Cameron McEvoy to Race 100 Free at Silk Road World Cup
World record holder Cameron McEvoy will test his 100m freestyle at the Silk Road World Cup Tour next month, aiming for a relay spot at the Short Course
World record holder Cameron McEvoy will reportedly race the 100-meter freestyle at the Silk Road World Cup Tour next month. McEvoy has announced he will contest the 50 free, 100 free, and 50 fly during the three-stop tour.
McEvoy recently returned to training for the 100 freestyle with the goal of earning a place on Australia's 4x100 freestyle relay for the Short Course World Championships later this year. He will skip the Australian Short Course Nationals at the end of this month.
Selection Pathways
Swimming Australia's selection criteria allow for athletes to be chosen on a "discretionary basis" by the National Head Coach. This discretionary pick is subject to an athlete's medal potential in individual Olympic events or for non-Olympic individual events. As the world record holder in the long course 50 free, McEvoy is considered a strong candidate for such a selection, provided the 24-athlete team maximum has not been reached.
He also has a potential path via a new wild-card system. To qualify as a wild-card, a swimmer must compete in at least two of the three World Cup stops and finish within the top three in their individual events with a final time under the AQUA 'A' standard. A maximum of three wild-card athletes are permitted per country, and these entries do not count toward a nation's two-athlete quota or maximum team size.
Tour Schedule and Conflict
The full athlete lists for the World Cup are not yet released. The tour consists of three stops across Eurasia.
| Stop | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baku, Azerbaijan | October 1-3 |
| 2 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | October 8-10 |
| 3 | Astana, Kazakhstan | October 15-17 |
The first stop in Baku directly conflicts with the Australian Short Course National meet, which runs from September 29 to October 2.
McEvoy's Short Course History
Most of Cameron McEvoy's short course meters personal bests were set nearly a decade ago. His best times in his planned events are as follows:
| Event | Personal Best Time | Year Set |
|---|---|---|
| 50m Freestyle | 20.75 seconds | 2015 |
| 100m Freestyle | 46.19 seconds | 2016 |
| 50m Butterfly | 23.73 seconds | 2016 |
His short course 50 free best of 20.75 is notably only a tenth of a second faster than his long course world record of 20.88. When he set that short course mark in 2015, his long course best was 21.97.
