A quick rest at the Athletes Village following her victory in the 100m Freestyle final this morning and then McKeon was back to the pool, eager to put her electric speed to work in the 50m Freestyle. 

That she certainly did, unleashing a 24.02 second swim which clipped 0.03 seconds off the Olympic record set at the London Olympic Games by Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands. It looked effortless, although that is an image the 27-year-old projects after just about all of her races. 

Australia was first and third going into the semi-finals stage, with Cate Campbell backing up her brave bronze in the 100m Freestyle to cruise to a 24.15 second swim in her heat. Indeed, so much did she cruise that Pernille Blume of Denmark (24.12) pipped her right at the death. 

Sweden’s world record holder Sarah Sjoestroem rounded off the heats session by winning her race in 24.26. But although the times were compressed, as they are by nature in a 50m sprint, McKeon certainly looks like the swimmer to beat. 

If she or Campbell can win, it would mean that Australia won every freestyle event from the 50m to the 400m at these Games, reminiscent of the most successful Olympics Australia has ever had in the pool, the Melbourne Games of 1956, where it won every freestyle event.  

The men haven’t been quite so proficient, with Kyle Chalmers in the 100m Freestyle and Jack McLoughlin in the 400m freestyle both finishing with silver, losing gold by a mere whisker. 

Given Australia’s powerful showing in all the freestyle events here, it is staggering that no Australian has ever made it to the podium in the Men’s 50m. And the drought which has lasted since the event was first contested in Seoul in 1988 will extend at least until Paris 2024 after Cameron McEvoy was eliminated at the heat stage tonight. 

Competing at his third Olympics, McEvoy was hoping to revive his glory days of 2016 but sadly the raw speed that had taken him to a 21.44 seconds clocking at the Rio Olympic trials was nowhere in evidence. He finished at the tail of his heat in 22.31sec, fully a second behind the time of American Caeleb Dressel, the newly-crowned Olympic 100m Freestyle champion. 

In the final analysis, McEvoy finished in 29th position, missing the cut-off point for the 16-man semi-finals by 0.34 seconds. 

Dressel might have beaten Chalmers by a mere 0.06 seconds in the 100m Freestyle final but he looked in total charge of the 50m field, finishing in 21.32, 0.33sec ahead of his nearest rival, two-time Olympic champion Florent Manaudoe of France. 

At the other end of the freestyle spectrum, the 1500m, the glory days of Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett winning four Olympic titles in succession appear to be well over. Their victories from 1992 to 2004 ensure that Australia historically has scored more medals in this race than the USA, the only event on the program in which they can make that boast. 

Hence, it was disappointing that the Dolphins will not have a single swimmer in the final to defend that record with its two representatives, Jack McLoughlin (14.56.98) and Thomas Neill (15.04.65) both being eliminated at the heat stage.  

Gregorio Paltrineri of Italy, the defending Olympic champion, will mount a defence of his title, after qualifying fourth fastest in 14.49.17, 15 seconds outside his winning time in Rio, while the man who took the silver at the last two world championships, Mykhailo Romanchuk led the field in 14.45.99. Ominously, for the Australia-USA rivalry, Robert Finke, the interloper who dramatically won the 800m freestyle from out of the blue, also advanced to the final. 

The Australian women’s team qualified third fastest for the 4x100m Medley Relay in 3.35.39 after an excellent anchor leg from 17-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan secured them a heat win over Italy. If this does prove to be the final hurrah for the two relay mainstays of the side, McKeon and Campbell, Australia will know that the anchor leg will be in good hands with O’Callaghan closing in 52.35 seconds.  

The Canadians upstaged the Americans to head the rankings for this final but Australia will undergo a fairly radical overhaul for the final with McKeon to swim the butterfly, Kaylee McKeown the backstroke and Campbell the anchor leg of freestyle. 

The men’s team of Mitch Larkin, Zac Stubblety-Cook, David Morgan and Chalmers, however, looked to be in all sorts of bother before Chalmers once again closed out the deal with a stunning final leg to qualify them in sixth position. If there were a few red faces at that result, one can only imagine how the USA was feeling after qualifying seventh. They do, after all, have a nine-match streak stretching back to the 1980 Olympics – which they boycotted – to defend in this event. 

Wayne Smith