Australia witnessing new ‘golden era’: McEvoy

Veteran swimmer ecstatic over country’s dominance at world championships

FUKUOKA:

Veteran Cameron McEvoy hailed the dawning of a new golden era of Australian swimming on Friday, with his teammates dominating at the world championships in Fukuoka.

Australian swimmers have claimed nine golds and broken four world records in five days of competition so far in Japan, leaving nearest rivals China and the United States trailing in their wake.

McEvoy has been part of the Australian team since the 2012 London Olympics and he said this year's "exceptional" vintage was on a par with the best the country had ever produced.

"I had heard a lot about the golden era, the early 2000s, the late 90s," said McEvoy, who qualified fastest from the men's 50m freestyle heats in a time of 21.35sec.

"I didn't think I would be a part of a team that would replicate that so soon.”

Ariarne Titmus started things off for the Australians by winning the women's 400m freestyle in world record time on the competition's opening night.

Mollie O'Callaghan did the same in the 200m freestyle, while the Australian women's relay team also set world records in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle.

McEvoy said Australia's showing in Fukuoka "bodes pretty well for longevity".

"Now, all of a sudden, not only do we have a whole team doing really well, there's a few people doing absolute insane times, at a young age too," he said.

McEvoy is enjoying a career resurgence after taking a break from swimming for all of 2022.

He clocked the two fastest 50m freestyle times of the year at the Australian trials last month.

He also led the morning heats in Fukuoka, ahead of Szebasztian Szabo on 21.67 and France's Florent Manaudou on 21.72.

McEvoy said he believes he is "in a great spot to snag a medal", after exiting in the 50m butterfly heats earlier in the week.

"I wanted to come out this morning, do a solid time and see where I'm at," he said.

"The nature of the 50 is really how well you can execute it."

In the morning's other heats, Katie Ledecky was back in action in the women's 800m freestyle.

The American extended her record as the most decorated woman swimmer in the history of the world championships in the 1,500m freestyle earlier in the week, winning a 20th gold medal.

She is looking to win a record sixth 800m title and she had the fastest time in the heats with 8min, 15.60sec.

China's Li Bingjie was second-fastest on 8:20.51, followed by New Zealand's Erika Fairweather on 8:21.06.

Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom got her individual campaign started in the women's 50m butterfly.

Sjostrom, a 10-time world champion, finished fastest in a time of 25.04sec, followed by China's Zhang Yufei on 25.33 and Japan's Rikako Ikee on 25.50.

"Usually I'm very tired on day six of a championship, so it felt good to be in the water today," said Sjostrom.

Australia's Kaylee McKeown kept her bid for a clean sweep of the backstroke titles on track.

McKeown has already won gold in the 50m and 100m backstroke and she eased through the 200m heats in a fifth-fastest time of 2min, 09.30sec.

American Regan Smith was quickest in 2:07.24, followed by China's Peng Xuwei on 2:08.68 and Poland's Laura Bernat on 2:09.08.

In the men's 100m butterfly, Australia's Matthew Temple was quickest in a time of 50.76sec.

Nyls Korstanje of the Netherlands was second-fastest on 50.78, followed by Canada's Josh Liendo on 50.98.