Category: Swimming & Diving

• Swimmer withdraws from Australia team due to bout of glandular fever

• Illness to prevent 24-year-old from defending four titles in Glasgow

Swim champion Kaylee McKeown is “gutted” that illness has forced her out of the Commonwealth Games in a major blow to Australia’s team.

McKeown’s Commonwealth Games career is over after battling glandular fever ahead of the Glasgow edition starting in 13 days.

• Gkolomeev pipped McEvoy’s legal WR by only 0.07s

• ‘Missile’ Magnussen finished last in both freestyle races

Australian world record-breaking swimmer Cam McEvoy has had a clear dig at the inaugural Enhanced Games.

Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev went under McEvoy’s 50m freestyle world record time at the Games, held on Monday in Las Vegas.

• American clocks time of 54.33 seconds in Florida

• 23-year-old owns 13 fastest times in her event

Gretchen Walsh bettered her own 100m butterfly world record for the third time in 12 months as she clocked 54.33 seconds in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the same event where she became the first woman to breach the 55-second mark.

The reigning world champion now owns the 13 fastest times in the event’s history.

• Andy Donaldson completes journey in WA’s Ord River in under 12 hours

• British-Australian athlete says risk of wildlife is always ‘nerve-racking’

Andy Donaldson and his team were aware of the dangers that lay ahead, but just in case a reminder was needed, a huge 2.5-metre freshwater crocodile waiting at the start ramp ahead of his longest-ever solo swim put the challenge into stark focus.

Donaldson, a British-Australian ultramarathon swimmer, was about to embark on the 55km Dam to Dam Challenge from Lake Argyle to Kununurra in the East Kimberley, hoping to become the first man to complete the gruelling endurance swim.

Ultramarathon swimmer Andy Donaldson completed the Dam to Dam Challenge from Lake Argyle to Kununurra in the East Kimberley on Tuesday, becoming the first man to complete the gruelling endurance swim. Adding to the difficulty was the fact the river in remote Western Australia is well known for its reptilian inhabitants; the freshwater crocodile population numbers 5,500 – one croc for every 10 metres of his swim. Fortunately for the 35-year-old and his team, freshwater crocodiles are smaller and more timid than their saltwater counterparts and unlikely to approach humans

• Ultramarathon swimmer sets record pace in 55km swim on crocodile-filled Australian river

The three-time Olympic champion is brilliant, charismatic, relatable, basically the best British athlete of all-time. But he’s also a victim of the decline of minority sports

The Austrian philosopher and novelist Robert Musil once wrote a lengthy meditation on human capacity based around seeing the phrase “a racehorse of genius” in a newspaper sports section. Musil was disturbed by this idea. His basic question was: can a horse really be a genius?

If we are to ascribe the label of genius to a horse, based on its ability to run fast and successfully eat oats, where does this leave the unmapped capacities of the actual human genius? What is consciousness? What is a human? Should the question in fact be: will there ever be a human of sufficient genius they are able to actually perceive the genius of a horse?

• Swimmer: ‘I take a lot of guidance. I look up to him a lot’

• Peaty married Ramsay’s daughter Holly in December

Olympic champion Adam Peaty has hailed father-in-law Gordon Ramsay as his inspiration as he turned his thoughts towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The 31-year-old almost quit swimming just before the 2024 Games in Paris and then again straight afterwards, but confirmed he would compete in 2028 after the 50m breaststroke was added to the schedule. Peaty, who is back in action at the British Championships this week, admitted the next two years were going to be “the hardest of my career”, but took guidance from TV chef Ramsay.

• Restrictions have been in place since 2022 invasion

• Ukrainian athlete says move will spread propaganda

Swimming has agreed to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete without restrictions under their own flag and anthem for the first time since 2022, prompting joy in Russia and outrage in Ukraine.

The decision by World Aquatics, which also oversees diving and water polo, adds further momentum to Russia’s bid to be allowed back for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 following judo’s decision to do the same last year.

• Ledecky posts second-fastest 1500m time ever

• American wins by more than a minute in Austin

• Finke, McIntosh and Marchand also shine

Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky clocked the second-fastest women’s 1500m freestyle time in history on Wednesday to launch the US Pro Swim Series event in Austin, Texas, with a dominant victory.

Ledecky was untouchable as she cruised to victory in 15min 23.21sec, more than a minute in front of 16-year-old runner-up Brinkleigh Hansen, who touched in 16:31.31.

• Young gun betters her own short-course freestyle record set a week ago

• Toronto meet is proving hugely successful for Australia

Mollie O’Callaghan has capped a brilliant week at the Swimming World Cup in Toronto, setting a new short-course world record in the 200m women’s freestyle. 

The 21-year-old Australian obliterated a star-studded field to touch in 1:49.36 on Friday, just seven days after setting a then new mark of 1:49.77.