Australia head coach defends team slump

MELBOURNE: Swimming Australia head coach Jacco Verhaeren has defended his team’s flop at the Budapest pool where the former swimming power slumped to its lowest World Aquatics Championships medal haul in nearly 30 years.

Australia managed only a solitary gold to Emily Seebohm, who successfully defended her 200m backstroke title, and finished eighth overall on the medals table headed by the dominant United States.

The meagre haul came less than a year after Australia’s Olympic team arrived in Rio with eight of the world’s leading times but emerged with only three golds after a number of their top hopes crashed out.

The Budapest blow-out will do little to allay concerns that Australia’s top swimmers wither in the spotlight of the major events but Verhaeren said he was “very proud” of his team’s efforts in Hungary.

“(This result) reflects where we are at and where some of our medal contenders are in terms of their preparation,” the Dutchman said in comments published by The Australian newspaper.

“I’m absolutely very pleased with the rookies and the performances they set and the steps they made into finals, into records, into personal best times.

“I wouldn’t want to use the words happy or satisfied because that would mean we were at the end of the journey when it’s the beginning.”

Australia’s Olympic 100m freestyle champion Kyle Chalmers missed the meeting due to heart surgery, while former 100m world champion James Magnussen skipped it to preserve himself for next year’s home Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast.

Former 100m freestyle world record holder Cate Campbell also elected to sit it out, while her sister Bronte’s title defence in the sprint was hampered by shoulder injuries.

But there were some notable setbacks, with Cameron McEvoy missing out on a podium spot in the 100m freestyle and Mitch Larkin crashing badly in his defence of both his 100m and 200m backstroke titles. — Reuters