Following Stunning Relay Leg, Olivia Wunsch Rising Through Ranks of Australian Sprinting
Hoping to join the Australian women’s 400 freestyle relay squad? Good luck. Even with veterans Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell not part of the team since the Tokyo Olympics, the group still comprises the world’s most talented relay. At this year’s Australian Trials, six of the eight finalists in the women’s 100 free were Olympic gold medalists while another, Shayna Jack, has returned to her place in the elite ranks after a positive test for a banned substance ruined her Olympic chances in 2021.
Essentially, the final consisted of a who’s who of elite sprinting — plus a 17-year-old from Carlisle Swim Club in Sydney. Well, it has not taken long for that teenager to establish her own world-class credentials.
Olivia Wunsch has already earned four medals at the World Junior Championships in Netanya, Israel, with gold medals in the 100 free, mixed 400 free relay and most recently the women’s 400 free relay plus a tie for bronze in the 50 butterfly. Wunsch will also be favored for two more medals Saturday, as she is the top seed in the 50 free, having blasted a best time of 24.60 in the semifinals, before she is set to anchor the Aussie women’s 400 medley relay.
In her individual victory Wednesday, Wunsch took over on the back half, overtaking Italian Sara Curtis before winning by 37-hundredths over fellow Aussie Milla Jansen. By the finish, the next-closest non-Australian swimmer was nearly one second adrift. Wunsch made her maiden voyage under 54 in that final, swimming a mark of 53.71.
Well, it turns out the individual swim was a warmup for what she could accomplish on relay duty. The same night as the 100 free final, Wunsch extended the margin on American Erika Pelaez on the third leg of the mixed 400 free relay, putting Jansen in position to pull away for gold. And then in the single-gender event Friday, Wunsch entered the pool for the anchor leg hundredths behind Pelaez, but the Aussie ripped a 52.61 split to pull into the lead and make it a commanding gold-medal swim.
Yes, a 52-second split, with the relay-finishing magic that fellow Aussies Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon and most recently fellow teenager Mollie O’Callaghan have displayed while wearing the yellow cap with titles on the line. And from a swimmer just two days removed from clearing 54 seconds flat-start for the first time.
Sure, junior level, much different story than the women who anchored Australia to senior-level world titles and Olympic gold medals, but still stunning. In that one swim, Wunsch showed her international rivals and fellow Aussies that she possesses those intangibles required to be depended upon in key moments, essentially a requirement if she wants any chance of cracking the senior-level team that is virtually an all-star club.
Perhaps Wunsch will find herself among the big players as Australia seeks a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the women’s 400 free relay next year, but even following this near-out-of-body swim at World Juniors, she still sits well behind the slowest Aussie split from this year’s team, Meg Harris at 52.29. Such is the nature of Australian sprinting, with Campbell and younger sister Bronte no sure thing to reclaim their international slots amid the continued streak of dominance in this relay.
On the other hand, the list of non-Aussies to swim that fast at the senior-level meet in Fukuoka? Quite short, with only American Kate Douglass, Great Britain’s Freya Anderson, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen surpassing the latest swift effort by the swimmer considered the eighth-best in Australia in the event only two months ago. Now, however, Wunsch looks like not only a threat to break onto the senior level but a potential star continuing the rich legacy of Australian 100 freestyle success.