Cody Simpson has kept his dream of going to the World Swimming Championships alive, qualifying for the 100m freestyle final at the Aussie trials in dramatic fashion.
In Friday morning’s heats, Simpson finished equal eighth fastest in a time of 49.54 — the exact same time as 20-year-old Jamie Jack.
With only eight swimmers progressing to the evening’s final, Simpson and Jack had to swim off against each other an hour later for the last spot in the final.
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They were the only two swimmers in the pool at the Melbourne Aquatics Centre and Simpson just got the win in a time of 49.36 compared to Jack’s 49.50.
Head-to-head swim offs are a bizarre quirk of competitive swimming but interestingly, both Simpson and Jack swam slightly faster than their initial heat time.
It means Simpson will swim in tonight’s 100m freestyle final from lane 8.
Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers (48.09) was the fastest qualifier ahead of former Australian representative Jack Cartwright (48.21) and young gun Flynn Southam (48.75).
The 100m freestyle looms as arguably Simpson’s best chance at selection for next month’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Traditionally, Australian selectors take the top six swimmers for the 4x100m relay, so Simpson is in with a shot.
And as Kai Taylor, the son of Aussie swimming legend Hayley Lewis, showed by winning the 200m freestyle final earlier this week, funny things can happen from lane 8.
On Wednesday, Simpson finished fourth in the 50m butterfly in a time of 23.48 behind winner Cameron McEvoy (23.07) and just 0.02 behind second place in a tight final.
The 26-year-old will also swim the 100m butterfly on Sunday and could qualify for the world championships if he finishes in the top two and is under the qualifying time.
But that could be a tough task, given Simpson will be up against Chalmers and Australian record holder Matt Temple.
Simpson is aiming to make his second Australian Dolphins team after he competed at last year’s Commonwealth Games.
In Birmingham, he finished fifth in the 100m butterfly and claimed a gold and silver medal as a heat swimmer in the 4x100m freestyle and medley relays.
