Saturday 15 February saw Round 1 of the 2020 FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup held in Doha, Qatar, with a strong contingency representing Australia.
WA superstars, Nicholas Rollo (Perth City, c: Matt Magee) and Jack Wilson (North Coast, c: Ian Mills) were in action for team Australia as they aimed to qualify for the next round of Olympic selection.
With perfect race conditions but chilly water temperatures, the decision was made to race with wetsuits which made for an incredibly fast swim.
Right from the gun, the pace was on with a lead pack around 50-deep churning through the water, with an average pace under 66 seconds per 100m.
For Wilson, it was his first experience on the international level and at only 18 years of age, he did exceptionally well to finish 58th in 1:51:40.6, just under 2 minutes behind first place. The trip was an incredible experience allowing him to learn from the best in Australia and the world, after a somewhat unexpected but well-earnt top-four finish at the recent Australian Open Water Championships.
Unlike Wilson, Rollo has now become a regular on the Australian Open Water team and he used his experience to swim his way into 43rd, touching in 1:50:21.2. Unfortunately for Rollo, the pack was too dense and he was unable to use his sneaky manoeuvring to get forward in the last kilometre, having to settle for 5th ranked Australian.
With Rollo and Wilson placing 5th and 6th Australian’s respectively, this, unfortunately, ends their 2020 Olympic dream as the selection is now unattainable. However, the two swimmers are still improving at an incredible rate and should be a force to be reckoned with for a long time to come.
Moving forward, both Wilson and Rollo have qualified for Australian Team tours with Rollo being selected to compete at the LEN Cup in Paris in September as a part of the Australian Open Water Development team, whilst Wilson will represent Australia at the 2020 FINA Junior World Open Water Swimming Championships to be held at Seychelles in September.
Additionally, due to the exceptional performances of both Rollo and Wilson, their coaches Matt Magee (Perth City) and Ian Mills (North Coast) will be heavily considered as Australian Team Coaches for the upcoming competitions.
Swimming WA would like to congratulate Nicholas, Jack, Matt and Ian for their outstanding achievements which are a credit to their tireless pursuit of excellence.
It is an incredible time to be a part of the Western Australian Open Water Swimming Community and we are thoroughly excited to see where Rollo, Wilson, and the entire community progresses towards over the coming years.
