Moesha Johnson

After originally making her mark in the pool, Moesha Johnson has emerged as part of a new wave of Australian open water stars heading to the Paris Olympics.

On the opening day of the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, the Gold Coast swimmer survived a sometimes brutal battle in the 10km race to nail down her place in Paris.

Claiming fourth in the frantic finale to the race means Moesha will make her Olympic debut in Paris alongside fellow Queenslander Chelsea Gubecka.

For the first time since open water’s inclusion in the Olympics in 2008, Australia will field two female competitors on the River Seine, after Chelsea qualified with a silver medal at the 2023 World Championships.

Moesha surge into the lead in the final kilometre of the race before a group including Dutch superstar Sharon van Rouwendaal swamped her in the last few metres. But fourth was enough for Moesha to claim an Olympic berth.

“It just hasn’t sunk in,” Moesha said afterwards. “That was such a hectic race, I was getting bashed out there ... people on top of me and people under me, I just had to hold on towards the end.”

The Australian team capped an extremely successful championships – where they nailed down four open water spots for Paris – with a dramatic victory in the mixed 4x1500m relay.

With the race decided in a photo finish, the quartet of Moesha, Chelsea, Nick Sloman and Kyle Lee had a nervous wait on the pontoon before it was confirmed they had just won Australia’s first open water relay world title.

The fingertip victory was built on a cracking first leg by Moesha, positioning Australia fourth, which Chelsea held on to, allowing Nick to take the lead in the third leg before Kyle gutsed his way to the finish. He finished just 0.2 seconds ahead of Italy’s Domenico Acerenza.

“I am just so proud of this team,” Moesha said. “We won a bronze medal as the underdogs last year. And, you know, I think that just has driven us all just to strive to get better."

After a decade on the fringes of the Australian team, swimming distance events in the pool and the open water, a place on the team for Paris is a reward for Moesha’s perseverance.

A relative newcomer to open water swimming, Moesha says she has become addicted to the challenge.

“I’m excited to see where all the skills I’m learning and all the areas that I’m racing in and the different situations and seeing how I can pull together the understanding I’ve got of open water swimming,” she said.

“I would not call myself a seasoned open water swimmer yet, but I’m starting to feel more comfortable with playing around with tactics and different things when I’m out on the courses now.

“Open water is a beautiful community, made up of pure work and pure toughness and with that comes a lot of respect and brings a lot of camaraderie and they are all quite humble achievers in a way.

“It is a great team to be part of.”