Five races to watch at Australian swimming trials: Leary, O'Callaghan, McEvoy among stars suiting up

ADELAIDE: Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists, world champions and world record holders have touched down for the Australian swimming trials this week, taking place between Monday and Saturday.

The trials will determine the Dolphins teams for the world championships, taking place in Singapore between July 28 and August 3, and the world para-swimming championships, to be hosted by Singapore from September 21-27.

Each day is broken up into two sessions: a morning block for the heats and a night block for the finals.

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Here are five races to look out for this week.

Men's 400m freestyle

When's the final? Monday night

The race between Elijah Winnington and Sam Short in the men's 400m freestyle final promises to be an opening-night classic. Winnington won the world title in Budapest in 2022. Short then stole his crown in 2023. The Olympic year brought joy for Winnington and disaster for Short. As Short had his Paris 2024 campaign ruined by a bout of gastro and a tear in his right shoulder, Winnington captured silver in the 400m freestyle in the French capital, although Short, who battled on bravely, finished just 0.14 of a second off the podium. Short, 21, has since been building steadily with races in the USA and Brazil. His 25-year-old rival collected more hardware just before Christmas, picking up gold in the 400m freestyle at Hungary's world short-course championships. Short's personal best is 3:40.68, a time only six tenths of a second behind Ian Thorpe's national record, and Winnington's is 3:41.22.

Women's 100m backstroke

When's the final? Tuesday night

Is backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown set to snatch back her 100m world record from US rival Regan Smith? And how will the race pan out for freestyle champion Mollie O'Callaghan, who's "curious" to see just how good she can become as a backstroker? McKeown's personal best in the 100m backstroke is 57.33, which Smith bettered when she posted a 57.13 at the USA's Olympic trials last year. O'Callaghan's personal best is 57.88. In a dramatic first session of the trials, McKeown was disqualified in the heats of the 50m backstroke and then reinstated following a successful protest.

Watch the 2025 Australian swimming trials live and free on Nine and 9Now, taking place from June 9-14.

Men's 50m freestyle

When's the final? Wednesday night

All eyes will be on the clock when newly minted Olympic gold medallist Cameron McEvoy sets himself for the men's 50m freestyle final on Wednesday night. The four-time Olympian made dramatic changes to his training following the Tokyo 2021 Olympics — and the results have been extraordinary. He won gold in Fukuoka at the 2023 world championships, struck gold in Paris, and has been slipping under the 22-second barrier like he slips into bed. McEvoy's personal best remains the 21.06 he clocked in his triumph in Fukuoka. Could "The Professor" go quicker this week?

Women's 100m freestyle multi-class

When's the final? Thursday night

Alexa Leary has everyone on world-record watch whenever she walks out to the blocks. This week, her S9 world record in the women's 100m freestyle, her pet event, is in danger of going down. In May at the Sydney Open, she broke her own world record twice in a day, clocking 59.07 in the heats and 58.89 in the final. She claimed the S9 world record in the 50m freestyle at the same meet, blasting through the one-lap dash in 27.23 to eclipse American Christie Raleigh Crossley's mark by 0.02 of a second. Leary, who survived a hellish bike crash in 2021, last year won Paralympic gold in Paris in the 100m freestyle. Oh, and she bettered her own world record in that gold-winning swim, too.

Women's 100m freestyle

When's the final? Friday night

Three of the four women who teamed up to win gold in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay at the Paris Olympics will be squaring off over two laps this week. Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayna Jack and Meg Harris linked up with the now-retired Emma McKeon to win Australia's fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. There will only be one winner when the 100m freestyle final runs its course on Friday night. O'Callaghan, a two-time world champion in the 100m freestyle, is the one to beat. Jack's trip to the South African jungle, where the Queenslander found herself as a star of TV show I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!, left her with a mountain of work to do to make the team for Singapore, but she wants to be there with her younger brother Jamie. There are also a couple of young guns to watch out for in the 100m freestyle: 19-year-old Olivia Wunsch and 18-year-old Milla Jansen. There's hardly anything separating the personal bests of O'Callaghan (52.08), Jack (52.28) and Harris (52.52). Wunsch's best is 53.17 and Jansen's 53.81.