Cody Simpson keeps his World Championships dream alive

Cody Simpson’s hopes of competing at the World Swimming Championships are still alive after the pop star-turned-swimmer qualified for the 100m freestyle finals at the Aussie trials.

Simpson finished equal eighth fastest with a time of 49.54 – level with Jamie Jack – in Friday morning’s heats and with only eight swimmers progressing to the evening’s final, the pair had to swim off against each other for the final spot.

In unusual scenes, Simpson and Jack were the only two swimmers in the pool at the Melbourne Aquatics Centre, and Simpson got the win with a time of 49.36 compared to Jack’s 49.50. 

It means Simpson will compete in tonight’s men’s 100m freestyle final, from lane eight. 

Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers (48.09) recorded the fastest time in qualifying ahead of Jack Cartwright (48.21) and Flynn Southam (48.75). 

The 26-year-old has qualified for the men’s 100m freestyle final in the Australian trials

The 100m freestyle is probably Simpson’s best chance of going to the world championships next month, which will be staged in Fukuoka, Japan. 

The Australian team typically takes the top six fastest swimmers for the men’s 4x100m relay, so a decent showing tonight would give Simpson a shot of selection.

Simpson came agonisingly close to a second place finish in the 50m butterfly earlier this week, finishing fourth overall but only 0.02 seconds behind second place.

He could qualify for the 100m butterfly but that appears an uphill task with strong competition from Chalmers and Matt Temple.