Not often you see a domestic line-up of dashers deliver six men inside 22sec over 5om freestyle, but then not many have a magnet called Cameron McEvoy to draw the kind of heat that sends smoke off the water.

This day, no 20.88 sizzler from the fastest swimmer ever to grace a pool, but on 21.32, McEvoy, coached by Tim Lane at Somerville House Aquatics in Brisbane, was in a class of his own, even though the man almost 10 years his junior and closest to the king who endorsed him, Jamie Jack, threw down a 21.60 in heats and a 21.52 in the final to join the 2026 Dolphins roster at Trials in Sydney.

He made his first senior Australian team after a couple of near-misses in previous years. And after Dean-Boxall-coached Jack, four other sub-22s piled home:

Poolside wth Nicole Jeffery in Sydney:

Emerging from the fray, McEvoy was asked to assess:

"Not too bad. I wanted a little bit faster personally. But again, Commonwealth Games is the plan for peaking and  I’ve got a pretty exciting block coming up,  putting some more power workin. I’m looking forward to it."

How important is that individual gold medal at Comm Games? 

"It'd be nice. Yeah, it'd definitely be nice. I'd be pretty happy getting it. It's not my main objective. I think I've got a little bit of room to move in terms of my best time (the world record). Whether I do that this year or not, time will tell, but that's where my head's out at the moment.'

A reminder:

Cameron McEvoy - 20.88 World Record 50m Free - Cielo’s 2009 Shiny Suit Standard Sunk

At The China Open in Shenzhen, Australian Olympic and World 50m freestyle champion has cracked the 20.91 global mark set by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in the dying days of the short-lived shiny suits crisis in 2009

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Irrelevant to an Australian in this year with no long-course global gathering, but neutral athlete (from one of the aggressor nations in the war on Ukraine and slaughter of its citizens), Egor Kornev clocked 21.06 (21.53 at World titles last year) to become the third-fastest man ever behind McEvoy and American Caeleb Dressel (21.04) at his national championships this week.

Meanwhile, in Sydney...

What's it been like coming back off the world record?

"It's been really good in some aspects and a little bit difficult in others. Not expecting it, I went on a pretty big high, came down from it, then was sick for two weeks off the back of it. And then, it was almost like before the China comp, I was so locked in, like never before I've been that locked in to training. It was almost like a bit of the wind was blown out of the sails naturally, because it's like, well, I got it. So, naturally, there's going to be a small period of readjusting, resetting the goals. Immediately I knew pretty much where I can improve as well. So it's just, yeah… sitting with the idea that I'm my fastest to touch water and just how wild that is compared to where I was 4 years ago."

So how much lower do you reckon you can get this record?

"No idea. I mean, I do have an idea, but I'm not saying."

Where do you think the improvement can come from?

"Every segment. I break it down to the first 15, three 10-metre segments, then the final five. Every single one of them has a little bit of wriggle room."

After heats, McEvoy said this of Jack - and, of course, his own prospects as the all;-time premier dasher:

Heading into tonight’s final, McEvoy spoke highly of Jack, ion comments through Swimming Australia:

“This year, I'm confident I'll see him on the Commonwealth Games team.

“His evolution … he's been pulled back in an elastic way … and he is about to be released. He's gonna have a pretty explosive run-up to the LA Olympics. (Tonight) I'm expecting to be able to see him right there in my peripherals, which is exciting.

“It'd be very cool to have at an Australian domestic competition two people in the low 21 second range or under 21.5. Jamie's been kind of leading the way for that second generation of people behind me. So it's exciting to see not only where they're going to go tonight but what they're gonna be like in LA and Brisbane.”

And when asked about if he could go faster, McEvoy said: 

“I definitely think I can get faster.”

In other men's finals:

More on the men's 800m freestyle soon, after Sam Short clocked 7:36.73