EXCLUSIVE: 'Excruciating' injury ends devastated Sam Williamson's world title defence

Suffering an "excruciating" injury in which his left kneecap shot halfway up his thigh has stripped Australian swimmer Sam Williamson of a chance to defend his world championship title this year.

The start list for next month's Australian swimming trials was released on Monday and absent from the document was Williamson, who had been expected to be inked in for the 50m and 100m breaststroke events.

Wide World of Sports can reveal Williamson, who won gold in the 50m breaststroke in Doha in February last year, had his title defence ended when he ruptured his patellar tendon, the thick band of tissue that connects the kneecap with the shin bone, early in May.

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The 27-year-old was warming up for a swimming session by doing a box jump off a run-up, among other exercises.

As he planted his left foot and went to take off, his patellar tendon snapped and he hit the deck.

Moments later, he was being pushed in a wheelchair from Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre to see a doctor at the nearby Victorian Institute of Sport. The cruel reality of sport had hit him with a thud, and tears were streaming down his face.

Within 24 hours, his leg was being put back together by a surgeon.

He expects to be unable to race for nine months.

"To be honest, the pain was excruciating, but the pain didn't really come anywhere near close to the immediate realisation that that was my season done and that was me done for the foreseeable future," Williamson told Wide World of Sports.

"I had a trip booked to Europe — I was meant to be over in Europe this week competing — and I was also really looking forward to going to Singapore and defending my title as world champion. That's something that I'd never had the opportunity to do.

"I was really starting to feel good about training again. I think coming off the back of Paris [the 2024 Olympics] and some less-than-favourable results, I had really struggled to find motivation in the water again ... [but] in the three or four weeks before that [the injury] I had really started to remember why I love swimming and just how much I love swimming.

"So while the pain was excruciating — I don't think anyone's kneecap should try to head up towards their hip — it didn't really hold a candle or hold a flame to the understanding that that was me done for the year."

The trials will take place in Adelaide from June 9-14, while the world championships will be held in Singapore between July 27 and August 4.

Williamson has had problems with his knees, groin and shoulders throughout his career, but this is the only major injury he's suffered.

"The doctor came in, took one look, touched my knee, looked me in the eyes, and told me what I already knew, but was just dreading hearing," he said.

The state of his leg even took the surgeon by surprise.

"He took one look at the scans, we came off the back of surgery, he looked me in the eyes, and he said, 'Look, this is probably one of the worst I've ever seen'," Williamson said.

"I've always told myself, 'If you're ever going to put your name to something, do it at 100 per cent'," he added, making light of a grim situation.

He rattled off half a dozen humorous lines in the 20 minutes he spent chatting with Wide World of Sports.

He said he was walking "a little bit like C-3PO" — a robot from Star Wars — was wearing "an incredibly sexy" leg brace, and had "shed a lot of tears watching Bridget Jones movies".

He also said his girlfriend, who lives in Sweden, flew to Melbourne to help him out for two weeks "when this bag of lemons fell on my lap".

"I can sit there and complain and moan and be upset and say, 'Why me?', or I can just pick myself up and dust myself off," he said.

"There are two ways I can look at it: I can look at it as a real shame, or a really exciting chapter for a book one day."

His girlfriend will return to Melbourne in late June for another two weeks.

"She has been my rock through this entire period and I don't know where I'd be without her," Williamson said.

"I really don't know how I got so lucky to end up with someone who's as incredible as that in my life."

Williamson's sights are set on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where he's hoping to contest the 50m and 100m breaststroke events.

The 50m breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly events have been added to the Olympic program for the LA Games, joining the 50m freestyle.

"Waking up to the news that morning was like waking up on Christmas Day," he said.

"Being the defending 50m breaststroke world champion, it is incredibly special thinking that in three years I might be able to stand up on the podium in LA in not only one, but two individual events. So that is incredibly exciting.

"The theme of the injury has been: well, we're going to turn our weaknesses into strengths during this period, and we're going to turn our strengths into superpowers."