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To the doubters who said Cameron McEvoy was too slight to become a world-class sprinter, add the current crop claiming his season has peaked too early to dominate the Olympic trials starting in Adelaide on Thursday.
The 70 kilogram and barely six-foot science student (who prefers to express his stature as “100 billion hydrogen atoms tall”) swam a career best of 47.56 at the Perth Super Series in February.
His old foe, former world champion James Magnussen, was almost two seconds behind in 49.34.
One month later, at the NSW titles, McEvoy had ‘blown out’ to 48.40, while Magnussen closed in to an encouraging 49.22.
Oddly, McEvoy sizzled in Perth while midway through a block of intensive, endurance-based training – normally an impediment to speed. An inexperienced coach would have been jumping for joy that such a mark could be achieved without the vitality-boosting effects of a taper, but McEvoy’s current coach, Richard Scarce, may have heard alarm bells instead.
His charge’s counter-intuitive response to the heavy training phase must have thrown an unwanted complication into their Rio trials preparation. The dilemma? Charge into the trials with McEvoy in full work, or do a traditional bare-bones taper?
For his part, Magnussen pointed out that his NSW time was on a par with his form at the same stage preceding the London Olympic trials, which he won in 47.1, almost half a second better than McEvoy’s recent Perth time.
Another reason Magnussen’s performance will be under scrutiny is his controversial switch to the largely unknown Ravenswood club over a year ago, when Swimming Australia threatened to cut support funding.
Both swimmers will be keeping an eye on the new kid on the block, 17-year-old South Australian Kyle Chalmers, who split the pair in Sydney with a 48.68.
McEvoy is the only Australian currently ranked in the 2016 world top ten, while France has four in the top six alone, so any Australian making the Rio final has their work cut out for them.
The men’s 100m freestyle final will take place on Day 5 of the trials (Monday, April 11).