Australian Swimming World Championship Trials 2023: Cody Simpson misses out in final bid to make Fukuoka Worlds
Popstar and Commonwealth Games swimmer finished outside the top two in all three of his events, but will have a final chance to qualify for Paris 2024 at Australia’s Olympic swimming trials next year.
Swimming
Australian popstar-turned-swimmer Cody Simpson has missed his last opportunity to qualify for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships through the Swimming Australia World Championship Trials, which wrapped up in Melbourne on Sunday (18 June).
Simpson competed in three events – the men’s 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, and 100m freestyle. While he made the finals in all of them, he finished outside the top two across the board, including in his signature 100m butterfly on Sunday evening.
He was fifth in the 100 fly in 52.23, 0.45 seconds shy of his personal best and 0.95 seconds outside the Australian World Championship qualifying time.
Also on the final day in Melbourne, Mollie O'Callaghan produced her second big upset of the week as she defeated Emma McKeon in the women's 100m freestyle.
Earlier in the week, O'Callaghan beat Ariarne Titmus to take victory in the 200 free.
Cody Simpson: More left to prove
Cody Simpson made the decision to switch his focus from a successful singing career to swimming in mid-2020 and has since been out to silence doubters who identified him primarily as a popstar.
He thought he had made the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest when he finished third in the 100 fly at the Australian trials, but Kyle Chalmers opted to contest that event having previously indicated he would not.
That third place did secure qualification for Australia's team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where he finished fifth in a time of 52.06.
Simpson also won 4x100m freestyle gold and 4x100m medley silver in Birmingham after swimming in the heats.
The pair went head-to-head again in the 100 fly final in Melbourne, Simpson's final attempt to make the national team for the Fukuoka World Championships which also serves as a major qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Matthew Temple, the Australian record holder in the event, won the race in 51.35 with Chalmers touching the wall in 51.61 to finish second.
While Simpson's time was an improvement on the 53.48 he recorded at April's Australian Swimming Championships, having just recovered from illness, it was not enough to earn selection.
His previous efforts in Melbourne, fourth in the 50 fly and seventh in the 100 free, were also short of what was required for Fukuoka with the top six in the 100 free earning relay places.
Cody Simpson: Paris 2024 dream further, but still possible
Becoming an Olympian at Paris 2024 is Simpson's ultimate goal since he made the decision to focus on a swimming career.
While he missed out on the opportunity to make the national team at the 2023 Worlds, his dreams of becoming an Olympian are far from over.
The multi-talented star will have a final chance to qualify to the 2024 Games when Australia holds its Olympic swimming trials from 10-15 June next year.
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A place in Australia's team is notoriously difficult to come by with swimmers often having to meet qualification standards faster than those set by the sport’s governing body, World Aquatics.
Thirty-eight swimmers made the national team for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships which begin in Fukuoka on 23 July.
Australia's most decorated Olympian Emma McKeon, O'Callaghan, Titmus, Kaylee McKeown and Lani Pallister each qualified for three events at the World Championships.
World record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook also made the team and will defend his 200m breaststroke title in Fukuoka.
Three more swimmers will also be defending individual titles next month: Elijah Winnington in the men’s 400m freestyle, O’Callaghan in the women’s 100m freestyle and McKeown in the women’s 200m backstroke.
Full results from the six-day competition can be found here.