Australia’s swimming dominance: Small population but big results

SINGAPORE (AP) – Australia has a relatively small population. But Australia is a giant when it comes to competitive swimming. Whether it’s the Olympics, or as it is this time with the swimming world championships opening in the pool in Singapore on Sunday, Aussie swimmers grace the podium.

“We have swimming in our DNA as a country,” Rohan Taylor, Australia’s head coach, told The Associated Press.

“We have to be particular and purposeful in finding the talent,” he added. “And then it’s the coaching. We can’t get it wrong. We get one crack at the talented athlete.”

Australia won seven gold medals and 18 overall at last year’s Paris Olympics, second in both categories to the United States.

The United States has 340 million people, almost 13 times Australia’s population of 27 million. The Americans won eight gold and 28 overall.

China, No. 3 with 12 overall, won only two gold medals from a population of 1.4 billion – 52 times Australia’s.

Australia’s women are swimming powers, led by Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O’Callaghan. Add in Moesha Johnson, who has already won the 10- and 5-kilometer open-water races in Singapore and expects to race the 800 and 1,500 in the pool.

McKeown won the 100 and 200 backstroke in Paris and in Tokyo in 2021. She also won both races two years ago at the worlds in Fukuoka, Japan. O’Callaghan is the defending 200 freestyle winner for Paris.

Then there’s men like Kyle Chalmers, who won the 100 free at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and has piled up nine Olympics medals and 12 in world championships.

“They have done so well on the international stage – multiple times,” Taylor said. “So it’s another opportunity for them to add to their CVs.”

For French star Léon Marchand, the world championships mean easing off. He won four individual Olympic gold medals a year ago in Paris. The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 are still far off.

Time to swim a lighter schedule.

None of that for Canadian Summer McIntosh. She won three individual gold medals in Paris, but will go for five in Singapore, a test run for her program in Los Angeles.

These worlds, a year after the Olympics, feature swimmers in their prime, older swimmers who want to see if they can make it to LA, and young swimmers making their debut.

Another worlds is set for 2027 in Budapest, Hungary – the final proving ground before the 2028 Olympics.

Marchand is expected to race only the 200 and 400 individual medley races in Singapore, dropping the 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly. He won gold in all four in Paris, but wants to be fresh from the two IM races and world-record shots.

In Singapore, McIntosh will go in the two IMs, the 200 fly, and the 400 and 800 freestyle. She did not swim the 800 free in Paris. This time she will, which sets up a showdown with American superstar Katie Ledecky – maybe the most anticipated race of the worlds.

The eight gold medals that U.S. swimmers won to top the Paris standings was their lowest victory total at the Olympics since the 1988 Seoul Games, when the Americans fell to East Germany. Singapore is the place to regroup and add youth, with the home Los Angeles Olympics in view.

The American men had a tough Olympics with the only gold from Bobby Finke in the 1,500. Look for some new faces in Singapore.

“The average age of our men’s team is younger than the average age of our women’s team,” U.S. coach Greg Meehan told The AP. He said it was “the first time in recent memory.”

He ran off names like freestylers Jack Alexy, Luke Hobson, and Rex Maurer and Luka Urlando in the butterfly.

“I do acknowledge that the rest of the world is getting better. There is no doubt about it,” Meehan said. “I love a challenge – I’m going to lean into that.”

Familiar names stand out on the women’s side – Katie Ledecky, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske, Kate Douglass and Regan Smith. Ledecky, of course, is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 800 and 1,500 freestyle.

Walsh holds the world record in the 100 fly, and Smith in the 100 backstroke.

Yes. A 12-year-old swimmer named Yu Zidi from China is competing in the world championships, and her incredible times mean she might win a medal. At 12.

Yu has qualified in the 200 and 400 IMs and the 200 fly. Her time of 2:10.63 in the 200 IM was the fastest ever from a 12-year-old swimmer – female or male.

Yu has a best in the 200 fly of 2:06.83 and 4:35.53 in the 400 IM. Both times would have been good enough for fourth place in last year’s Olympics.

The Chinese stars are Pan Zhanle, who set a world record of 46.40 in 100 freestyle in Paris, and Qin Haiyang. Qin holds the world record in the 200 breaststroke in 2:05.48.