Sweet Success for Magnussen After Years of Turmoil

NSWIS sprint stars James Magnussen and Matt Abood have won a bronze medal as part of Australia’s 4 x 100m relay freestyle relay team.

The Missile swam the third leg of Australia’s race and handed over to a flying Cameron McEvoy who powered the team to bronze behind winners USA and defending champions France.

While fellow NSWIS sprinter Matt Abood swam an impressive anchor leg in the morning heats, he made made way for McEvoy in the final line-up.

For Magnussen, bronze was the icing on a frustrating journey since his world championship victory in 2011.

He was narrowly edged out of individual gold in London four years ago and was the spearhead of a red-hot relay team at those Games which surprisingly missed the podium.

He was struck down with a shoulder injury which required surgery and forced him out of the 2015 world championships, only to scrape into Australia’s squad for Rio.

Magnussen and McEvoy were joined by James Roberts and Kyle Chalmers, swimming a 3:11:37 to secure the bronze medal.

“I’m pretty excited. It was a crazy race, felt like open water swimming in there,” Magnussen told the AOC website.

“There were bodies flying everywhere and a lot of splash but it was really exciting!

“I think to get a bronze medal at an Olympics, I think for us two (referring to Roberts and himself) who maybe didn’t even expect to be here is pretty exciting.”

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