Olympic Champions Kyle Chalmers and Mack Horton Lead New Look Dolphins For Budapest World Championship Assault

Olympic Champions Kyle Chalmers and Mack Horton Lead New Look Dolphins For Budapest World Championship Assault

MACK SPLASH: Mack Horton returns to the 400m freestyle in Budapest. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

THE Australian men’s team will unleash six new faces and 11 Tokyo Olympians on its FINA World Championship roster for Budapest, starting Saturday, with Paris 2024 firmly on the mind of Australian Head Coach Rohan Taylor.

The 18-strong group will be led by Olympic champions Kyle Chalmers and Mack Horton with Chalmers swimming individual butterfly events and by-passing his individual freestyle but expect to see him bolster the Dolphins relays.

While Horton will return to his signature 400m freestyle after missing the chance to defend his Rio crown in Tokyo – and a place in the 4×200 also awaits as the Dolphins blood their fresh freestyle faces Sam Short, Thomas Nowakowski, Grayson Bell and William Yang – a group that will be bolstered by the return of 4x100m freestyle relay team member – the experienced Jack Cartwright.

Here is an event-by event guide to Australia’s men’s team for the Budapest World Championships.

50m freestyle: An event Australia has never won at a World Championships and one that has seen the men struggle in more recent times. To see newcomer Thomas Nowakowski (Somerset, QLD) under 22 seconds consistently is an encouraging start towards Paris 2024. Along with team mate Grayson Bell they are coached by Sydney 4x100m freestyle relay gold medallist Ashley Callus – who holds the Australian record at 21.19 (2009). Australia’s only medallist in this event is Michael Klim who actually dead-heated for bronze with Ricky Busquets (Puerto Rico) in Perth in 1998.

2022 Australian Championships:

Thomas Nowakowski (Somerset, QLD) 21.86
Grayson Bell (Somerset, QLD) 22.08
Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) 22.33

WHERE THERE’S A WILL: This the reaction from Sydney’s William Yang when he added his name to the list of Australian champions in the men’s 100m freestyle….next stop the World’s. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

100m freestyle: The Dolphins will unleash a fresh new talent in Sydney boy William Yang (Loreto Normanhurst, NSW) who put his hand up at the Trials in Adelaide as a new breed of male sprinter, breaking through to win the title and land a spot on his first National team under the direction of coaches Bobby Hurley (Loreto Normanhurst) and Adam Kable at the SOPAC Performance Hub. Yang will be joined by Tokyo Olympic relay medallist Zac Incerti, who has thrived under Peter Bishop and in the company of his best mate, Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers in event won twice by Australia’s James Magnussen in 2011 and 2013.

2022 Australian Championships:

William Yang (Loreto Normanhurst, NSW) 48.55
Zac Incerti (Marion, SA) 48.65
Flynn Southam (Bond, QLD) 48.76
Jack Cartwright (St Peters Western QLD) 49.04

200m Freestyle: The move from WA to Adelaide and coach Peter Bishop for Tokyo find Zac Incerti (Marion, SA) has seen the big boy from Australia’s golden west take another step up the ladder, landing two individual spots for these World Championships, this one alongside Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD) who has re-booted his career after a disappointing Tokyo campaign. An event dominated by Australia between 1998 and 2003 with Michael Klim taking the first gold in Perth in 1998 and the legend that is Ian Thorpe going back-to-back in Fukuoka in 2001 and Barcelona in 2003.

2022 Australian Championships:

Zac Incerti (Marion, SA) 1:45.80
Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD) 1:46.01
Mack Horton (Griffith University, QLD) 1:46.70

400m freestyle: Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD) certainly made every post a winner to keep 2016 Olympic champion Mack Horton (Griffith University, QLD) at bay in the Trials with Horton thriving in his new surrounds under coach Michael Bohl on the Gold Coast. An event won five times by Australians – the first to Kieren Perkins in 1994 in Rome before the great Ian Thorpe took control in 1998, 2001 and 2003 before Grant Hackett added the fifth in Montreal in 2005. Horton has finished with silver twice in 2017 and 2019 and a podium finish for him here would be as satisfying as anything he has ever achieved.

2022 Australian Championships:

1.Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD) 3:43.10
2. Mack Horton (Griffith University, QLD) 3:44.06
3. Samuel Short (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) 3:44.34

800m Freestyle: An event that Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD) has shied away from internationally despite some encouraging performances domestically, but an event that could well suit him and his lead from the front style. Joined by emerging star Sam Short, who just missed Tokyo selection but a tough kid who gets his chance to unleash here. An event introduced to the World’s program in 2001 when Ian Thorpe set a new world record and staged a thrilling duel with team mate Grant Hackett, defending his title in 2003 before Hackett made it three straight for Australia in 2005.

