Pop star Cody Simpson, 24, mysteriously withdraws from his heat at the Australian Swimming Championships
- Australian singer Cody Simpson was a no-show for his swimming event
- The 24-year-old was scheduled to compete in the 100m butterfly on Friday
- Simpson has recently returned to swimming in hope of making Olympic squads
Australian pop star Cody Simpson was mysteriously absent from his heat at the Australian Swimming Championships on Friday.
The 24-year-old, who has recently dived back into the sport after choosing to focus on his music career from a young age, was supposed to compete in the 100m butterfly event.
Simpson has been training on the Gold Coast since returning from the United States with his American model girlfriend Marloes Stevens.
The couple recently completed 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine at the Howard Springs Facility in the Northern Territory.
Simpson was pictured sharing a joke on the pool deck at the nationals with Olympic legend Ian Thorpe on Thursday
Simpson and girlfriend Marloes Stevens (pictured) during a break in his training on the Gold Coast
On Thursday, he was pictured alongside Australian Olympic great Ian Thorpe on the pool deck – with the pair appearing to share an inside joke.
He is still listed as a competitor in the 50m butterfly event on Saturday.
The singer could make a bid to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after he swam two seconds under the qualifying benchmark of 56.87 seconds in the 100m butterfly.
He is set to compete in an event in Adelaide in June that will finalise the Olympic squad for Japan.
The Gold Coast event is not a requirement for Olympic selection – with other big names such as Mack Horton and Kyle Chalmers also withdrawing from their events.
Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon and Mitch Larkin did compete in their events, however, with the latter recording a blistering 1:53:38 for the 200m backstroke.
Stepping out: During a break from swim training, Cody Simpson caught up with his American model girlfriend Marloes Stevens
Simpson and Ms Stevens were pictured earlier this month during a break in his training.
The happy couple walked hand-in-hand to a coffee shop in Queensland’s Mermaid Beach.
He also spent much of their time together taking photos of the glamorous Marloes, no doubt for her Instagram account.
The singer-songwriter was dressed in a stylish but casual ensemble of grey jeans and a black T-shirt.
Meanwhile Marloes, 28, wore an oversized black shirt with long sleeves, a bandanna around her neck, black sunglasses, and a pair of white sneakers.
Say cheese! He also spent much of their time together taking photos of the glamorous Marloes, no doubt for her Instagram account
Prior to flying into Gold Coast, Cody and Marloes, who have been dating since December 2020, did 14 days of mandatory quarantine in the Northern Territory.
Earlier this year, Cody revealed to The New York Times what inspired him to jump back into the pool and compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He explained he decided he still had a shot in the pool after seeing American swimmer Caeleb Dressel – who is five months his junior – beat a record set by Michael Phelps in 2019.
‘I stopped drinking that night and started finding pools the next day,’ Cody, who hails from the Gold Coast, said.
Despite having an incredibly successful music career that saw him discovered on YouTube and signed by an American record label in 2010 at the age of 13, his childhood Olympic dreams were bigger.
‘I love the music industry very much, and I’ll continue to be a musician long into my life, but it’s not as pure of a pursuit as sport, which just comes straight down to the clock,’ he told The New York Times.
Wet and wild! Cody has been preparing to compete at the Australian National Swimming Championships