McEVOY MUST OWN BIG GAMES MOMENT TO REACH SWIMMING’S SUMMIT

CAMERON McEvoy admits he must learn to execute in the big moments if he is to clinch a major title and rank among Australia’s swimming greats.

The 23-year-old is the fastest swimmer in history in a textile suit and among the favourites for gold at a home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast next year.

To even snare an individual swim in his pet 100m freestyle though, McEvoy will have to negotiate the fastest field ever assembled at an Aussie championships and beat at least two men who have dipped into rare territory in the event.

McEvoy, though, is undaunted and looking ahead.

The Bond Uni squad member has an outstanding record at national titles and Australian qualifying events and has been able to replicate or better that form on the international stage on several occasions.

But he remains defined by many by his effort at the Rio Olympics last year, where he entered the final as favourite and finished without a medal.

McEvoy is a man of science though – and the numbers say it was an aberration.

“If you look at the times I’ve swum at the nationals and the times I’ve then done at the benchmark competition that year, every year, I’ve been within about 0.2-0.3sec aside from 2016,” McEvoy said.

“It’s not ideal to be 0.2-0.3 behind – in some cases it’s been ahead, which is great – but that variance in 100m isn’t too much.”

“It’s really down to that Rio year that that idea is modelled on,” McEvoy said.

That’s because McEvoy was just over a second slower than his world-leading time of 47.04sec in the Rio final – an effort that would have won gold had he been able to replicate it. But other people’s perceptions of his ability under pressure do not matter.

“It’s really how I perceive it and how I react to it and go about racing with it,” he said.

“With world rankings, I’ve got the No.1 textile time, which is something to be extremely proud of.

“And I’ve got a whole bunch of other times that rank me in that number of (elite) swims in history that’s around the number that Maggie (two-time world champion James Magnussen) has done and (2012 Olympic champion) Nathan Adrian’s done.

“It’s just now a matter of having the ability ... to execute it at the moment or the swim that you need to execute it at.”

McEvoy, a Games ambassador, was recently named as a Longines friend of the brand and will be involved in events at Longines House at Broadbeach during the Games.