recorded in March, when she was still in a heavy training block. The only person who has gone faster in the last year is her American rival Regan Smith, who stopped the clock at 57.83 last week. With Emily Seebohm sitting out the trials, McKeown’s biggest danger is the versatile Mollie O’Callaghan, who is currently ranked third in the world, but both women should safely qualify for Japan.

Men’s 200m breaststroke

This isn’t so much a race, as an exhibition of swimming excellence. Zac Stubblety-Cook doesn’t get as much attention as some of his teammates because he likes to keep a low profile but he’s the unofficial leader of the men’s team. The only male to win gold at Tokyo, he’s gone on to complete swimming’s grand slam - winning the Olympic, world and Commonwealth Games titles and breaking the world record - which he did at last year’s trials.

The 200m medley looms as Kaylee McKeown’s biggest challenge. Picture: Michael Klein

Women’s 200m individual medley

Kaylee McKeown is so good at so many events that her biggest dilemma is working out which ones fit in her heavy schedule. The odds-on favourite to win the backstroke double at the world titles, the 200m medley looms as her biggest challenge because she’ll have to beat Canadian wonderkid Summer McIntosh, who broke the junior world record (2:06.89) at the Canadian trials in March. But McKeown, who has been working overtime on her weaker breaststrokes and butterfly legs, is only a heartbeat away, ranked second in the world this year. Australia’s Jenna Forrester is also making big strides in medley but the 400m is her strongest distance.

Originally published as Australian swimming trials: The must-watch event as world championships race heats up