By Phil Lutton
For Cate Campbell, it's all in the arms. And the legs. And the rest of the long, lean physique that adds up to the star Australian being one of the greatest relay swimmers in history.
There are times when Campbell has been vulnerable in her individual races, most notably at the Rio Olympic Games. For all of her blistering 100 metre freestyle performances, that one famously hurt, although the road back to the top has been fulfilling and regularly fruitful.
Cate Campbell is driven to protect Australia's impressive recent relay record.Credit: Delly Carr/Swimming Australia
Put her in a relay and Campbell swims the lights out, time and again. The former 100 metre world record holder will anchor the brilliant women's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay on night one of the swimming world championships in Korea on Sunday where, barring disaster, they are favoured to chalk up another gold medal.
The squad has changed over the years, but they won Olympic gold in London and Rio and own the world record. Even with Shayna Jack departing pre-meet in mysterious circumstances, the trio of Cate Campbell, sister Bronte and the flying Emma McKeon looks immense. Madi Wilson and Brianna Throssell should contend for the final spot.
There are good reasons for Campbell's effectiveness in relays. Often, swimmers rise to the occasion in the team environment, fuelled by adrenalin, the thrill of the chase, or the sensation of bringing it home in the final leg as the crowd thunders.
Campbell uses all of that plus her 186-centimetre frame, which gives her a considerable advantage as she launches into the water. For a swimmer who is notoriously tardy off the blocks in her individual events, Campbell has no peer when she can swing the arms and step into her work.
"I have the best changeover in the world, quite simply," Campbell says. "The changeover, it uses momentum and because I am so tall and I create so much more force with the swing [of the arms] and the step, as opposed to a standard start, I create a lot more momentum with my arm swing.
"That generates a lot more horizontal velocity and then speed through the water. That speed, when you look at race analysis, covers at least the first 35 metres of my race, so my first 50 metres is a lot faster, but it is a lot easier as well, simply because I generate that much more velocity and speed and power off a changeover than I can off a normal start."
Give Campbell a lead, or the sniff of a lead, into the final leg and it has been game over on most occasions. And if her relay swims look phenomenal, that's because they are. At last year's Pan Pacs in Japan, where she anchored Australia to gold, she split a hasty 50.93s – the fastest in history.
Campbell feels her physical attributes are a big advantage in relays.Credit: Delly Carr/Swimming Australia
Campbell's solo events will be central to her legacy, but the women's freestyle relay team has become one of the most formidable weapons in the Dolphins' arsenal. The Campbell sisters have been at the heart of its recent dominance and both have taken immense pride in carrying on its legacy.
"I think I inherited this, I inherited it from the likes of Libby Trickett, Alice Mills, Jodie Henry ... they really set the standard and when I was coming through as a young athlete, I saw the standard that needed to be attained if you wanted to be a part of this relay team," Campbell says.
"We won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics, but since then we have hardly been out of the top three in the world.
"I am just a caretaker of this dynasty in the women's 100 metre freestyle [relay]. It is a great privilege and something I do want to hand on to the next generation of swimmers coming through.
"I want to make sure by the time I am ready to hand over that baton that there is someone who is willing to carry that torch forward. I am extremely proud to be at the helm of it."
The Australians have some bright talents on the horizon but should the Campbell sisters depart the scene after next year's Olympics in Tokyo, they will come back to the field by a sizeable margin. At the moment, the golden age of the women's sprint relay has every chance to continue on Sunday night in Gwangju and in Japan a year later.
Campbell and other members of the team have been hugely reluctant to hype themselves up ahead of any relay event, having learned a lesson from London 2012 when the men's line-up did just that and failed to deliver.
They don't need to say much given the quality of racing they have produced during the past eight years. When everyone is firing, it's usually Campbell verses the red line, then a gap back to the minor medals.
"We haven't discussed results or outcomes ... it's always been about the process, obviously my individual race, but also looking at changeovers," Campbell says.
"I have made sure I have changed over with every single person who could possibly be on that relay team. It doesn't change because I know I have covered all my bases, I have worked with all the people who I could possibly be swimming with."
Cate Campbell (left) on her way to training in Gwangju.Credit: Delly Carr/Swimming Australia
Campbell won the 100 metre freestyle crown at the World Championships in 2013 and arrives in Gwangju off the back of a strong selection meet in Brisbane, where she clocked a world-leading 52.12 seconds to beat McKeon, who denied Bronte an individual swim in the 100 metres.
Last year, her Rio rebound began in earnest at the Pan Pacs, where she claimed the sprint double amid her five gold medals to restore her confidence going into a crucial series of pre-Olympic competitions. At the time, she said the Americans had been put on notice, although they will be a far more difficult opponent in Gwangju, while key rivals like Swedish world record holder Sarah Sjostrom will also be in play.
"Pan Pacs was one of those dream scenarios where everything goes right, I was kind of in the middle of it thinking: 'Wow, it has kind of been a long time since I have had a meet this good where everything has gone my way.'
"I am not going to question it and I am not going to look too far into it because sometimes you just have those blazing meets ... everyone has those meets. For me it was Pan Pacs last year.
"It definitely gave me a lot of confidence, it also gave my coach confidence with the five-week turnaround being so new and figuring it all out.
"It was one of those absolute dream meets that everyone has once or twice in a career. You always try to emulate it, but you are never quite sure why it was that perfect."
Campbell doesn't need to be perfect in Gwangju, but she would dearly love to get her hand on the wall first against the best swimmers on the planet. Given the quality of the field, even a fast, well-executed swim on the big stage would be enough to have her believe she can banish her Olympic ghosts in Tokyo.