With the U.S. Olympic Trials now underway, swim fans, athletes and coaches around the world are keeping an eye on who makes the squad and also what times are being thrown down in the CenturyLink pool. This includes monster swimming nation and chief American rival, Australia.
With less than 40 days remaining until Rio’s opening ceremony, leading Aussie coach Michael Bohl is preparing his athletes to expect possible shake-ups to his swimmers’ standings in the world rankings once America’s trials are done and dusted.
When comparing one’s self to what’s transpiring in Omaha, Bohl says, “You can’t panic and worry about what other people are doing, but it’s just nice to know where we are at. I’ve spoken to our guys about it, you have to expect there will be fast times.” (The Daily Telegraph)
“There will be probably one, two or three world’s records and maybe in an event you’re swimming in and you can’t be distracted.”
Aussie Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren concurs, conveying that trials are only one piece of the entire quadrennial event’s puzzle. “You never really know until you’re at the Olympics, it means something but not everything,” he said.
“What we’ve seen from our trials is we have a strong and competitive team, but that’s it. World rankings at this point in time don’t mean too much.”
World-ranked swimmers Mitch Larkin and Bronte Campbell are just 2 of the super stars headed to the Australian Grand Prix in Brisbane taking place on July 1st and 2nd, marking the final elite Aussie meet before Rio.