Right after landing back home in Australia following the Paris Olympics, 200 breaststroke silver medalist Zac Stubblety-Cook shared big news about a potential coaching change in the coming months.
It started when the Tokyo Olympic champion was asked by Nine’s Today show about his teammate, Cam McEvoy, who just won Olympic gold in the 50 free at 30 years old after taking an unorthodox approach to training the past couple years.
“I think as you mature as an athlete, you get more into a partnership with a coach rather than a dictatorship,” Stubblety-Cook said. “And I think for me, that’s what I’m searching for over the next few months, is like potentially a new coach. And understanding how we can work together rather than a one-way street.
“And I think seeing Cam do the full opposite end of the spectrum and backing himself fully is really inspiring and unbelievable,” he added.
Stubblety-Cook, who will be 29 years old at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, trained with Vince Raleigh at the Chandler Aquatic Centre in Brisbane leading up to the past two Olympics in Tokyo and Paris. Raleigh has been assisting the Australian swim team for more than three decades, coaching decorated Olympic champions such as Emma McKeon.
Stubblety-Cook set the world record in the 200 breast (2:05.95) at the 2021 Australian Olympic Trials before taking gold in Tokyo with a time of 2:06.38. That mark was broken by China’s Qin Haiyang (2:05.48) at the 2023 World Championships. Stubblety-Cook took silver in the 200 breast at the Paris Olympics with a time of 2:06.79 and helped the Aussie mixed 4×100 medley relay snag silver despite dealing with COVID-19 at the meet. He also revealed on Instagram that he broke his neck at the end of 2023, but did not reveal how he suffered the injury.
Zac set his WR in 2022 at the Aussie champs/trials, not at the 2021 Olympic trials.
Would be all kinds of awesome if Zac joined Cam with Tim Lane!
Mel Marshall??
Sprint breaststroke is very different though