Cody Simpson slams ‘ridiculous’ Paris Olympics suggestion

Aussie Olympic hopeful Cody Simpson has hit out at a ‘ridiculous’ issue after his dismal result at the Australian Swimming Championships.

Aussie pop star turned Olympic hopeful Cody Simpson has hit out at “ridiculous” suggestions that his poor results at the Australian Swimming Championships are a hammer blow to his hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 28-year-old bombed out in his pet event on Wednesday night at the Gold Coast event, finishing eighth in the 100m butterfly.

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He backed that up with a dismal result in the 100m freestyle on Thursday as he failed to qualify for the final of the event, before finishing as the 17th overall fastest swimmer.

Many took those results as an indication Simpson is falling behind the pack, however given all the athletes are in fact focusing on the World Championship trials in June, others weren’t concerned in the slightest.

Now, Simpson has spoken out to insist his results at the Australian Swimming Championships weren’t a concern, and were simply a product of the training stage he’s currently in.

Australia's Cody Simpson (C) bombed out this week. (Photo by Pat Hoelscher / AFP)

“I think those headlines (about missing Paris Olympics) are ridiculous, because the Paris Olympic trials are in 15 months and we are in heavy training at the moment and everyone’s at different stages of their preparation,” Simpson told Nine.

“Some people rest for meets like this… I don’t know why they call it the Australian Championships - It’s more of a Grand Prix.

“Our actual nationals are in two months, so I think there was a lot of media coverage on it.

“I didn’t really care to be honest about what people were saying because I’ve been in super hard training and my coach’s plan (wasn’t) to have me fresh and ready to race this week.

“We’re still preparing for the meet in two months’ time. So yeah, it wasn’t too bad.”

Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson recently purchased a new home. Pic: Instagram

Simpson, who recently purchased a $1.8m home with his Olympian partner Emma McKeon, has repeatedly said the Paris Olympics are his ultimate swimming goal and that he remains well ahead of where he thought he would be heading towards an Olympics debut.

The Australian trials, held in Melbourne in June, ahead of the World Championships, held in Fukuoka, Japan, in July, will be crunch time for Simpson to start putting up strong performances in the hopes of achieving his goal.

The pop star started his swimming comeback journey just three years ago after 10 years away from the pool and he did it as something of a sideshow alley attraction.

At the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 he proved he is box-office on his swimming credentials alone as he won both a gold and silver medal.