Singer Cody Simpson is set to compete at June’s world swimming championships after placing third in the 100m butterfly at the Australian Championships on Wednesday.
Simpson, a talented junior swimmer who returned to the sport two years ago after a decade break, finished behind Olympians Matthew Temple and Kyle Chalmers, but Chalmers has said he will skip worlds.
So Simpson, a 25-year-old who hit the world championships qualifying time to the hundredth in the final (and went faster in prelims), appears headed to worlds in Budapest. Nations can send two swimmers per individual event who hit the qualifying time.
He swam 51.96 seconds in Wednesday’s final after placing eighth at last year’s Olympic Trials in 52.94 seconds.
“I didn’t even think I’d be remotely competitive, even racing, until this year at the earliest, so to potentially make the team already is just a bonus on the way to Paris,” Simpson said on Amazon Prime, referring to his ultimate goal at the start of his comeback of making the 2024 Olympic team. “So much progress from last year, just been busting my ass all year, so it’s amazing to see results like this pay off.”
And the message this sends to those who thought his swimming was a publicity stunt?
“It wasn’t. It certainly wasn’t,” said Simpson, the son of two national team swimmers who has reportedly received advice from Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe. “It never was.”
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