World champion James Magnussen doesn’t just want to make Australia’s Olympic team at next month’s trials in Adelaide, he wants to make a statement to the world.
Magnussen admitted on Sunday he’d found it frustrating not being able to set the pool alight at the NSW championships in Sydney as a heavy training schedule took its toll on his times.
The 20-year old won Friday’s 100m freestyle final in 49.02 seconds, a great swim by most people’s standards, but well shy of his stunning 47.49 at last year’s world titles in Shanghai.
“All I want to do is get down in those low 47s and just sort of throw a cat amongst the pigeons worldwide,” Magnussen said on Sunday after qualifying sixth-fastest for the 50m freestyle final.
“But I’m just not at that stage of training yet.
“It’s really frustrating, swimming alright but not being able to reach my full potential.”
However Magnussen, rated a $1.60 chance to win 100m gold in London, believes he’ll be back to his brilliant self at trials, starting on March 15, as he targets a place at his first Games.
And he did not completely rule out a tilt at Cesar Cielo’s 46.91-second world record in Adelaide, despite admitting he had lost some confidence since his impressive 48.05 swim at the South Australian titles a fortnight ago.
“A really quick swim at trials would sort of turn heads a little and just keep me on the front foot and constantly keeping people guessing so that’s kind of where I want to be,” Magnussen said.
“If you’d asked me after my 100 in Adelaide (if the world record was a possibility at trials), I would have said ‘for sure’.
“This week, I’ve reassessed a little. It really depends on how much we taper for trials and if we save that massive taper for Olympics or put a solid one in for trials.
“At this stage, I think we’d be happy with somewhere around worlds time or a little bit quicker at trials and then do a big taper for Olympics and have a real crack at that record.”
Magnussen opted not to compete in the 200m freestyle in Sydney and confirmed on Sunday he would not contest the event at trials.
The Port Macquarie swimmer last year signalled an interest in adding the longer event to his program but said he could not ignore advice he’d received from several sources.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people in a lot of different positions in the sport about it and the general consensus is, yeah, I could probably do a quick 200 but it really could be sacrificing a gold in the 100 for a final in the 200,” he said.
“It’s not worth it at this stage of my career but it’s certainly something I want to pursue internationally in the next year or so.”
