Cameron McEvoy
Born May 13, 1994 Cameron McEvoy is an Australian swimmer and 2012 and 2016 Olympian. McEvoy was born is from the Gold Coast, Australia and trains with QAS under Coach Richard Scarce. He is about six-feet tall, and specializes in the 100m and 200m freestyles.
McEvoy studies physics at Griffith University with the hopes of becoming an astronaut.
Australian success
In addition to his international successes, some of his Australian career highlights include winning the Australian nationals and breaking Ian Thorpe’s 100m freestyle record in the 16-year-old and 17-year-old age groups. He’s also the fifth-fastest 100m freestyle swimmers of all time.
Other passions
McEvoy is studying physics, his other passion – he’s most inspired by the 1965 Nobel prize-winning physicist, Richard Feynman. One of his biggest superstitions is making sure to knock on wood after saying something like, “I never get sick.” McEvoy is also a huge Los Angeles Lakers fan, and he once met Kobe Bryant and gave him a pair of “Australian swimmers”.
Breaking out on the swimming scene with gold medals
McEvoy is relatively new on the international swimming scene. In 2011 he had an impressive performance at the FINA World Junior Championships, winning gold in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle, bronze in the 200m freestyle and the 800m freestyle relay. The same year he won the 100m freestyle at the Singapore World Cup.
London Olympics
At just 17 years old, McEvoy qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. He swam in the heats of both freestyle relays, and he finished fourth as a member of the 400m freestyle relay, and fifth as a member on the 800m freestyle relay.
World Cup and Championships
He also swam at the 2012 Short Course FINA World Cup, where he swam his best times in both the 100m freestyle and 200m freestyle. At the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, McEvoy won silver as a heat swimmer on the 400m medley relay, and he also finished fourth in the 100m freestyle, the 400m freestyle relay, and seventh in the 200m freestyle.
More Hardware in 2014
McEvoy won two Australian titles in the 100m freestyle and 200m freestyle at the 2014 Australian Championships. He then went on to win gold in the 100 meter freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships.
2015 FINA World Championships
With more experience under his belt came more medals than two years before. McEvoy’s best performance came in the 100 meter freestyle where he finished with a silver, just 0.11 seconds behind gold. He added another silver as the freestyle leg of the 400 meter medley relay and a bronze as the lead off in the 800 meter freestyle relay. He also made the final in the 200 meter freestyle, finishing 8th.
2016 Australian Championships
McEvoy had a stunning week at the Australian Olympic trials, becoming the first Australian man to win the three sprint freestyle events at the same championship meet. He started out his record setting week touching at the exact same time as Thomas Fraser-holmes to win the 200 meter freestyle. Up next was his best event, 100 meter freestyle. He broke the Commonwealth and Australian record in 47.04 which placed him 3rd in the history books for the event. He managed gold again in the 50 meter freestyle finishing over half a second ahead of the rest of the field.
2016 Rio Olympics
In his first final in Rio, McEvoy anchored the 400 meter freestyle relay bring the Australian team home to a bronze medal. His split of 47.00 was the second fastest of all the swimmers, behind only Nathan Adrian of the United States.
He picked up another bronze medal for his efforts in the heats of the 4×100 meter medley relay. He joined Mitch Larkin, Jake Packard and David Morgan to qualify for the finals, where McEvoy was replaced by Kyle Chamlers.
In his individual events, McEvoy finished 7th in the 100 meter freestyle final in 48.12. He finished 11th in the 50 meter freestyle semi-finals in 21.89. McEvoy pulled out of the 200 meter freestyle to rest for his main event, the 100 meters freestyle.
2017 World Championships
In Budapest, McEvoy finished 4th in the 100 meter freestyle in 47.92. He was just 0.03 behind France’s Mehdy Metella who won the bronze medal. He also took part in Australia’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay but the team was disqualified on Alexander Graham’s takeover from McEvoy.
2019 World Championships
McEvoy started his world championships in the men’s 4×100 free relay, where he led off in 48.44 to help Australia get a bronze medal.
2020 Olympic Games
McEvoy, swimming in his 2nd Olympics, swam in the prelims of the 4×100 free relay, leading off in 49.18 and helping Australia secure a spot in the final. The Aussies went on to finish 3rd, netting McEvoy Olympic bronze.
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
McEvoy was off his best of 23.07 set at trials in the 50 fly prelims in 23.40 for 18th. He was brilliant in the 50 free. Mcevoy was 21.35 in the prelims for 1st. He lowered his PB of 21.27 set at 2023 AUS Trials to 21.25 to clear the field by .35 seconds in semis. That moved him up from the #10 all-time performer into a tie with Amary Leveaux for #9. Leveaux swam that time in 2009.
In the 50 free final, the professor’s pure brilliance was on full display. Eight years after swimming at his first World Championships, McEvoy finally has a world title to his name. He dominated from start to finish, swimming a time of 21.06. That time beats Ashley Callus‘ super-suited Oceanic record time of 21.19 and makes him the fourth-fastest performer in history, passing Ben Proud. He is just .02 off Caeleb Dressel’s textile world record as well.
McEvoy won his race by 0.51 seconds, which is the largest margin of victory ever in a men’s 50 free World Championships final. Previously, the largest margin of victory came from when Dressel won the event by 0.41 seconds in 2019.
2024 World Aquatics Championships (Doha, Qatar)
Following his performance in the 50 free at the 2023 World Championships, McEvoy entered the 2024 World Championships as the heavy favorite for gold. In the heats, McEvoy got off to a fantastic start, posting a time of 21.13 to take the top seed into the semi-finals by almost a half-second. His swim as also one of his fastest times ever, just off of his 21.06 from 2023.
Despite his strong start, McEvoy gradually got slower as the 50 freestyle progressed, adding a tenth to his time in the semi-finals (21.23). In the final, McEvoy was almost a half-second slower than his prelims time, touching in a time of 21.45 to take a disappointing 2nd place finish behind Vladyslav Bukhov (21.44) by .01.
McEvoy also swam the 50 butterfly, where he finished 3rd for a bronze medal in a time of 23.08, coming in just behind American Michael Andrew (23.07) and Portugal’s Diogo Ribeiro (22.97).
2024 World Aquatics Championships (Doha, Qatar)
In the 50 fly, McEvoy was strong, netting a bronze with a 23.08.
In the 50 free, McEvoy pushed hard in prelims with a huge 21.13. That was just .07 seconds shy of his Australian Record and was the 10th-best swim in history, and the third-fastest swim ever done outside of an event final. He was a little off of that in the semis with a 21.23. It seems McEvoy might have pushed too hard in prelims and semis as, in the final, he was upset by Vladyslav Bukhov, losing by just .01 seconds with a 21.45 despite his blistering .56 second reaction time.
2024 Australian Olympic Trials (Brisbane, Australia)
As expected, McEvoy finished way out in front of the rest of his competitors in the 50 free prelims, clocking a time of 21.43. That time was just 0.02 off of what he went in finals at trials last year. It was all McEvoy in the final, crushing a 21.35 for the win. His swim qualified him for his 4th Olympics, making him Australia’s first male swimmer to do so.
