Aussie golden girl Mollie O'Callaghan breaks down in heartbreaking poolside interview
Australian Olympic champion Mollie O'Callaghan has broken down in an emotional and raw poolside interview after winning the women's 200m freestyle at the national titles in Adelaide.
O'Callaghan was Australia's most successful swimmer at last year's Olympics with three gold medals plus a silver and bronze, and looms as a massive threat at the upcoming World Championships.
But despite qualifying for the Singapore event later this year with her win on Wednesday night, the 21-year-old wasn't happy with her performance, admitting it had been a tough build-up to the trials.
'Oh, that was awful,' O'Callaghan told Nine poolside, before giving the rest of her answer through tears in a heartbreaking interview.
'Look, I've had a rough past couple of months.
'Tonight was really stressful for me, and I think, even thought it's not the time I exactly want, it's just hard to come back.
'I would say this lead-up has been the hardest thing that I've experienced so far.
'Maybe I can make the team this year, but I don't think there's been anything as hard as this, coming here and trying to race and trying to defend my Olympic, I guess, status, in a way.
'But I'm just happy that I stood up and just raced my main event.'
O'Callaghan has readily admitted feeling the crush of expectation, conceding she remained 'emotional' and 'anxious'.
She took five months off after the Paris Olympics in a bid to balance her competitive instinct with having fun.
'That's something I'm still learning,' she said.
'After the Olympics, I achieved everything I wanted to and I needed that mental recovery after that.
'This year is about having fun but there's been a lot of curve balls thrown at me so it's making it very hard to have fun.'
O'Callaghan, who has been battling a knee injury, clocked one minute 54.43 seconds to finish ahead of Lani Pallister (1:54.89).
'It's going to be a bit rough,' O'Callaghan said of the World Championships, 'but I'm very excited to do it alongside Lani — she raced amazing, big PB, so I'm really proud of her and what everyone accomplished in this finals night.'
Meantime in the men's, Olympic champion Cam McEvoy has issued a grim warning to rivals after posting the fastest 50m freestyle time in the world this year.
McEvoy's sustained stretch of excellence continued with victory at Australia's selection trials for the looming world championships.
The 31-year-old clocked 21.30 seconds in Adelaide on Wednesday night — and then declared he can still improve.
'I definitely think I can go faster before the world champs; how much though I'm not sure,' McEvoy said.
'But longer term, like more LA (2028 Olympic) levels to the future, I think, yeah, there's a lot more I can improve.'
McEvoy, who won last year's Olympic final in 21.25, touched ahead of Kyle Chalmers who set a personal best time of 21.68 at the South Australian Aquatic Centre.
Chalmers is racing in the splash-and-dash purely to improve front-end speed in his pet 100m freestyle, an event he has won Olympic gold and two silvers.
'I had to really trust myself ... just try and stay relaxed in an environment that is a little bit foreign for me,' Chalmers said.
'I'm not a 50 swimmer and never really know what's going to happen.'
Also on Wednesday night, Sam Short's return to form continued by winning the men's 800m freestyle in 7:40.95.
And in the women's 50m breaststroke, 16-year-old Sienna Toohey again prevailed — a night after earning selection for the worlds by winning the 100m breaststroke.
Toohey won the shorter final in 30.79 seconds, outside the qualifying time for the event set by Swimming Australia.
The Albury schoolgirl shut down social media after her Tuesday night feat when hailed as the future of Australian swimming.
'I saw a bit of it popping up and then I was like: 'Oh, I can't get too full of myself' so I put my phone on 'do not disturb',' Toohey said.
Former talented cross country runner Harry Turner won the men's 200m butterfly in 1:54.90 to secure selection for the world titles in Singapore from July 27-August 3.
Nash Wilkes won the men's 50m breaststroke in 27.52, outside Swimming Australia's automatic qualifying time for the worlds.
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