Australian team confirmed for Doha World Aquatics Championships in 2024

The mastermind behind the success of Ariarne Titmus and rise of Mollie O’Callaghan is at it again, with half of Australia’s pool team for Doha coming from coach Dean Boxall’s home squad.

The man who masterminded Ariarne Titmus’s Olympic success and the stunning rise of world record-holder Mollie O’Callaghan, Dean Boxall, is thinking outside the box again, using the controversial Doha world championships as a springboard to success in Paris.

Swimming Australia has named a 24-member team to compete in pool and open-water events at the world championships that World Aquatics controversially shoe-horned into its program just six months out from the Olympics.

The 18-member pool team includes world champion Cameron McEvoy, whose specific sprint training – he swims less than 3km in the pool each week – will not be particularly impacted by the timing of the meet.

Other Aussie swim stars, such as defending 100m world champ Kyle Chalmers, Tokyo Olympic star Emma McKeon and 400m world champ Sam Short are skipping the meet to concentrate on their preparations for Olympic trials in July.

Ariarne Titmus won’t be there, but half of the pool team for Doha will come from coach Dean Boxall’s squad. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

But half the pool team will come from Boxall’s St Peters Western squad, with the master coach using the opportunity to give hand-picked members of his squad racing experience.

Former 200m and 400m world champion Elijah Winnington will take the blocks in Doha, along with sprinter Shayna Jack, rising sprint star Kai Taylor, world champion relay swimmers Jack Cartwright and Brianna Throssell and experienced campaigners Kiah Melverton, Abbey Harkin and Jenna Forrester.

The St Peters cohort also includes young gun Jaclyn Barclay, the rising star one of three debutants named along with fellow backstroker Iona Anderson and open-water swimmer Robert Thorpe, also a St Peters swimmer.

The team won’t include Boxall-trained stars Titmus or O’Callaghan, who have plenty of international success already under their belts.

Titmus, in particular, is focused on training given the time she missed following recent surgery.

But with Boxall’s squad already in Thailand for a training camp after Christmas, the travel to Doha becomes less of an issue and the benefit of racing has been viewed as a bonus.

Elijah Winnington, front, will compete in Doha. Picture: William WEST / AFP

“A lot of us are going to Doha, so just using that as a stepping stone into Olympic trials and then hopefully Paris,” Winnington said of the timing of the world championships.

“Initially I think when it got announced a lot of us were pretty against it.

“But a lot of us automatically qualified and we thought that it would be a good opportunity to have more international race practice.

“It was kind of a toss up - you have your “Aries” (Titmus) and Mollies (O’Callaghan) in our squad that probably don’t need as much international race experience just because they are at the top of their game but for a lot of us that aren’t quite at that level, we thought it was another good block.

“And we’re in Thailand at that period, so it’s a shorter flight. Logistically, it just made sense, so we decided why not go for it?”