Cameron McEvoy can't wait to duel for the title of world's fastest swimmer with the "legendary" Caeleb Dressel, the Queensland speedster relishing being at the heart of Australia's latest Olympic duel in the pool with the US.
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McEvoy, the first Australian man to make four Olympic swim teams, cut a relaxed and confident figure at the Dolphins' training camp in the French cathedral city of Chartres on Wednesday before they move into the Paris Games Village next Tuesday.
The 30-year-old 'Professor', whose revolutionary training techniques have prolonged and rejuvenated his career, told reporters he's been hitting personal bests and swimming as fast as he's ever done in training.
He knows he will need to be to tackle American Dressel, the five-time Olympic champion from Tokyo whose recent win at the US trials suggested he was returning to the form that brought him 50m freestyle gold three years ago.
"Having Caeleb there is awesome, he's legendary in the sprint word, an incredible run on the board with his last Olympics," said McEvoy.
"You can't get someone who has a better dive than him in the 50 free. I'm just excited to have him there and not just to brush up against him but to have the best field the world has to offer.
"Caeleb's still making progress every time he swims, I'm definitely not going into this underestimating him, he's had the quickest 50 on the board in the last four years. But it's not just him; it looks as if there's more depth in the 50 than I can remember.
"I'm hitting some pbs in the water, swimming as fast as I ever have in training which is giving me a massive confidence boost at this stage in my prep."
His duel with Dressel will be part of the perennial US-Australian rivalry that reared up again at the 2023 world championships when the Dolphins felt they topped the medal table because they'd won more golds, but the Americans insisted they'd won because of more total medals.
McEvoy smiled: "My take was I'll back Australia any day, regardless of what the medal tally says.
"I'm a big fan of the rivalry, it goes back a very long way. My earliest memories go back to Fukuoka 2001, where we won that medal tally as well when I was six years old watching Thorpey (Ian Thorpe), (Grant) Hackett and the rest of the team do their thing.
"And it's just a privilege to be in this position to continue that rivalry."
Adamant the Australian team granting him extra time to finalise preparations back home before flying out to join the team had been crucial to his current flying form, McEvoy, who's never struck gold while winning three Olympic bronze, said: "It's definitely a pinch myself moment being here.
"But it's also an opportunity for me to rewrite my relationship with the Olympics. I've had three Olympics so far, three very unique experiences, and a lot of them have been sort of like a roller coaster.
"So the privileged position I'm in now where I didn't think I would be on the team again at another Olympics, let alone being in the position to potentially get my hand on the wall first or to get a medal. It's something that I can't take for granted."
Australian Associated Press
