Source : ABC NEWS
Few of Australia’s sporting talents are so accustomed to success as those swimmers who ply their trade in the water of our nation’s pools.
So golden are Australia’s Dolphins that there is an expectation of success that breeds a degree of complacency among the sporting public.
Kaylee McKeown took umbrage to that, hitting back at the perception that success is a guaranteed part of swimming in this country.
“We go really unrecognised seeing as we bring in the most amount of [Olympic] medals,” McKeown told reporters, including ABC Sport, ahead of the Australia vs The World event in Brisbane in December last year.
“You see athletes that are in athletics, they make a semifinal, it’s the best thing ever.
“You see swimmers making a semifinal, it’s hardly making the papers.”
Moesha Johnson can probably attest to that.
All roads lead backwards from LA28
Moesha Johnson has been striking new ground in open water swimming. (Getty Images: Emanuele Perrone)
While most of the public’s attention will be in the pool and the upcoming Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the trials for which take place in Sydney from June 8-13, Johnson has been quietly crushing her opposition on the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup circuit in the Northern Hemisphere.
A world-class pool swimmer — Johnson finished sixth in the pool at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2025 World Championships in the 1,500m — it is in the myriad of conditions of open water racing where the country girl from Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales has really excelled.
The reigning world champion in 5km and 10km open water, and silver medallist from Paris in the marathon 10km distance, Johnson has her sights set on gold in Los Angeles.
That has meant competing in a variety of conditions: warm and flat water in Egypt’s Red Sea, and cold and choppy in the Mediterranean at Ibiza and Golfo Aranci, the latter of which she had to wear a wetsuit in for the first time in competition.
Moesha Johnson has tasted a lot of success of late, even while wearing a wetsuit. (Getty Images: Emanuele Perrone)
Operating somewhat out of sight of the Australian public, Johnson has spent several months away from home during the latest Middle Eastern conflict.
But through it all, the 28-year-old has been on the sort of golden tear few athletes can ever hope to dream of.
“For me, this year, the goal was looking at [the 2028 Olympic Games in] LA and working backwards,” Johnson told ABC Sport from her training base in Lanzarote last month.
“And working backwards meant that open water is a priority.”
Nevertheless, Johnson did not want to lose her pool speed altogether.
Moesha Johnson finished sixth in the pool at the last world championships. (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney)
“I’m just doing it a little bit alternatively this year. I’m not doing the usual competitions. I’m still racing a lot of pool, it’s still at the forefront of my mind, I’m just not doing the usual meets that everyone’s looking at,” she explained.
“But that’s why I chose this year to keep it a little different, a little interesting.
“I didn’t want to go, ‘OK, I’m just going to swim open water,’ my pool swimming is what’s really complemented my open water.
“I wanted to focus on the World Cups and the Pan Pacs for open water; I think that’s a very important competition this year to prepare for the Olympics.
“But I don’t want to lose my pool swimming, so I spoke to my coach … and we looked at other competitions.”
Between World Cup stops, Johnson has competed in Sweden at the Swim Open Stockholm, with Olympic 1,500m bronze medallist Isabel Gose of Germany the only woman able to beat her over 800 and 1,500m.
Prior to the final Open Water World Cup leg in the Portuguese Atlantic resort of Setúbal, just south of Lisbon, Johnson competed in another low-key meet to keep herself sharp.
“I definitely think it helps keep it fresh by racing in different locations and racing different athletes,” Johnson said.
“I think is really helpful to me, not just racing the same girls, but broadening the way I race by changing who I race, because every athlete races it differently. It challenges me in those ways.”
Changing the game by dominating World Cup circuit
The lanes are a bit bigger in open water. (Getty Images: Adam Pretty)
Amidst those breaks in the pool, the three-time world champion is in the midst of one of the most impressive Open Water World Cup seasons in history, establishing a Jakara Anthony-like level of dominance over her rivals.
Across the opening three legs of the Open Water World Cup circuit, Johnson has won all three 10km races, and both of the 3km knockout events.
