Cate Campbell Back? World Cup Swims Have Aussie Legend Set for Legitimate Paris Run
Coming off a yearlong sabbatical from the sport, it was fair to doubt whether Cate Campbell could make a serious impact on Australian sprinting in the leadup to a potential fifth Olympic Games, when Campbell would be 32 years old. Even solid swims akin to the marks she posted in Tokyo two years would put her merely on the periphery of the world’s most elite sprint freestyle group.
Remember, at the recent World Championships, Australian women posted the three fastest splits on the women’s 400 free relay with Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack and Emma McKeon, and Meg Harris’ 52.29 was fifth-best in the field, one hundredth behind American Kate Douglass. O’Callaghan has two world titles in the 100 free while McKeon is the defending Olympic champion and Jack the ninth fastest performer ever. In the 50 free, McKeon is the reigning Olympic titlist in the 50 free, too, while Harris and Jack have made podium runs at the last two Worlds, with Jack blasting a 24.01 for silver in Fukuoka.
So how does Campbell get herself into that mix to truly aid the Aussies in a pursuit of a fourth consecutive 400 free relay crown and maybe contend for another individual medal? By swimming the kind of times she is currently posting among elite competition at the World Cup.
Consider Campbell’s results from the opening leg of the series in Berlin: sure, Sarah Sjostrom overshadowed her in the splash-and-dash. The Swedish sprint legend does that to plenty of elite swimmers. Sjostrom recorded a solid 23.95 in Berlin, 34-hundredths off the world record of 23.61 she set in the semifinals in Fukuoka, but Campbell was just behind in 24.11. She was more than a half-second clear of American Torri Huske (24.66).
That time matched Campbell’s own bronze-medal-winning effort from the 2019 World Championships, and it would have been good enough to podium at every major meet since. Campbell swam four hundredths quicker than Zhang Yufei did in capturing bronze in Fukuoka.
Similar story in the two-lap race, where Siobhan Haughey nearly joined Sjostrom and McKeon in the exclusive sub-52 club, but Campbell grabbed second, holding off a fast-finishing Sjostrom in a time of 53.26. Not close to Campbell’s own best time (52.03) but ahead of the world-record holder and well clear of the last two World Championship bronze medalists in this race, the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen (53.86) and the USA’s Huske (54.66).
Is Campbell a likely individual medal contender in the 100 free in her 30s? Probably not, but say she dips a few tenths under 53. Even if she’s on par with Australia’s third or fourth-fastest member of the younger 100 free contingent, surely the Aussie coaches would love to use one of the most prolific relay swimmers ever in a big moment. This year’s world-record-clobbering time of 3:27.96 could again go by the wayside in Paris with Campbell in tow.
And how about the 50? If Campbell can continue to make incremental progress in her comeback, we cannot rule out a podium run. Campbell previously won Olympic bronze in the 50 free 16 years ago, touching third at the Beijing Games behind Britta Steffen and Dara Torres. Chances are improving that Campbell could get back to that spot half a lifetime later.
It won’t happen Australia to much depth and quality and now with Olivia breaking thru Cate time is over