A legend has become immortal.
Cam McEvoy enhanced his status as one of the greatest sprint swimmers of all time and ticked off the last vacant box on his remarkable resume by claiming a gold medal in the men’s 50m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
And Australia’s younger contingent of swimmers also well and truly showed the sport’s future in the country is in great hands on another day which netted five finals victories, with WA’s Iona Anderson and son-of-a-gun Kai Taylor among the emerging stars to deliver stunning performances.
On the third day of proceedings at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, all eyes were on McEvoy.
The 32-year-old set a world record in the 50m freestyle earlier this year to go with his gold medals in the event at the Olympic Games and the World Championships, but somewhat remarkably, he had never won an individual event at the Commonwealth Games.
Everything has to go right for a swimmer to win what can be the sport’s cruellest event. For McEvoy, that is exactly what happened.
His time of 20.97sec set a Games record and he was at the top of an Australian clean sweep of the podium, standing above silver medallist Flynn Southam and bronze winner Jamie Jack.
Nailing both the start and the finish of a 50m event is critical, and McEvoy did both. He was off the blocks in a blistering reaction time of 0.55sec and did not relent as the wall approached.
After the race, a gratified McEvoy said his perfect dive had given him an invaluable jolt of confidence.
“It’s a good feeling. I got silver here 12 years ago — I’m over a second faster now than I was back then,” McEvoy told Channel Seven.
“To sweep the podium with these boys . . . the depth in Australia is amazing.
“I get messages every day from everywhere around the world with really good news on what they’re doing. It’s just really special to play a very small role in the influence of the sport in sprinting.”
Earlier, the 20-year-old Anderson closed down Canada’s Kylie Masse to claim a Commonwealth Games gold medal — her first of any denomination at the event — in the women’s 100m backstroke.
Much expectation has been placed on Anderson’s young shoulders after the withdrawal of the legendary Kaylee McKeown ahead of the Games due to glandular fever, and she was below her best in a sixth-placed finish in the 200m backstroke final earlier in the Games.
The Carine Senior High School graduate — who was sixth-hundreths of a second ahead of silver medallist Masse in a time of 58.71sec — said she had learnt from the experience.
“For me, I was just trying to keep it personal, really just try to focus on myself. I think I got caught up in all the emotions earlier in the week,” Anderson said.
“I’m pretty excited, that was a really great performance from me. That will really set me up for the rest of the week now.”
In what was the final event of the day, Kai Taylor began the anchor leg of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay with his team more than a second adrift of England.
But the son of the great Hayley Lewis needed barely 50m to reclaim a lead he did not surrender, with his blistering 1:44.10 effort setting up a Games record-breaking time of 7:01.47.
The humble Taylor reserved all the credit for his teammates Sam Short, Ed Sommerville and Kai Taylor.
“I could hear all of them behind me. Seeing them gave me a bit of a gee-up before I got on to the blocks,” Taylor said.
“I back myself, but more importantly, these boys back me. I knew I had them behind me, pushing me, especially on that last 50 when I needed it most.”
Only minutes after McEvoy’s glory, Lani Pallister continued a brilliant campaign in Glasgow by cruising to a comfortable victory in the women’s 1500m freestyle final.
The 400m freestyle gold medallist and 200m freestyle silver medallist wasted no time in opening up a lead nearly as large as a lap on her way to a comfortable and comprehensive win in a time of 15:41.03.
Tim Hodge captured Australia’s first gold medal of the night, winning the men’s 100m backstroke S9 for the second time at the Games.
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