Cody Simpson qualifies for 50m butterfly semi-finals in international debut at Commonwealth Games 2022
The Australian swimmer had made his international debut in the 50m butterfly and qualified for the semi-finals on day two of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Swimming
Australia's Cody Simpson has made his much anticipated international swimming debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
And the popstar turned swimmer did it in style.
The 25-year-old has qualified for the semi-finals in the 50m butterfly by finishing second in his heat behind England's Jacob Thomas Taylor Peters.
Simpson clocked a time of 23.84 seconds, 0.20 behind Peters.
Aussie superstar Kyle Chalmers (23.75) and South Africa's Chad Le Clos (23.80) also advanced to the next round.
Semi-final one will take place Friday 29th at 20.08 (GMT+1) followed directly by semi-final two.
The final will take place at 19.07 on Saturday 30 July.
Read more: Check out our exclusive interview with Cody Simpson.
Simpson background
Simpson is a well known musician, model, and entrepreneur, but is keen to let his swimming be the focus for the time being.
In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com about his swimming journey so far he said, “I want to expand the ideas around what somebody can do in their lifetime.”
“I think it's very easy to box yourself in and label yourself. And that's the easiest thing for our minds to do to ourselves and to other people is to box them in. But I don't ever want to do that to myself and I never wanted that to other people. So I like to be unidentifiable at times I suppose.
After 10-years away from the sport, and only one year of full-time training, Simpson qualified for the Australian Olympic Trials. He missed out Tokyo 2020 by just 1.24 seconds.
At the 2022 Australian National Championships in May, he finished third in the 100m butterfly and eared a spot on the Dolphins’ team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.
His goal is to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics in at least one and possibly two events.
"I want to expand my events," he told Olympics.com. "I was in the 100 free finals at the Australian national trials, and I went 49 [seconds] twice in that day for the first time which was a step for me
“I may try a few 200s, even if it's just to get me fitter.”
How to watch Cody Simpson at 2022 Commonwealth Games
UK: BBC TV, Radio, iPlayer
Canada: CBC Sports, CBC Sports app
Australia: Channel 7, 7Plus
New Zealand: Sky, TVNZ
Further streaming details to be released on the Commonwealth Games website.
The Olympics.com team will be on the ground in Birmingham, so make sure to check out our daily live blog.