A change in approach to the 10km marathon event, driven in part by the prospect of a $US1,000 bonus for winning the first lap, has seen Johnson take the race to the competition, going out hard and establishing a large enough gap to hold on.
“The tactic this year has been just to go for the prize money, to be honest,” Johnson said with refreshing candour.
“And that has accidentally kind of become the race strategy overall.
“I’ve been chasing a bit of extra cash this year and so, with that has come a new race strategy that has worked really, really well.
“It’s just worked really well for my fitness and my style of speed and stroke, so I’m kind of grateful for the sprint lap now because it’s shown me that I can do something a little bit different to what I expected.”
Swimming in open water is not always easy, so getting to the front has been a big part of Moesha Johnson’s success. (Getty Images: Xinhua/Xue Yuge)
It’s been different, but hugely successful.
In the season opener at the Red Sea resort town of Soma Bay in March, Johnson won the 10km race by a whopping 48 seconds.
The second leg in Ibiza was closer, Johnson earning just a 4-second win there, but then she recorded another dominant victory at Golfo Aranci in Italy, by 25 seconds.
Dominance may be somewhat expected from Australian swimmers overseas, but this is pretty special.
“Look, it’s definitely not normal to be winning the way I’m winning,” Johnson said.
“I’m not just winning by a little bit, I’m winning by a lot. It’s quite a dominant performance that I’ve had this year so far.
“And yeah, to be honest, the way I’m racing is really new for the sport, and really new for the women’s racing.
“I’m pretty honoured to be in the era of changing the game.”
Johnson has underlined her status as the dominant open water athlete this year by claiming victories in the 3km knockout as well as the 10km.
The 3km KO is an innovative event that was the brainchild of Australia’s Brazilian open water coach Fernando Possenti, that sees athletes swim a 1,500m, 1,000m and then 500m, with the slowest swimmers in each heat eliminated from contention.
It is on the World Cup circuit for only the second year after a trial in 2025.
There is just one event left on the World Cup circuit before attention turns to Los Angeles’s Long Beach for the Pan Pacific Open Water Championships, where Johnson hopes to win Olympic gold two years later.
The ‘life-saving’ open water ‘adventure’ that Johnson hopes to share
Moesha Johnson doesn’t only swim in search of gold. (Getty Images: DBM/Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio)
Australia’s Pan Pacific open water team was named in May, with Johnson joined by fellow Olympians Nick Sloman and Chelsea Douyere (née Gubecka), as well as Tiana Kritzinger and rookies Euan Liney and Jacqueline Davison-McGovern.
Johnson said it was important for her to see other swimmers from Australia the ocean.
“It’s definitely nice to see a bit of depth behind me in the sport,” Johnson said.
“As I’m going on in my career, I don’t want to finish the sport, and there be no-one left behind me.
“I’m building this legacy for Australia in open water swimming because we’ve got such a great presence in the public swimming, with great oceans, and I think it’s a sport that can really define us.
“So as I push forward and represent the country, I don’t want to be the first and last one to be at this level. I want to make sure there’s people behind me that get excited that Australia is on the podium and also want to dream that as well.”
Moesha Johnson wants to inspire other Australians to explore open water swimming. (Getty Images: Yong Teck Lim)
Johnson believes that Australia is uniquely placed to excel in open water events, echoing Possenti that there is a mine of talent ready to win even more gold.
But competition is not the only thing driving Johnson.
“I was raised in understanding that swimming wasn’t just a sport; it was a life-saving skill my mum wanted to develop,” Johnson said.
“We grew up around the oceans and rivers, and so, for me, it was a sport, but it was also like an adventure.
“We’d travel to different pools, we’d travel to different locations, exploring my country with swimming, and that’s how my mum really brought us into the sport, and I think it’s carried on into my senior career as well.
“Being over here in Europe, racing, it’s still an adventure for me, and I’m still exploring my broader backyard of planet Earth, I guess, with these experiences.
“Open water swimming, to be honest, is the rawest form of swimming you can get, so I get really excited and really hope people in Australia can get excited about open water as a sport, not just pool swimming, because it’s still just as exciting and probably even more relevant to some people.”
