Cameron McEvoy makes clean sweep of 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle at Olympic swimming trials

CAMERON McEvoy swam a blistering 50m freestyle at the Olympic swimming trials on Wednesday night to complete a clean-sweep of the 50m, 100m and 200m.

SWIMMING - Hancock Prospecting 2016 Australian Swimming Championships at SA Aquatic Centre. Men 50 LC Metre Freestyle Final. Cameron McEvoy winner Picture Sarah Reed

FOR one split second it looked like James Magnussen had thrown the dice and won. The giant screen at the South Australian Aquatic Centre named him as second place-getter in the 50m freestyle behind Cameron McEvoy, seemingly giving him a shot at an individual swim at the Rio Olympics.

The screen lied. It was ACT-based Matthew Abood who had been first to touch the wall behind the red-hot McEvoy, and Magnussen’s dream of going one better than the silver medal he won in the 100m freestyle in London, was shattered.

As it transpired it was all academic anyway. Neither Abood nor Magnussen swam the Olympic qualifying time of 22.02 seconds. Abood was desperately close, clocking 22.08, and Magnussen .10 of a second off the required mark with 22.12.

Cameron McEvoy celebrates after winning the 50m freestyle final.

There were no such problems for McEvoy who has been in blistering form through this meet and is now the first Australian swimmer to ever win the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle national titles at the one championships.

He streaked home in 21.44 seconds – still outside the Australian record of 21.19 set by fellow Queenslander Ashley Callus in 2009, but good enough to earn a third individual swim at Rio where, with two relays, he will be Australia’s busiest male swimmer.

“It’s nice to be a part of history, to be the first person to win all three titles and personally I’m just more happy I can hit three decent times in those events,” McEvoy said.

“It definitely gives me confidence, I know I’m in a great spot right now to handle a week like this.

“But Rio you’ve got to add in much more depth in the heats and semis, the heats and semis will be close to what I’m doing in the final if not the same time and I’m still yet to have an eight-day competition like that and then adding in the relay events earlier on in the week too.

“Rio is definitely going to be that next level on top of this one both physically and mentally so like I said earlier in the week there’s a lot to do but I’m aware of what I need to do.”

Magnussen, who had to work his way back from shoulder surgery even to compete in these Olympic trials was obviously disappointed by the result, but did his best to remain upbeat.

“I’ve stayed positive the last nine months and I’m going to continue to try to stay positive otherwise I might go and bang my head against a couple of walls,” he said.

Originally published as Cameron McEvoy makes clean sweep of 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle at Olympic swimming trials