It took 36 years – then just 21 seconds: The four things Cam McEvoy did perfectly

Cam McEvoy was on holiday in France for a family wedding in March 2022. He was wearing a white T-shirt, emblazoned with the Olympic rings, that he had bought after he bombed out in the heats of the 50m freestyle in Tokyo.

He took a photo then posted it to Instagram with the caption ‘Reconnaissance’ – a French word deriving from the 18th century meaning “preliminary surveying or research”.

No one knew it at the time, but McEvoy was planning a secret comeback. He’d spent months out of the water wondering whether he would forever be remembered as the bloke who bombed out in the 100m final in Rio.

McEvoy and his girlfriend, Maddie, decided to drive past the Paris La Defense Arena, the swimming venue for the 2024 Games. “I started off with the perspective that it would just give me closure,” McEvoy said.

“I didn’t know how it was going to look, but that was the day where I went all in. It’s ultimately incredible.”

Just over two years later, McEvoy, who’d hauled himself back into the pool and completely revolutionised his training program to become the world champion in 2023, walked out as the favourite for a pulsating final against America’s Caeleb Dressel and France’s Florent Manaudou.

Here’s how the race unfolded over 21.25 seconds – and the inside story of the countless hours of work that went into one perfect lap. The lap which ended Australia’s 36-year wait for gold in the men’s 50m freestyle.

The start

There is no time for nerves or a slow start in the one-lap dash, which is why McEvoy, his coach Tim Lane and a team of biomechanists spent countless hours analysing his start with underwater cameras and a Kistler force-instrumented starting block that measures more than you could imagine.

McEvoy has mathematics and physics university qualifications and is infatuated with data. He wants to know exactly how much velocity he generates off each leap of the block.

This is not a case of a coach holding a stopwatch. Not accurate enough for McEvoy’s liking.

McEvoy’s reaction time in the final was 0.56 seconds, faster than anyone in the field. It made a huge difference in the end.

“Generally, we found if I was above 0.6 in training, I was tending towards being on the fatigue side,” McEvoy said.

“Before the race, it was insane. Flo was clapping and getting the crowd going ballistic, which was awesome. Never experienced anything like that.”

Rising to the top

Lane and his team identified that his first 15 metres would be critical to his success.

Instead of participating in long sessions and banging out huge kilometres in the pool, McEvoy subscribes to the philosophy of less is more and specificity principles. He wants to hit race pace in practice more often.

He believes working at race pace helps improve technique, so every day McEvoy would basically train at close to 100 per cent intensity.

McEvoy has not set an alarm for the best part of two years. Any swimmer will tell you how much of a rarity that is, in a sport synonymous with early mornings and weeks of long sessions and muscle-burning laps.

McEvoy gets up, swims fast, goes to the gym, then goes home to relax. There was also inspiration from track athletes and British sprint cyclists in the pursuit of becoming the fastest man on the planet through water.

Although McEvoy did not lead from the start of the race, he put himself in an auspicious position.

“Within four strokes, I hit kind of that rhythm that we’ve been really trying to work on the past two years,” McEvoy said.

The race heats up

McEvoy worked into his stroke and tried to stay calm. He’s practised this exact moment for years.

Context is also important.

The closest Australia had ever come to a medal was Ashley Callus in 2008, who finished fourth, ahead of Eamon Sullivan (sixth) who broke the world record in the semi-finals that year in Beijing.

The one-lap dash is one of swimming’s most egalitarian events in terms of medallists and finalists, but is a blemish on Australia’s rich Olympic history, given the calibre of freestylers who have competed in the event.

In 2022, McEvoy could not have been further from changing that history. Suffering from burnout, he effectively retired and spent seven months out of the pool.

He trained at a local gym six times a week for fun and became obsessed with rock climbing and gymnastics.

His rankings were average. He was 40th in the world in 2020, 51st in 2021 and 38th in 2022.

He did not want to let slip an opportunity of a lifetime that he thought might never come around again.

“I held it for as long as I can. I could see Ben there the entire time in my peripheral,” said McEvoy of the second half of the race.

Where gold medals are won

McEvoy put his head down and did not breathe in the final few metres. He knew he was close as the crowd grew louder.

“Under the flags, it was just hoping that I can line this touch up, lean in and get my hand on the wall first,” McEvoy said.

“For about 48 metres, amazing, the last two [metres] was like, ‘I’ve got to get this touch’. I did think, ‘Oh no’. I turned around and saw the first [place]. It was very hard to contain myself.”

The 30-year-old and oldest member of Australia’s Olympic swimming team – McEvoy was born one day before Bronte Campbell – got his hand on the wall first to cap one of Australian swimming’s most incredible comeback stories.

With three generations of McEvoys in the stands, the Queenslander jumped on the lane rope and looked straight at Lane, who had been there for every moment over the past two years.

In the days leading up to the race, McEvoy changed to an old phone and had only two people’s numbers saved. Tim and Maddie.

“The entire two-year journey, it wasn’t just a transformation as an athlete, it was as a human being,” McEvoy said.

“The mentorship that Tim gave me … I’ll forever be grateful for that.

“I’ve had the journey of a lifetime.”

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