What Australian swim team must do to beat USA at LA Olympics in 2028

Australia fell short of toppling the USA from the top of the pool medal tally, but they can turn the tables in four years. JAMES MAGNUSSEN reveals how they can do it.

Stellar performance from the Australian swim team in Paris with seven gold medals, but not quite enough to dethrone USA from the top of the pool medal tally.

There are so many highlights from this Australian team with the likes of Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown, Mollie O’Callaghan and Cameron McEvoy standing tall as individual gold medallists.

But, as there is at every Olympic Games, there were missed opportunities.

Here are three things that the Australian team can work on between now and Los Angeles to try and knock America off that perch as the greatest swimming nation in the world.

1. FORM STROKE DEVELOPMENT

Australia must improve in the form strokes, and that starts with development through the age groups into the high performance sector.

The addition of Adam Peaty’s coach Mel Marshall from Great Britain coming across to the Gold Coast High Performance Centre is a step in the right direction and that has obviously already been identified as an area that must be fixed.

Zac Stubblety-Cook has performed really well in the 200m breaststroke, but the 100m

has been the weakest stroke in Australia now for some time for both men and women.

Australia needs to improve in the 100m breaststroke. Picture: Getty Images

We must develop some high quality breaststrokers for our medley relays to be any chance at gold. The US won two of the three medley relays, so we need to challenge them in those events.

With our freestyle stocks at an all-time high, we will always be a medal chance but those other strokes need to be strengthened.

Kaylee McKeown is the best backstroker in the world, but with Emma McKeon retiring there is now a gap in butterfly for the women as well as the men.

And we need to get competitive again in men’s backstroke to be any chance at gold.

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2. CAPITALISE ON EVERY MEDAL

Australia must convert all the near medal and gold medal misses into gold.

In the sprint freestyle we now have Mollie O’Callaghan and Meg Harris who are legitimate gold medal chances moving forward.

Sarah Sjostrom won the 50-100m double in Paris, but at 30 you would think this is her last Olympics.

That would automatically mean Meg bumps up to a gold medal in Los Angeles without any improvement, but with this experience under her belt I’ve got no doubt she can go quicker. Mollie will know herself that that 100m freestyle is hers to win as there is still so much improvement left in her racing.

I think in four years it will be the best Olympics ever for Mollie O’Callaghan.

Mollie O'Callaghan has plenty of room for improvement. Picture: Getty Images

3. DEVELOP THE NEXT GEN MEN

There must be a heavier focus on men’s swimming both at an age group level and high performance.

Men’s swimming faces the biggest challenges in retaining talent at a young age as the allure of professional sports like AFL and NRL attract the most talented athletes.

The big sporting codes are far more feasible options over time for young, athletic Australians so there needs to be a focus on retaining those athletic teenagers in the swimming world, as they generally go on to become the best sprinters.

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Athletic kids generally have the best starts, turns and top end speed as they’re fast-twitch fibre athletes that excel in sprint events.

Australia as a whole should be super proud of the results here in Paris, but there’s always room for improvement and what an exciting opportunity it will be for this team to finally knock over America in four years’ time, at their home Olympic Games.

Originally published as What Australian swim team must do to beat USA at LA Olympics in 2028