Swimming-'Bored' McEvoy glad to get swimming after agonising wait

PARIS - Australia's former world champion Cameron McEvoy found his long wait to compete at the Paris Olympics agonising but channelled the frustration into the fastest 50 metres freestyle swim in the morning heats on Thursday.

McEvoy has had to cool his jets while watching teammates rack up 10 medals, including four golds, over the first five days of the meet at La Defense Arena.

Asked how he had handled the wait, he replied: "Terrible."

"It was honestly almost as hard as the training itself," the 30-year-old Queenslander told reporters.

"I've blocked out all social media, I've changed phones.

"It is just so boring. I'm just glad it's here."

McEvoy lost his world title to Ukrainian Vladyslav Bukhov in Doha in February with a disappointing swim in the final.

But he heads into the Paris Games semi-finals in good form after clocking 21.32 seconds in his heat, 0.19 seconds faster than the second quickest, Jordan Crooks of the Cayman Islands.

There has been talk around the meet of a "slow pool", with some pundits blaming the drop-in pool's relatively shallow depth of about 2.20 metres at La Defense Arena.

McEvoy rebuffed the speculation the morning after Pan Zhanle's remarkable 100m freestyle world record.

"Really happy with the time, it felt really nice," he said.

"I don't think it's slow at all. I mean, we've done plenty of swims in shallower pools at Chandler (in Brisbane) for Olympic trials, a few world records there, Melbourne and stuff.

"Yeah, I enjoy the pool." REUTERS