Radical swim coaching strategy pays off for Cameron McEvoy with ‘really special’ file | Swimming

Cameron McEvoy knew he was quick, however he stunned each himself and the world of elite swimming when he hit the wall on the finish of the 50m freestyle on the China Open on Friday. The clock learn 20.88sec, securing the Australian a lifelong purpose.

The Queenslander had damaged a longstanding world file, set within the period of now-banned super-suits, by three hundredths of a second.

“That was more of a target for the end of this season, so to have hit it at the moment in March is really special,” he mentioned on his return to Brisbane on Wednesday.

“I’ve got the one side of me, which is the scientific side of like, ‘OK, there’s a little bit of low-hanging fruit there, maybe I can go quicker’. And then the other side, which is the realisation of a childhood dream.”

The 31-year-old swimmer has had a profession like few others, making his Olympic debut in London as a teen in 2012. He gained bronze medals in relays in Rio and Tokyo, however didn’t break via for 50m gold till Paris in 2024 as a 30-year-old, an age broadly thought of previous the height for elite sprinters.

His belated rise to swimming’s summit, which has additionally seen him win two world championship gold medals and one silver within the splash-and-dash 50m, has come about since a rethink of his coaching.

McEvoy has deserted lengthy pool periods, and as a substitute targeted on power coaching and quick, explosive units that mimic the necessities of the occasion. But this 12 months has introduced an much more radical strategy.

“I had an off-season which was mainly strength development, and I’ve barely done much swimming since the [August] World Champs last year, up until this comp.

“And then this comp was meant to be the transition door into going into more of a sprint-focused regime, but because I got the world record and I’ve made steps, the idea is just to double down on this and not change it, see how far this can actually take me.”

The earlier 50m world record-holder, César Cielo, congratulated the Australian on social media for his “incredible” swim.

“I saw a phrase a while ago that perfectly captures what you’ve been doing,” mentioned the Brazilian, who set the earlier mark in 2009. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Even McEvoy himself appeared shocked on Wednesday by how shortly he has improved, and he mentioned he needed to proceed to check how far his new strategy would take him.

“It is, surprisingly, a little bit more leaning into the extreme side of things, even with respect to what I’ve already been doing.

“I’m going to lean into continuing the strength of development in the gym and not really increasing the amount of sprinting I do in the water, whereas in the past, this time of year, I’d be upping that type of volume.

“I’m pretty excited to see where that goes.”

McEvoy mentioned he receives messages each week from each elite athletes serious about his program, in addition to former swimmers who’ve come again to the game intrigued by reformulated coaching.

“They saw what I was doing, decided to come back and just give it a go, and the amount of them that are saying that they’re doing lifetime best times and they’re deep into their 40s, compared to when they were training full-time in their teens, it’s pretty incredible.”

He shall be 38 by the point the 2032 Olympics begins. “Hopefully the result in China proves that people in their 30s can definitely sprint and continue to sprint,” he mentioned.

“I’ve still got my eyes on LA, I definitely have my eyes on the home Games here in Brisbane, and so I’ll just keep at it every year and just take it one step at a time.”