2022 Australian Championships:

1.Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD) 7:45.30
2. Samuel Short (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) 7:48.65
3. Joshua Staples (St Peters Western, QLD) 7:58.26

Sam Short under water stroke Photo Wade Brennan

LONG AND STRONG: Australia’s lone 1500m entrant for Budapest Sam Short and the style that took him to the Australian title. Photo Courtesy: Wade Brennan Photography.

1500m Freestyle: Let’s hope that Samuel Short (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) isn’t short on laps when he makes his World’s 1500m debut in Budapest, after stopping after 1400m at the Australian Championships – the bell ringing in his ears to signal that he still had two laps to swim – but still winning the title and qualifying for his first team. A dream come true for Short who has grown up dreaming of emulating his heroes and following in the footsteps of Australia’s greatest 1500m swimmers – so many of them Queenslanders like the inaugural world champion from 1973 Steve Holland (who actually swam two extra laps); 1994 golden boy Kieren Perkins and four-time winner Grant Hackett who owned the event between 1998 and 2005. It’s now Sam Short’s time – a lone wolf in this event who will relish the challenge.

2022 Australian Championships:

1.Samuel Short (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) 15:05.55
2. Alec Mander (Perth City, WA) 15:15.02
3. Kieren Pollard (North Coast, WA) 15:16.39

50m Backstroke: It was a record that had been in his sights all season and Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) finally cracked 2015 World’s bronze medallist Ben Treffers 2014 Australian record of 24.54 in the Trials final. He clocked 24.44 and will be joined by triple Olympian and Australia’s No 1 backstroker Mitch Larkin in an event that also saw Matt Welsh take bronze in 2001 and silvers in ’03 and ’05.

2022 Australian Championships:
1. Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) 24.44 AR
2. Ben Armbruster (Bond Swimming, QLD) 25.13
3. Bradley Woodward (Mingara Aquatic, NSW) 25.35

100m Backstroke: Australia will field a two-pronged attack in the 100m backstroke with newly crowned National champion Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) and 2015 World champion and 2019 bronze medallist Mitch Larkin (Chandler, QLD) lining up in a race that was first won by an Australian in 2001 with 2000 Olympic bonze medallist Matt Welsh.

2022 Australian Championships:
1. Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) 54.02
2. Mitch Larkin (Chandler, QLD) 54.30
3. Joshua Edwards-Smith (Griffith University, QLD) 54.33

200m backstroke: Mitch Larkin – the 2015 world champion will be joined by rookie and former WA age group champion Joshua Edward -Smith (Griffith University, QLD) who made the move to the Gold Coast last year to join Michael Bohl . It was Edward -Smith who edged out seven-time winner Larkin to take the National title in a race that had it’s first Australian World Championship medal awarded to Mark Tonelli – a silver in Cali, Columbia in 1975.

GUNS AND POSES: Josh Edwards-Smith primed for Budapest with his first Australian title in the 200m backstroke. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

2022 Australian Championships:

1.Joshua Edwards -Smith (Griffith University, QLD) 1:56.71
2. Mitch Larkin (Chandler, QLD) 1:56.79
3. Bradley Woodward (Mingara Aquatic, NSW) 1:57.38

50m Breaststroke: Australia will be represented by Grayson Bell (Somerset, QLD) who was fourth in Trials in 27.79 – a freestyle-breaststroker who qualified in the 50m freestyle, earning a second swim here. An event that has only seen one medallist at the World Championship for Australia since it was introduced in 2001 – silver to Christian Sprenger in 2013.

2022 Australian Championships:
1. Samuel Williamson (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 27.05
2. Jake Packard (USC Spartans, QLD) 27.67
3. Nash Wilkes (Southport, QLD) 27.75

100m Breaststroke: Olympic champion and WR holder over 200m breast Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD) is slowly but surely adding the 100m to his repertoire, knowing full well if nothing else it is needed by Australia’s medley and mixed relay aspirations ! An event won by Brenton Rickard in 2009 and Christian Sprenger in 2013.

2022 Australian Championships:

1.Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD) 59.60
2. Joshua Yong (USC Spartans, QLD) 1:00.04
3. Samuel Williamson (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 1:00.52

DOUBLE ACT: Zac Stubblety-Cook and Matt Wilson ready to take on the world. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

200m Breaststroke: Look out world here comes Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD) Olympic champion and Australia’s latest world record holder in this event who is now on the World Championship trail with his team mate, Matthew Wilson (SOPAC, NSW), himself a former world record holder from 2019, when he won the silver. Australia had medalled twice before in Melbourne in 2007 when Brenton Rickard salvage a rare silver before Christian Sprenger dead-heated for bronze in Rome in 2009.

