Article by Julian Linden, courtesy of The Courier Mail
29.07.2025
They may have been missing their big guns, but the next generation of Australia’s golden girls just fired a warning shot for the Los Angeles and Brisbane Olympics.
The mighty Americans fancied their chances against a foursome of Aussie rookies in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the world swimming championships in Singapore on Sunday night.
But no matter who they put in their team, or who they swim against, the Dolphins remain invincible, as they proved again by winning gold.
The backbone of the team for years, Queensland-trained Emma McKeon and Brisbane’s Campbell sisters Cate and Bronte, were all missing.
McKeon retired after last year’s Paris Games while Tokyo flagbearer Cate bid a teary farewell to the sport after missing selection to what would have been her fifth Olympics in the French capital.
Bronte hasn’t said whether she’s retiring or going again but she hasn’t raced or trained in a year.
Another big gun, Brisbane’s Shayna Jack, was also absent.
With the changing of the guard, no one would have batted an eyelid if the Dolphins got beaten for once.
But that’s not how they roll.
The next wave of young stars just stepped on the blocks and struck gold again.
Of the four who raced in the final, the oldest, Brisbane-based Meg Harris, is just 23, but she already has a wealth of experience beyond her years.
She’s won gold at the last two Olympics and has five world championship gold medals.
“This is the start of the next three years,” Harris said.
“The start of Los Angeles and these girls coming through are going to be the future of the sport, especially going into Brisbane as well.”
Logan’s Mollie O’Callaghan is two years younger and has even more medals in her trophy cabinet.
Just 21, she already has five Olympic gold medals and nine world championship golds and is really only just getting started.
“I think it’s amazing, we have a pretty rookie-dominated team at the moment, so it’s nice to see the younger swimmers lift up,” O’Callaghan said.
“After the Olympics, we had a lot of people take breaks and retire, and it’s great to see (the new athletes) getting the experience and putting down so much effort and determination into this meet.”
“This year it was a bit of a difficult run, coming off the Olympics it’s always an unknown, we’ve got a fresh team.
“But the depth that we have in the women coming through is just so inspiring, and to know that we’re in a strong position for Los Angeles is very nice to know. We all challenge each other at the end of the day so we can keep going.”
Olivia Wunsch, 19, and Milla Jansen, 18, are the latest, bright newcomers to the 4x100m team.
Two years ago, they were teammates at the junior world championships, helping Australia win gold in the relay (of course), and they have seamlessly graduated to the senior team.
These are exciting times for the Dolphins.
Like an endless production line of talent, this new crop of Aussie swim stars looks just as fast and hungry as the legends they replaced.
There’s still a lot of water to flow under the bridge, but already it looks like it will take a mighty effort for any country to beat the Aussies at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles or at Brisbane four years later.
The success of Australian female sprint swimming stems from the team’s ability to rinse and repeat.
Whenever someone retires, there’s always another ready-made swimmer to take their place as they showed in Singapore.
Despite being in the early stages of building towards LA, the future already looks bright.
Wunsch got a taste of what’s ahead for her when she got herself an Olympic gold medal after swimming the relay heats in Paris but this was her first world championship gold.
Born and raised in Sydney, she has been tipped to become one of Australian swimming’s next big stars.
“We’ve all challenged each other through the age group ranks, so it’s really special for us to be able to stand together and share this moment,” Wunsch said. “It’s really exciting that this is the start of the next block and this is our starting point.”
Jansen is another swimmer whose star is rising and slotted into the team without a ripple.
A year younger than Wunsch, she trains on the Gold Coast under Chris Mooney, who trained Kaylee McKeown when she won three gold medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
“We’ve kind of grown up together, and it’s amazing we’re in this relay together since we’ve always dreamt about it,” she said.
