Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook has done it all in the 200m breaststroke - Olympic gold, World Championships gold, and the world record. On Thursday, he will look to keep that winning streak going in Fukuoka against Japan’s best.
In 2022, Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia accomplished “swimming immortality” when he won gold in the 200m breaststroke at the World Championships in Budapest, achieving a World title, an Olympic gold medal, and a world record within a 12 month span.
The Olympic gold came in July 2021 off of two straight years of preparing for an Olympic Games. In Tokyo, Stubblety-Cook became the first Australian man to win breaststroke gold at the Games in 57 years.
The world record came in May 2022 at the World Championships Trials in a familiar environment in Adelaide - a 2:05.95 to set the global standard off the adrenaline rush of the Olympics.
The World title came a month after Adelaide - a 2:07.07 in Budapest to cap off an incredible run.
Stubblety-Cook stayed in Europe with the team to prepare for the Commonwealth Games in England, where he again won 200m breaststroke gold at 2:08.07.
With all that racing and traveling - three big meets in three months, it took a toll on Stubblety-Cook.
“It was hard to work out where the peak was,” Stubblety-Cook told World Aquatics before the 2023 World Championships. “We had Trials, and then Worlds, and then another seven weeks later we had Commie’s, and then two weeks after that we had Duel in the Pool. It was like ‘which way is up?’
“Last year was a weird one because of that world record. Mentally it was a very different race and I think I’m in a better head space now than last year. Last year was definitely a big year mentally more than physically being able to have to get up again and again and again, especially after that high pressure period of Olympics and then breaking the world record off of the edge of it. After it I was like, ‘ok, what do we do now?’ It was a weird time.”
Keeping Perspective
It was an exhausting 2022, but Stubblety-Cook has been able to stay focused on this year’s World Championships, where he has the fifth-fastest time this year in the 200m breaststroke amongst those qualified for the Championships.
Having already achieved everything there is to achieve, Stubblety-Cook still believes there is more in the tank to take the world record down further. With all of his recent gold medals and records, he is still enjoying swimming for what it is and not letting any external factors affect him, citing a recent quote from champion golfer Rory McIlroy as inspiration.
“He said when you get to the top of elite sport, you have so much outside noise,” Stubblety-Cook said. “But there is the childlike wonder and the reason you got into the sport that keeps you going. Obviously he is in a different situation where he is standing over a putt and all these noises and analyses of everything, but at the end of the day, he is trying to get the ball in the hole.
“It’s the same thing with swimming - all we are trying to do is swim four laps as fast and efficiently as possible. It’s very easy to lose sight of that when there’s the World title and all the other noise around, but for me that is what it is all about. It’s all about getting the most out of myself and I can continue to have that motivation in that way.”
Swimmers have been known to take long breaks after achieving their ultimate dream. Training for an Olympics is exhausting both physically and mentally, and oftentimes athletes don’t give themselves enough time to take a step back and reflect and digest what they accomplished. Some will step away from the pool for months before returning to training, while others decide to go out on top and retire after an Olympics.
Most recently, Olympic champions and world record holders Adam Peaty, Caeleb Dressel and Kristof Milak have been open about their mental health struggles after the Olympics and have been candid about their reasons for taking a long break, something that Stubblety-Cook understands first hand.
“It is an interesting question because I considered a long break last year even when I broke the world record,” Stubblety-Cook said. “I was unsure whether I was going to swim through last year just because of how mentally fatigued I was. I think that’s the right way to frame it and probably the way I dealt with it.
“Everyone is different and everyone took COVID and that whole period differently but I think if people were honest with themselves, the delay of the year, and the uncertainty that we had going into the Olympics, and for someone like Caeleb who was swimming on another level in 2019 to stretch himself another two years, in realistic terms, that is unsustainable.
“I’m not trying to comment on anyone else’s but that is where a lot of people were at, and personally I felt it in a different way like you climb to the top of the mountain and see the view and going back down you realize in retrospect what it took to climb the mountain and you’re like, ‘what is next? I have to climb another mountain? Do I want to go again?’ I experienced that a little differently but I have taken it on and taken on the opportunity and tried to take it day by day in those moments.”
“It is an interesting question because I considered a long break last year even when I broke the world record. I was unsure whether I was going to swim through last year just because of how mentally fatigued I was. I think that’s the right way to frame it and probably the way I dealt with it."
Fancying Fukuoka
Leading into this year’s World Championships, Stubblety-Cook, who has trained with coach Vince Raleigh in Brisbane for seven years, is looking forward to a potential showdown with the Japanese duo of Ippei Watanabe and Shoma Sato, who are both ranked in the top five on the all-time list behind the Australian.
Japan is a nation where Stubblety-Cook won his first Olympic gold medal two years ago, and the Australians have already swam well thus far in Fukuoka, having won five gold medals through the first three days of the swimming program.
Japan is also a nation that takes tremendous pride in breaststroke, most recently celebrating Olympic champions Kosuke Kitajima and Rie Kaneto in the last two decades.
“It’s arguably the home of breaststroke and it is always exciting to go back there,” Stubblety-Cook said of Japan. “You go to the Japan Open and the 100m freestyle is not the blue ribbon event, it’s the 200m breaststroke. It’s kind of cool to be in that environment for me.”
Stubblety-Cook is eager to swim in front of the Fukuoka crowd that has already been loudly supportive of its favourite Japanese swimmers like Daiya Seto and Rikako Ikee.
If Watanabe and Seto put themselves in medal contention in the 200m breaststroke, the Marine Messe will be the place to be on Friday night, and Stubblety-Cook is looking forward to that potential showdown.
“One of my most distinct memories of (the 2022) Commonwealth Games was the 100m breaststroke and it was walking out before Adam (Peaty). The whole crowd, being in the UK, was standing on their feet. And I was like, ‘how cool is this?’ It was a pinch yourself moment."
“I think Watanabe being the former world record holder, and the last time I raced him in Japan was actually Pan Pacs in 2018 so a little while ago now. But it’s always a good contest because they always lift in front of their crowd. I am excited to race with the pressure of someone who has been 2:06 like Watanabe in front of a home crowd.
“You can’t really prepare for (the crowds) but it is prep for next year. I know the crowds are going to be insane in Paris. That’s what it is preparation for. It is an exciting opportunity for me, because you rarely get those moments.
“It’s all about the process. I know my stroke count and race strategy and what it takes to get the best out of myself and it’s not necessarily really pushing that back half as much as it is ensuring I have enough in the tank.”