Find out why Cam McEvoy is nervous for the first time in 5 years

HE hasn’t done a tumble turn at race pace for five years so by his own admission even Cam McEvoy is nervous.

The Olympic gold medallist hits the water tomorrow as part of Australia verses the World at The Valley Pool in Brisbane.

Under lights, top swimmers from Australia and around the world go head-to-head for points and glory over three hours of racing.

McEvoy, Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O’Callaghan will square off against rivals including Great Britain’s Duncan Scott, Italy’s Thomas Ceccon and New Zealand’s former world champion Erika Fairweather in a dynamic teams’ event.

They’ll compete across traditional distances, as well as new categories such as 25-metre races, “skins” (elimination) formats and a mystery medley.

“I’ve been working on it. When I finished Paris, (my weight) was about 88 kilos. I had a good year where I kind of relaxed a little bit, had a few too many pancakes and chocolate crepes, and hit 95 kilos the middle of this year,” McEvoy said.

“So I’m in the process of unwinding that and getting back into good shape … but I have got to say I am actually nervous about the tumble turn.

“I was never really good at them and I haven’t done one at race pace for five years … so I am not really sure how that that is going to turn out for me.”

McEvoy, the reigning 50m freestyle world champion, said it’s an exciting opportunity to elevate the sport’s profile and grow its audience.

“Swimming has been the same product for some time … other sports have evolved and absorbed exciting, fast paced, short-form versions of themselves and had success.

“Swimming needs to continue to test this within our own sport in the hope of finding a niche product that will excite the public.”

FLASH QUOTES:

 

Kaylee McKeown: Multiple Olympic gold medallist:

“This year has been really busy. I wasn’t expecting to get the times I swam. I was kind of using it (this year) as a bit of a chill year but it has been quite the opposite. So, I’ve kind of switched off towards the end of this year, having Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs in the next year’s schedule. So, this event is going to be a bit of fun for most of the Aus team.

“It’s really good to have these kind of events and to have it start in Australia, especially, there’s not really anything like this in the world at the moment. I think we’re trying to take a new avenue … so I’m excited to see what this has in store for swimmers, not only in Australia but across the world as well and especially leading into Brisbane 2032.

“It’s so important to get a home crowd invested in the sport of swimming and I think we go really unrecognised, considering we bring the most amount of Olympic medals … so, I think with more investing more into these types of events and just being in the public eye is going to be really good for us across the board. I’m excited because this is almost like a bit of training and I love training, probably a little bit more than racing, so I’m interested to see how this goes.”

Cam McEvoy: Reigning Olympic and 50m free world champion:

“It’s awesome. It’s got the 3x 25m events, so I’m loving that. I’m still on the experimental side of things and I’m doing new things every season … I basically was only doing gym until about four weeks ago. I’m moving well, I feel good and I’m throwing weights around pretty well in the gym. So, I’ll continue to do that for as long as it’s fun.

“To get the World Team that they have to come out to Brisbane at this time of year is impressive and I think the calibre of athletes here shows that this format is needed and that people are looking for this within the sport. For Australia to be the ground zero for unearthing this and putting it out into the world of swimming is something special. I would love to see a full series made out of this and to compete in venues all over Australia.”

Thomas Ceccon (ITA): Italy’s reigning 100m backstroke Olympic champion:

“To have the top athletes of the world versus the top athletes of Australia should be fun and a good race. I’m always doing different events but this competition is quite different, so it could be finer (better) than normal. The idea (of Aus vs The World) is pretty good. It’s fantastic, we race together again so it’s good.

“I’m doing one, two months here with him (Dean Boxall). For us, it’s a different time in Australia. We are done with short course and we start long course from January, so it’s a fresh start. I’m here for the weather, for training with Dean, for training differently. I’m glad to be here. I love Dean. I love training, so I’m happy to be back.”

Erika Fairweather: Fairweather became NZ’s first world champion when she claimed gold at Doha 2024 World Champs in the 400m free.

“I think it’s an exciting meet for the spectators and an exciting meet for us athletes as well because we get to do different events. They’re (the events) are kind of structured a little bit differently to mainstream meets.

“I love any high-quality racing I can get close to home. We have to go to Europe all the time and it’s a little bit tough. So, anything I can get close to New Zealand is good for me.

“My 400m freestyle is kind of stretched a little bit differently. It’s just points after each 100m (which) I guess it gives you the opportunity to kind of swim it differently with different strategies than you’re used to.”

For all you need to know about Australia vs The World, click here