Abbey Webb stood behind the blocks at the recent World Aquatics Championships in Singapore wearing Australia’s gold cap for the first time.

At 24, she was the eldest swimmer in a young women’s relay team, yet a rookie in the senior Dolphins Australian team.

Nerves rippled through the marshalling room as teammates leaned on each other for encouragement. However, Webb kept returning to one simple thought: ‘this was just another relay’, something she had done a thousand times before.

 ‘Just stick to the plan!’

Days later, she had played her part in two gold-medal swims at her first world championships – the women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay heats.

“Putting on the gold cap and knowing that you’re on the best team, I knew it was going to be great,” she said. “Being part of a team was better because [I thought], ‘What can I do for the team? How good can you be for everyone else?’”

Years before the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder was standing on the blocks in Singapore; she learned to swim at the Lorrae Black Swim School at the Queanbeyan pool.

After following her siblings into the water, Webb was already showing natural talent by the age of five. But it wasn’t until her mid-teens that she decided to take the sport more seriously, setting herself goals that would shape her career.

“Swimming is the only sport that I can do,” Webb admitted. “I’m not good at anything else!”

“[My goals] just started as getting a medal at nationals, and then I achieved that. And then it was to get a gold medal…achieved that. I have a lot of determination and drive, and there’s nothing more satisfying than putting so much work into something and seeing it pay off.”

That drive led her to the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina – her first taste of international success – winning silver in the women’s 4x100m medley relay alongside Chelsea Hodges, Michaela Ryan, and reigning Olympic Champion Kaylee McKeown.

After Buenos Aires, Webb’s ambitions spread beyond Australian shores. After hearing glowing reviews about studying and competing in sport in America, she was keen to test herself in a new environment and gain new experiences.

“[My friends] had said it was the greatest thing they’ve ever done,” she said. “It was very much a last-minute decision when I decided to go.”

Webb spent three years living the American college dream, competing first for Auburn University in Alabama, and then North Carolina State. She collected seven All-American honours and experienced a level of camaraderie that, she says, shaped her as both swimmer and person.

“In America, you’re surrounded by people that are all studying and training [in the same field]. Everyone’s got such a big passion for it that I think that was really good [for me].”

She also experienced the classic American drills – sharpening her starts, turns and underwaters, the areas she admitted were once her weakness. But as her career developed, she began to feel the system wasn’t serving her long-term goal of making the Olympics.

“We weren’t doing a lot of long course training, and I felt like the training I needed just didn’t suit me enough, particularly for freestyle,” she said.

The decision to cut her scholarship short and move back home in 2023 wasn’t easy, but Webb knew it was necessary.

“It was a very tough thing to do, but I knew it was better for my swimming,” she said.

Back in Canberra, she rejoined Cruiz Club at the Canberra Olympic Pool under coach Shannon Rollason – a veteran of six Olympic campaigns and mentor to swimmers in Australia and Denmark who have claimed six Olympic gold medals. Rollason has guided Webb on and off for six years, and his influence, she said, has been central to her development.

“Every time I have come back, it’s been better. I think he’s a very good coach for me and [can understand] what everyone needs,” she said of Rollason, who guided Jodie Henry to three Olympic gold medals at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.”

Webb has also found herself in a squad with younger swimmers such as fellow NSWIS athlete and Dolphins rookie, Sienna Toohey. Rather than feeling behind, Webb has embraced the role as a senior figure, drawing inspiration from athletes such as Emma McKeon and Bronte Campbell who reached their peaks later in their careers.

“I quite enjoy being surrounded by younger athletes,” she said. “They’ve got a lot of excitement and a positive attitude.”

“At the end of the day, I’ve still made it, and I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything. It’s nice to see it like that and see other athletes around my age.”

But returning home didn’t mean instant success. At the 2024 Paris Olympic trials, Webb lined up in six events but fell agonisingly short of making the national team. A personal best in the 200m freestyle wasn’t enough to reach the final, missing out by just 0.2 of a second.

“Overall, it was just a very disappointing meet,” she reflected. “Missing out on the final by 0.2 was really devastating.”

“After trials, it was kind of like, ‘Well, that’s it. What’s the point of swimming further?’”

The setback forced Webb to take a long pause for the first time in her career. She stepped away from the pool for two months, allowing herself the space to recover both physically and mentally. When she returned, she came back fresher – and with a new mindset.

“I feel like I’ve had a little bit of a different approach since the Paris trials and missing out, because I really thought that was my last chance,” she said. “I don’t want to set LA 2028 as my new goal. I want to take things year by year.”

That shift proved crucial. By the time she arrived in Singapore, Webb was not weighed down by expectation, but motivated by the opportunity to be a part of one of the best swimming teams in the world and make history. The gamble to come home – and the lessons learned from Paris trials – paid off.

“Everyone was so supportive, it was just such an incredible environment to be around,” Webb says. “Even though we [the heat team] were just watching [the finals], we technically both got gold medals, so it was very special to be a part of.”

Now, Webb has since graduated with Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Psychology from North Carolina State. She balances part-time work, downtime with her dogs in Googong – a quiet township 30 minutes outside of Canberra – and long training sessions fuelled by her Dolphins ambitions.      

The Olympics remain her ultimate dream, but ‘The Rookie’ has learned not to carry the weight of it alone. Whether it’s the American college pools or the Dolphins’ green and gold, Webb has never settled for second best.

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