Budapest: Cameron McEvoy gets chance to be the chaser in 100m

Things might have been different for Cameron McEvoy in Rio if he had been the chaser rather than the target in the 100m.

Cameron McEvoy will take on American pacesetter Caeleb Dressel in the 100m freestyle.

Things might have been different for Cameron McEvoy at the Rio Olympics if he had been the chaser rather than the target in the 100m freestyle.

Now he will get the chance to find out.

American Caeleb Dressel made every other 100m contender an underdog for the world title on Sunday when he led off the US relay in 47.26sec, significantly faster than any other sprinter in the world in the past year.

Of those gathered in Budapest, only McEvoy has gone faster, but not since he set the fastest time in history in a textile swimsuit, 47.04sec, at last year’s Olympic trials.

That performance made McEvoy a marked man at the Rio Olympics and he did not handle the situation well, fading to seventh in the final there.

But now Dressel will have to bear that load this week and McEvoy is happy to pass it off.

“He’s the clear favourite now,’’ McEvoy said after the relay final.

“He’s just swum the third-fastest textile time in history (behind McEvoy’s 47.04sec and James Magnussen’s 47.10sec).

“He was out like a bullet in 22.2 and he held it together reasonably well as well and that was after the 50 fly, too. That puts him in the box seat and it’s exciting now. It going to make it a chase for what he can go and we can go.’’

McEvoy’s best this year is his 47.91sec to win the national title in April but he has put in another solid preparation since then and came to Budapest confident that he could contend for the title.

“In 2013, I was fourth, in 2015 I was second, now the only improvement is to go out and get that title,’’ he said. “In 2013, I was 0.17sec from winning, in 2015 I was 0.12sec from winning, so that’s two world titles I have missed in the space of 0.29sec.

“Coming out with the world title would be really nice but what would give me the most confidence would be to do a very nice, process-driven swim.’’

If Dressel does not come back to the pack in the individual event, then McEvoy is the only man in the field with the proven ability to rise to that standard.

Following the withdrawal from the team of Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers to have heart surgery, fellow 18-year-old Jack Cartwright was promoted into the individual event and he also has the potential to do some damage in this field. He recorded a split of 47.51sec in the sprint relay heats and backed that up with a personal best of 48.34sec leading off the relay in the final.

“It was good experience leading off and to go a PB. I couldn’t be happier,’’ he said after the relay. “I’m looking forward to that individual and seeing what I can do. Hopefully I can shave some more off what I did tonight.’’

Beyond Dressel’s extraordinary lead-off leg, the relay gave other indications of form. Brazil’s Marcelo Chierighini had the fastest split (46.85sec), just ahead of his teammate Bruno Fratus (47.18sec) and 2012 Olympic champion Nathan Adrian (47.25sec) was also thereabouts.

And lurking with intent is 20-year-old Briton Duncan Scott, who held the No 1 ranking with 47.90sec before Dressel’s fireworks, and who has already shown exceptional speed in the 200m freestyle this week.

All will be in the mix when the 100m freestyle heats start today.