2022 Australian Championships:

Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD) 2:05.95 (World Record)
Matthew Wilson (SOPAC, NSW) 2:10.14
Adam Selwood (Western Melbourne, VIC) 2:13.68

50m Butterfly: Olympic 100m freestyle gun Kyle Chalmers fires his first butterfly shots towards Paris when he lines up in both the 50 and 100m butterfly events in Budapest – the 50m first swum in 2001 and won by Geoff Huegill and in 2003 by Matt Welsh. Chalmers knows to be competitive here he will have to nudge 23 seconds with only Matt Targett (22.73), Andrew Lauterstein (23.10) and Huegill (23.11) having swum faster.

2022 Australian Championships:

Kyle Chalmers (Marion, SA) 23.21
William Yang (Loreto Normanhurst, NSW) 23.50
Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) 23.53

100m Butterfly: Kyle Chalmers will join Australian champion and Australian record holder, training partner at Marion, Matt Temple in a two pronged Aussie assault in an event the Rio gold and Tokyo silver medallist in the 100m freestyle will target for Paris 2024. Chalmers had originally decided to sit Budapest out like Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon but surprised himself with his times at the Trials, knowing if he wants to be competitive with the likes of arch rival Caeleb Dressel then he had better get cracking. With Temple toughing it out in Tokyo against the world’s best the Marion boys could well provide a 1-2 punch for not only Budapest but Paris.

2022 Australian Championships:

1. Matthew Temple (Marion, SA) 51.50
2. Kyle Chalmers (Marion, SA) 51.67
3. Cody Simpson (Griffith University, QLD) 51.96

BOWEN’S HURT LOCKER: Bowen Gough shows the pain of a 200m butterfly at the Australian Championships. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

200m butterfly: Bowen Gough was one of the unlucky few to miss the boat to Tokyo but wasted no time in getting back to work to make 2022 his springboard year towards Paris and it meant the big decision to leave Victoria. Like his Nunawading team mates Matt Temple and Brendon Smith to explore new avenues en route o fulfilling his dreams. And the choices are paying dividends with Gough defending his National title and swimming under the QT to secure his place on the Australian team for his first World championship – an event that has not seen one Australian on the podium. Gough will be chasing a place in what will be a very tough final to make.

2022 Australian Championships:

Bowen Gough (Griffith University, QLD) 1:56.49
Charlie Hawke (Hunter, NSW) 1:58.00
David Morgan (Miami, QLD) 1:58.39

200m Individual Medley: The name Brendon Smith (Griffith University, QLD) on the Australian Swim Team conjures up “never beaten…blistering final freestyle lap in Tokyo….Olympic bronze medallist in the 400IM…” and like his former Nunawading team mate Bowen Gough, made the big decision to join the Michael Bohl group on the Gold Coast..and with change comes change..and Smith has now included a serious look at the 200IM alongside Tokyo team mate Se-Bom Lee (Carlile, NSW). Medals maybe too much to ask…but finalists would be a great start for both Smith and Lee, with Australia’s first World’s medal coming with bronze in 2001 to Justin Norris and our last to Ian Thorpe and his silver medal swim to none other than three-time winner Michael Phelps in Barcelona in 2003.

2022 Australian Championships:

1.Brendon Smith (Griffith University, QLD) 1:58.59
2. Se-Bom Lee (Carlile, NSW) 1:59.48
3. Joshua Collett (Bond Swimming, QLD) 2:00.59

BUTTERFLY EFFECT: Brendon Smith on the fly at the Dolphins training camp in Slovakia. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

400m IM: Brendon Smith has worked on his strengths since arriving onto the Gold Coast to include himself in the who’s who of Australian swimmers – Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Taylor McKeown, Mack Horton, Lani Pallister, Moesha Johnson, Bowen Gough, Josh Edwards-Smith and Cody Simpson – at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre under Michael Bohl. And success has certainly bred success as the group dominated the Trials, Smith charging towards the Budapest challenge in his main event. But his freestyle, which he used to great advantage in the final laps in Tokyo when he snatched the bronze, is even stronger. At his best Smith will be in the medal hunt – and a slice of history as the first Australian male to win a medal in the gruelling event at a World Championship.

2022 Australian Championships:

Brendon Smith (Griffith University, QLD) 4:11.88
Se-Bom Lee (Carlile, NSW) 4:14.77
Kieren Pollard (North Coast, WA) 4:14.78

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