Lights, Cameron, action
But with two Olympics under his belt – and two campaigns where the favoured Aussies wilted – McEvoy says it may be time to take a different approach to the event.
“It’s a nice chance to approach the relay now and build a new perspective on what it really means and how we as a nation should swim the relay with a lot of young guys,” he said.
“For all of them, it’s their first 4x100m freestyle team on an open team at a big competition.
“So it’s a chance not only to get experience, but also to guide them into a perspective where they see the relay as something different to what we have in the past – whether that’s changing from medalorientated to process-orientated or just an orientation of boys getting around each other and getting us to step up when the time comes.”
McEvoy’s first taste of senior competition was at the London Games, where he was part of a relay squad that was set apart from the wider team with disastrous consequences.
Along with Eamon Sullivan, James Magnussen, James Roberts, Matt Target and Tommaso D’Orsogna, McEvoy was part of the socalled “Stilnox Six” involved in a controversial pre-London bonding session which included taking the banned prescription sleeping drug.
While the culture of the swim team has undergone surgery since, McEvoy would prefer young teammates not to be under such a spotlight.
Australia heads into the meet with the third-best cumulative time, 2.29 seconds behind the US and 0.59s be- hind Brazil on a list compiled by website FloSwimming.
But with McEvoy confident he can improve on his national title-winning time of 47.91s and having watched young guns Jack Cartwright, Zac Incerti and his Bond Uni clubmate Alexander Graham put in searing training sessions, the Australians are in with a podium chance.
Australia is without Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers, who had recent heart surgery, and Magnussen, who is concentrating on preparations for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.