- Cody Simpson to swim in 100m butterfly heats
- Finishing in the top two will guarantee your Olympic selection
- He returned to the sport five years ago after pop stardom.
Pop star-turned-swimmer Cody Simpson will soon find out if he’s good enough to be an Olympic athlete in what is shaping up to be his final sporting “roll of the dice.”
The 27-year-old will swim in the heats of the 100m butterfly, his favorite event, at the Australian trials in Brisbane from 11am AEDT, and the final on Saturday night.
Standing in his way are the likes of Matt Temple and Shaun Champion, and his coach Michael Bohl was cautious when asked if Simpson was ready for the swim of his life.
“You just don’t know,” Bohl declared.
“It’s a challenge, but he’s more prepared than ever…this is his last roll of the dice and we hope he can get up and be the best he can be.”
Pop star-turned-swimmer Cody Simpson will soon find out if he’s good enough to be an Olympian when he competes in the 100m butterfly heats at the Australian trials in Brisbane.
His girlfriend Emma McKeon has already booked her place in the Dolphins team ahead of the Paris Games in July.
“It looks good, but the reality is that you have to get out of the ranking.” She ranks fourth, fifth or sixth in the 100-meter butterfly.
‘For him to get to this team is going to require a great effort. It is possible, but it is expected to be a challenge for him to achieve it. I’m not saying he’ll make it, I’m not saying he won’t make it.”
Simpson already suffered heartbreak at the Australian trials, narrowly missing out on the 100m freestyle final after finishing 10th in the heats.
Simpson was rubbing salt in the wound and then recorded her best time 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 competed in the second division final. He won the race after recording a personal best time of 48.67.
Simpson already suffered heartbreak at the Australian trials and narrowly missed the 100m freestyle final.
If he had achieved that excellent time in the A final, he would be on the Olympic team in Paris as a relay swimmer in the 4×100 m event.
“Swimming is tough,” Simpson told a group of reporters after falling out of contention for a spot in the 100-meter freestyle relay.
‘You’re training for a long time for really marginal, sometimes microscopic gains.
“I’ve been hitting a brick wall trying to get to the next level, and the faster you get, the harder it is to keep doing it.”