Four Australian Olympians have declined their spot on the 2016 Short Course World Championship meet, though the team is still left with a deeper and more-recognizable squad than their counterparts in the United States.
According to a Swimming Australia press release, Kyle Chalmers, Cameron McEvoy, Madi Wilson, and Maddie Groves will all be staying home as their teammates head on to Windsor, Canada December 6th through the 13th.
However, the Australian SC Worlds Squad still packs some serious star power, with headliners such as Olympic medalists Mitch Larkin, Emily Seebohm, Jessica Ashwood, Brittany Elmslie, and David Morgan.
Meanwhile, the Aussie’s greatest rivals in the pool, the American team, is missing many of the sport’s biggest names from its own SC Worlds roster. Young individual Olympic medalists Cody Miller, Lilly King, Josh Prenot, and Leah Smith will carry the squad.
Though he won three national titles and scored an All Comers record in the 100 free this week, McEvoy was the first to that he would be skipping Worlds, citing his unavailability for the meet. Rio 2016 Olympic relay gold and silver medalist Wilson posted her decision on Instagram, citing a need to train through December. There is no confirmation on Groves or Chalmers’s reasons for staying home from Windsor, but Chalmers may be choosing to rest after a flare-up of his Supraventricular tachycardia earlier this week.