GLASGOW: No nicknames. No bravado. Just clinical execution and pure speed. Australia's Olympic champion 4 x 100m women's freestyle relay team have added Commonwealth gold to their haul and shattered one of swimming's seemingly untouchable world records in the process.
Brisbane sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell, Melanie Schlanger and the tireless Emma McKeon lit up the Tollcross pool in Glasgow to claim Australian swimming's first world record since 2009, when the infamous supersuit era saw times go into an historical freefall.
Cate Campbell, the 100m freestyle world champion, said she thought the Dutch mark of 3:31.72 would last for a decade and beyond when it was set five years ago. On night one in Glasgow, the Australians tore it down with no technological assistance required.
It was a brilliant feat, one which the quartet said they hadn't conceived of all week. Even when it happened, only Schlanger seemed to realise the significance as the clock showed up a time of 3:30.98. To add even more shine, McKeon had already swum twice in the session, winning gold in the 200m freestyle and lining up in a semi-final of the 100m butterfly.
For the Campbell sisters, it was a special moment. Cate was part of the Olympic champion group in 2012 but Bronte missed out. This time, they stood together and for all of the flack that the Commonwealth Games attract, there wasn't a team on the planet that could have touched them on this warm Scottish evening.
"Not only a world record, a supersuits world record. This is the stuff dreams are made of. It's incredible. When we saw that world record set in 2009, we were like 'well, that's it for the next 10 years'. This is beyond incredible and to share it with my sister, it's something I could never have dreamt of," Cate said.
When James Magnussen and the Weapons of Mass Destruction fell flat at the Olympic pool, it was a lesson in how not to prepare for an event in which you are expected to dominate. As a result, Cate Campbell said there was no hype or internal pressure and the result spoke for itself.
"I think we've learned from experience that putting pressure on relays is not a good thing. We just relaxed and we really showed what we can do when we relax and enjoy it," she said.
Only when the supersuits were taken away did athletes and observers of the sport take a breath and realise how fast they were helping propel swimmers up and down the pool. Now, to lower a suit-era record has become the big game hunt of the sport.
"A world record in itself is a milestone but a supersuit world record is something that's incredibly special. It was pandemonium in 2009 with those world records going. To finally get one up on those suits is a massive achievement," Cate Campbell said.
"I think now they've been taken away, we realised how much of a difference they made. They didn't swim the race for you but jeez they made a difference in the last 25m when it really hurts. It was a gutsy performance for all the girls."
Schlanger said that while the prospect of a world record wasn't discussed, the group knew they had the talent to break through the mark.
"It was always going to be touch and go but definitely possible. It wasn't something we spoke of at any point but I think we had an inkling that we had a chance," she said.
"It's pretty cool. Australia used to break them (world records) all the time and it wasn't a big deal. To be part of something that's brought that legacy back, it's pretty exciting."
Earlier on night one, hot favourite David McKeon was overhauled by a stirring sprint from Canada's Ryan Cochrane to be pipped for gold in the men's 400m freestyle. But his sister Emma wouldn't be denied as she drew away late to win the 200m freestyle, with Keryn McMaster taking bronze.
And a new swimming star may have been born in the shape of 16-year-old Brisbane student Rowan Crothers, who set a world record in the men's para-sport 100m S9 freestyle with a time of 54.58. It was an all-Australian podium, with paralympic great Matt Cowdrey winning silver and Brenden Hall taking bronze.
