Mack Horton has a piece of paper stuck above his bed with times of the best distance swimmers in history. It changes every year as he gets older and he matches himself against the likes of Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett at the same age.
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On Sunday night, Horton was able to give himself a big tick when he became the fourth fastest Australian 1500-metre freestyler, when he won the national title in Brisbane at the selection trials for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. His time of 14 minutes 51.55 seconds has, in Australian terms, only been bettered by Hackett, Perkins and contemporary rival Jordan Harrison.
Horton, 17, was the favourite for the event given his impressive form during the meet, where he also earned a place in the 400 freestyle, and Harrison's limited preparation after breaking a wrist last year. Harrison was second in 15:03.24.
Horton broke away from Harrison mid-way through the race and improved his personal-best time by more than five seconds, narrowly missing the time (14:50.92) that Hackett recorded when winning the 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medal as an 18-year-old.
"There's heaps that I can work on, my turns are getting better, you can always be stronger, you can always be fitter, you can have a better race plan, your stroke can be better," he said.
"To get there the easiest way is to follow someone else's footsteps and so you should just look at the best times ever done and you should try and match them every year, and you know you're on the right path. That's what I try and do.
"It's a pretty silly event, really. You have to love it to do it, so I'm constantly trying to learn what the best are doing and reflecting on that and trying to implement it into my own training and race plans.
"Everyone knows it's Australia's event. I respect that, but that's not why I do it. I just do it because I love it. It's the toughest event.''
Junior world champion Remy Fairweather made her first senior team when she finished second to dual Olympian Bronte Barratt in the 400 freestyle. Barratt won in 4:4.56, but it was Fairweather, 17, who caught the eye with her time of 4:6.02.
Fairweather, with Horton and Harrison, are among the new generation of swimmers that Swimming Australia is hoping will mature in time for the Rio Olympics in 2016. On Sunday night, she showed poise to hold on to second under pressure from another dual Olympian, Kylie Palmer.
She said she only decided to compete at the meet on Saturday after battling injury and illness.
"The last 18 months have been really tough for me, battling shoulder injuries, and I had really low iron and so many different things with setback after setback, so I'm stunned, seriously," Fairweather said.
Her immediate future is also under a cloud, as her coach, Peter Gartrell has lost access to the pool they were using and the teenager is reluctant to leave the Sunshine Coast.
"I don't know where I'm going to train at moment. It's really tough ... I really don't want to leave my coach. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing at the moment," she said.
At the other end of the spectrum, veteran sprinter Eamon Sullivan earned a berth on the Commonwealth Games team by winning the 50 freestyle in 21.90, ahead of 100 and 200 freestyle champion Cameron McEvoy (21.97).
Matthew Abood and James Magnussen tied for third in 22.02 and had to have a swim-off to determine the third berth for the event in Glasgow. Magnussen pipped Abood by 0.1 seconds.
Sullivan, who has undergone two shoulder operations and has another booked this week, surprised himself by making the team with limited preparation.
"To be honest, I had not even thought about it coming into this meet ... coming here was just to get back into the system and to slowly set my way into Rio, which is the main goal," he said.
