Cody Simpson’s girlfriend on hand to witness pop star’s big splash

He has instantly become the biggest star in Australian swimming despite not yet making the team — and Cody Simpson comes with an entourage.

He only swam two races in an event that doesn’t even feature at the Olympics but it was hard not to get excited about Cody Simpson’s appearance at the Australian swimming championships over the weekend.

Simpson, who has earmarked the 100m butterfly as his best hope of securing a spot on the team for the Tokyo Olympics, competed in the non-Olympic 50m fly after only emerging from a two-week quarantine stint on the eve of the event on the Gold Coast.

He managed to qualify for the final, where he placed ninth of 10 swimmers with a time of 24.79.

“I’m still trying to figure out how to put it all together, still a little rusty out of quarantine,” Simpson told Fairfax post-race. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to race this week but figured I’d do the 50m just to start swinging the arms over and see how it goes. I was happy to make a final in my first week back. That’s good enough for me at the moment.

“To make an open final in the first go around is pretty cool, I’ll keep improving as we go. There’s a long way to go but I’ve come a long way in a short amount of time.”

Simpson, a global pop star with millions of followers, had a small support crew on hand including girlfriend Marloes Stevens and his sister Alli.

Cody Simpson is seen with girlfriend Marloes Stevens at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Cody's girlfriend Marloes, his sister Alli and her boyfriend Mitchell Lambert were on hand to cheer him on.

He’s instantly become the biggest star in Australian swimming but the 24-year-old was the one feeling starstruck for once as he mixed with Olympic and world champions like Kyle Chalmers, Cate Campbell and Ariarne Titmus.

“It’s amazing, just to be around guys that I’ve watched race over the last five or 10 years when I haven’t been in, just keeping up as a swimming fan myself. Now to be two lanes over from one of them, it’s surreal,” he said.

“Just trying to shoot the s*** before it and not get in my head too much … the fact that guys I’m racing I’ve looked up to for a long time. I’m just glad to be here and be in the mix a few months before June. I’m excited to see what happens with some more training under my belt.”

But Simpson is aware of the attention he is bringing to the sport — and sees it as a positive.

“I knew there would be a certain amount of people that otherwise wouldn’t have watched the sport that may do now because they have followed me in other endeavours and stuff like that,” Simpson said.

Cody Simpson finished ninth in the final the 50m butterfly. Picture: Backgrid Australia

All eyes were on Cody. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“Me, just being a lifelong swimmer and fan of swimming, if I can bring more eyeballs to the sport, if that’s all I do in the next three or four years, that’s good enough for me. It’s my favourite sport and it deserves more global recognition. The more people and personalities involved, it can only help with that.”

Who is Marloes Stevens?

Simpson, who famously dated Miley Cyrus, went public with Stevens over Christmas last year.

The Aussie singer and the fashion model sparked rumours they were dating when they were were spotted together in LA and made it official by posting a series of photos together during the holidays.

Cody Simpson with model girlfriend Marloes Stevens. Picture: Instagram

Marloes Stevens is a fashion model.