- He failed to reach the 100m freestyle final
- Now it is at the mercy of the selectors’ criteria
- He has one last chance on Saturday at his favorite event.
Cody Simpson’s extraordinary attempt to reach the Olympics after pausing his music career isn’t dead yet, despite suffering heartbreak after achieving a personal best swim in a race that didn’t count.
With the cameras off and the crowd dispersing, Simpson swam her best Thursday night in the B final of the 100 freestyle.
This swim was good enough to secure a position on the Australian Olympic team for the Paris Games, but it does not count.
Simpson missed the 100m freestyle A final by less than two-tenths of a second.
As a result, he had to compete in the B final. He won the race with a faster time than he had ever swum before.
If I had made it to the A final this time, I would have been on the Olympic team in Paris. His 48.67 seconds would have placed him in sixth place.
Simpson failed to make the A final of the 100 meter freestyle, but won the B final with a personal best time that would have qualified him for the Olympics.
Simpson, who put his musical career on hold to try to make his Olympic dream come true, is now at the mercy of the selectors’ criteria to qualify for the relay team.
Simpson also gets another chance to live her Olympic dream by qualifying in the top two of her favorite event, the 100m butterfly, on Saturday.
It was a personal best for Simpson. If he had swum faster in the heats, he might have influenced the selectors to choose him for the 4×100 m relay.
Simpson’s time of 49.04 was the 10th fastest in Thursday’s heats. Typically, the top six swimmers are selected for the freestyle relays, but fifth and sixth places may be discretionary.
The swim took place when most of the crowd had left the Brisbane Aquatic Center late on Thursday night.
It remains a promising sign for Simpson’s 100 butterfly on Saturday. Australia’s Olympic swimming team will be announced on Saturday night after the final day of competition.
There is now pressure on the selectors to possibly ‘change their rules’ to select Simpson.
However, Simpson’s bid to become an Olympian will likely depend on his performance in the 100-meter butterfly, his preferred event.
“There are a lot of competitors in the 100 free, so I knew it was going to be a little iffy trying to make that final,” Simpson told reporters.
“It’s a good warm-up for the 100 butterfly.”
Simpson sees the positive side and says his strong 100-meter swim would prepare him well for his butterfly attempt.
Simpson hopes to compete in the Olympics with fellow superstar Emma McKeon, who will compete in her final games in Paris.
Simpson needs to finish in the top two of the 100m butterfly final and reach Swimming Australia’s Olympic qualifying time of 51.17 seconds. Her personal best is 51.67, which meets the World Aquatics qualifying standard.
Simpson’s parents, Angie and Brad, swam for Australia in the major games. Simpson, a promising junior swimmer, won two gold medals at the 2009 Queensland state championships, aged 12.
In 2009, he posted songs on YouTube and was discovered by an American music manager. His family moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and Simpson became a global pop star who appeared on Broadway and in numerous television shows.
In 2020 he returned to swimming to aspire to the Paris Olympic Games. “Seems like yesterday was 2020, I came back into the water raw and completely out of shape after not having swam or competed since I was a kid,” the 27-year-old posted on Instagram.
‘I have given everything I have morning and night in training to see what I can get out of myself; I burned all the ships I could burn in the chase. I do all this for the 12 year old in me. He would be delighted to know everything that has happened.
Simpson was part of Australia’s team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. He won a gold medal as a seed swimmer in Australia’s 4x100m freestyle relay, placed fifth in the 100m butterfly final and reached the semi-finals in the 50m butterfly.