Australia’s goal of beating the USA in an Olympic swimming competition for the first time in 68 years could hinge on Kaylee McKeown, Sam Short, the country’s female freestylers and the hope returning American superstar Caeleb Dressel doesn’t fire in Paris.
The Dolphins have plenty of work to do after the performances of American swimmers at their Olympic trials in Indianapolis, which wrapped up on Sunday (Monday morning AEST).
As the Dolphins settled into their new French base in Canet, at the foot of the Pyrenees, the trial times suggest the US swimming team will be a force in Paris.
Australia has not beaten the USA in an Olympic swimming competition since the 1956 Melbourne Games. At the last Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, the USA won 11 gold medals to Australia’s nine. It was the closest Australia had come to the USA since Melbourne.
At last year’s world swimming championships in Japan, Australia trumped the USA, winning 13 gold medals to seven. Even if you take away the races at those world championships that won’t be on the schedule in Paris, Australia won 11 golds to the USA’s six.
Barely any of the sport’s top swimmers competed at the world championships in Doha earlier this year. However, the respective trial results gauge how swimmers are faring ahead of the Olympics. Of course, the pressure that comes with competing in an Olympic pool cannot be factored in.
There are 28 individual swimming gold medals at the Olympics - 14 for the men and 14 for the........