Time to heat up
CAMERON McEvoy and his coach Richard Scarce remain upbeat about his progress following his fourth placing at the world swimming championships but his spot at next year’s Commonwealth Games is far from guaranteed.
The Gold Coast sprint star finished fourth in the 100m final, although he was just 0.05sec off second place.
While McEvoy remains the fastest man in history in a textile suit with his 2016 national title-winning time of 47.04, newly minted world champion Caeleb Dressel is not far behind after winning in 47.17 in Budapest yesterday lian time).
After a long post-Olympic break, McEvoy did not have the fitness base to compete with Dressel this week but his effort to dip under the 48second barrier in the heats, semis and finals has encouraged him and Scarce.
But a rematch with Dressel will have to wait.
With the world championships over after this weekend, McEvoy will refocus on a home Commonwealth Games.
But he faces unprecedented domestic competition and sealing a berth – even with (Austra- three individual spots open – will be no cake walk.
Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers, who missed the world championships after having heart surgery, former world champion James Magnussen and rising star Jack Cartwright, who made the final in Budapest, will all be gunning for an individual swim on the Gold Coast next April and McEvoy will have to bring his A game just to qualify.
But Scarce is adamant he will be ready.
Australian coach Jacco Verhaeren famously pondered whether McEvoy had “stage fright” in the Olympic final last year after missing a medal despite being in peak physical condition.
That wasn’t the case last night. If anything the reverse may have been true.
“We know where we are at the moment in training, he’s certainly not 100 per cent fit at the moment, that’s for sure,” Scarce said.
“I think mentally he was good, he certainly tried to execute it, but full fitness is not there for the back end and he will be very keen to get back to full capacity once we get back to work again.”