Mack Horton is officially over Sun Yang and his endless antics

April 10, 2019 By BLOGDAELLI

Olympic champion Mack Horton says he has tuned out of the endless circus surrounding his great Chinese rival Sun Yang and hasn't thought twice about whether they will collide at this year's FINA World Championships in Korea.

Since they stepped onto the pool deck in Rio, the careers of Horton and Sun have been intertwined. Horton boldly called out Sun as a drug cheat then went on to beat him in a thrilling 400-metre freestyle final, all the while coming under relentless attack from fans in China.

Sun hasn't stopped making headlines since, the latest saga having the Chinese superstar accused of smashing a vial of blood with a hammer during a doping test. FINA gave him a leave pass after their investigation, but WADA has since referred the matter for the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Meanwhile, Sun – a multiple Olympic gold medal winner who served a three-month doping ban in virtual secrecy in 2014 – has been swimming and winning at the Chinese championships, where he dedicated one of his victories to former Australian Kenneth To, who died suddenly earlier this month.

Horton has been training in Melbourne as well as helping to launch the new Speedo Fastskin suits, which he will wear at next year's Tokyo Games along with fellow Dolphins stars, including Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon.

Horton said he had no idea whether Sun would be next to him at the World Championships and had been focusing on his own preparations ahead of the national championships in Adelaide in April, then the world championship trials in Brisbane in June.

"Who knows?" Horton said. "I don’t pay that much attention any more. It has been interesting, that’s for sure."

Horton has cut the 1500m from his repertoire and will focus on his 400m as well as the 200m, which he hopes to swim as part of a men's freestyle relay in Tokyo that could be a major contender for a medal.

"I want to swim the relay for sure … after the relay camp, everyone was pretty excited about it," he said. "It could be a very strong team."

The Australian titles begin in Adelaide on April 7 and Horton isn't the only swimmer who remains a little confused about where they fit in to the new schedule, which puts official trials for major meets far closer to the actual event.

As such, a national title won't guarantee anyone a spot on the Dolphins team for Korea, which means the nationals could end up being a stepping stone, rather than the main event in terms of the qualifying path.

"It is a strange one," he said. "I don’t know … it’s nationals, but not really. You might win the national title, but not qualify for the team. We’re just using it as part of training, racing practice. The result doesn’t matter so much this time I don’t think.

"It is a shame, but the goal is World Championships. The goal is not to be the national champion; the goal is to be world champion. I think that will be most people’s cycle.

"You want to be swimming faster in Korea than the national championships. But it’s harder for the people on the borderline … do I shoot for world champs and not make it or shoot for a national title? It’s interesting."

Horton was one of the swimmers involved in the next generation Speedo suits from the ground up, helping to test materials and fit before the final product was rolled out. Even in the post-supersuit era, swimmers still place a premium on race suits that can give them any edge, no matter how small.

"You spend so much time in the water that you do notice even the small gains and differences," he said. "Even between this suit and the previous suit I noticed quite a big difference. It all works together."

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