The nation of Australia finished as runner-up to the United States of America in the overall swimming medal table at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Aussies rounded up a total of 10 medals, composed of 3 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze in Brazil.

Swimming Australia is wasting no time in preparations to potentially improve upon those hardware counts this year in Tokyo, as the nation’s top swimmers will be entering National Event Camp (NEC) season.

Last year there were 7 camps that spanned various disciplines and events, while 2020 brings a total of 8 camps.

Per National Team Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren, who will be leaving Swimming Australia after this Tokyo campaign, said the camps would provide opportunities for collaboration, innovation and to sharpen technical focus in an important year for Australian swimming.

“No one camp is the same and the programs are designed and led by our designated head coaches, which I think is fantastic as it will expose some of the athletes to different training environments as well as collaboration with other athletes from outside their usual training venues,” Verhaeren said.

“Some of the camps will also have a strong focus on relays as our work on the national relay testing program continues to take shape.

“These camps tend to often foster healthy competition and allow athletes to have increased access to event-specific coaching from inside our senior-level programs.

“The athletes from our pathway programs will also have the chance to be exposed to senior international training preparation which they will benefit from.

“The camps will be supported by some of the country’s top sports science and sport medicine professionals who will provide support on innovation for both athletes and coaches.

Coaches to the tune of Dean Boxall, Simon Cusack and Peter Bishop will be among those returning to the National Event Camp fold.

Boxall will be in charge of the women’s 200m freestyle and relay camp at Noosa, while Bishop will work with Craig Jackson of Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on the men’s 100m free and 200m freestyle and relay camps. Cusack will lead the final camp of the women’s 100m freestyle and relay.

Additional leaders for 2020 include Glenn Baker 0f Southport (backstroke camp), Michael Bohl of Griffith University (butterfly camp), Chris Mooney of Universtiy of Sunshine Coast (breaststroke camp), Vince Raleigh of Brisbane Aquatic Centre.

The usual elite swimming suspects of the Campbell sisters, Emma McKeon, Ariarne Titmus, Emily Seebohm, Elijah Winnington, Kyle Chalmers, Mack Horton and more are among the names detailed below as attending the respective camps. But, these experienced medalists will also be joined by the likes of a younger set, hoping to gain skill and confidence training alongside the top Dolphins.

Among them is Lani Pallister, the Cotton Tree teen trained by her mom who took home 3 individual gold medals from the 2019 World Junior Championships, topping the podium across the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events.

Elizabeth Dekkers is another young female making waves down under, with the 15-year-old Queenslander firing off a mega lifetime best mark of 2:08.51 in the 200m fly at December’s Queensland Championships.

Heading to the backstroke camp is 16-year-old Joshua Edwards-Smith, a budding star who has also been wreaking havoc on the age record boards. He, too, was at the Queensland Championships last December, lowering his own Age Record in the 200m back to a new mark of 1:57.78.

Still making a comeback of sorts is 21-year-old Jack Cartwright of St. Peters Western. Cartwright dropped out of his nation’s World Championships Trials last year due to a nagging shoulder injury. He doesn’t appear to have raced since August of 2019 at the Queensland Short Course Championships.

At the 2017 World Championships, Cartwright placed 7th in the men’s 100m free, touching in a time of 48.24. The next year he took 2 relay golds on the Gold Coast at the Commonwealth Games. Cartwright registered a split of 47.71, the fastest of the Aussie squad, to contribute to gold in the men’s 4x100m free relay. He also earned gold as a prelims swimmer on the men’s medley.

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