Cameron McEvoy puts rivals on notice with strong early season swim

ONE of Australia’s top gold medal hopes at next year’s Rio Olympics has produced a stunning early season time.

A swim to put the world on notice

CAMERON McEvoy continues to showcase why he’s considered one of Australia’s top gold medal hopes at next year’s Rio Olympics with some stunning early season form.

Competing in the 100m freestyle at a local meet in Brisbane earlier this month, McEvoy — who finished second in the event at the world championships in August — touched the wall in 48.41 seconds.

It wasn’t far off the 47.95 he produced in Russia and at a point of the season when most swimmers are in a developmental phase, it was certainly encouraging for the 21-year-old.

McEvoy also clocked 1:47.26 in the 200m, the same time he swam while finishing eighth in the final at the world champs.

“I was nothing short of surprised by that,” McEvoy told news.com.au. “I’ve never swum that quick at this point in the season.

“Both the 100m and 200m were at least a good second quicker than what I’ve done in the past ... It’s an awesome starting point for the year to come but it means nothing if I don’t carry on the momentum into next year and keep improving.”

McEvoy is hopeful of going one step better in the 100m in Rio after finishing second to China’s Ning Zetao by .11 seconds in Kazan. “I had a couple of great races and a couple of races where I learnt something,” said McEvoy, of his first world championships.

“As a whole it was a great learning experience and to finish it off with a 46.6 in the freestyle leg of the medley relay put a cherry on top. It was enough to take away the disappointment of just losing the 100m freestyle.

“It was exciting to get my first medal and know I could step up on an international stage but it was a bit of a what if scenario. If I didn’t breathe just before the end of the race or had a better turn, could I have made up the .1 of a second?”

Cameron McEvoy at this year’s world championships.

McEvoy will target the 100m and 200m in Rio under the tutelage of national head coach Jacco Verhaeren, who helped prepare Pieter van den Hoogenband to pull off the unique double at the Sydney Games.

His main rivals will come from China and Great Britain, although there are some in the swim community who believe Michael Phelps will add a freestyle event to his program. McEvoy would relish the opportunity to compete against the greatest Olympian in history as he seeks to add to his record 18 gold medals.

“The program is the same as London and he pulled out of the 200m freestyle in London to focus on the butterfly. He’s a completely new athlete now but I have a feeling he’s going to focus on the 200m fly again,” McEvoy said.

“I raced him at the Pan Pacs last year. He was in the 100m freestyle final and I was against him in the 4 x 200m freestyle — he was the same leg. It was really cool. He beat me in the 200m relay but I beat him in the 100m. So we’re 1-1.”

McEvoy and surfer Sally Fitzgibbons are ambassadors for the Cancer Institute NSW’s Pretty Shady campaign, which aims to motivate Aussies aged 13 to 24 to be more proactive about skin protection.

Known as “The Professor” in swim circles because he studies physics in his spare time, McEvoy was labelled Australia’s brainiest sportsman earlier this year. And while he lists Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman as the man he would most like to meet, McEvoy insists the tag isn’t quite accurate.

“I wouldn’t say I’m Australia’s smartest athlete. I can think of quite a few athletes who are doing some exceptional things in the academic world,” he said.

“For example at Griffith University, Elise Kellond-Knight is doing her masters of pharmaceutical science and she’s currently on a GPA of seven — which is high distinctions for all her subjects — while playing for the Matildas.

“Mitch Larkin is a double world champion in the 100m and 200m backstroke and doing a bachelor of engineering.”

The Australian Short Course Championships run from Thursday to Saturday this week. Having just finished his last exam, McEvoy is ready to go. “That’s another opportunity to get in and race,” he said. “I’ve never been this fit leading into a short course nationals either so it will be interesting to see how I go.”