Mack Horton Explained

Mack Horton
Fullname:Mackenzie James Horton
Nicknames:Mack the Knife[1]
Strokes:Freestyle
Club:Griffith University
Coach:Michael Bohl
Birth Date:1996 4, df=yes[2]
Birth Place:Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height:190 cm[3]
Weight:88 kg

Mackenzie James Horton (born 25 April 1996) is an Australian retired[4] freestyle swimmer. He is an Olympic gold medallist, World Championships gold medallist, and 4-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he took the gold in the 400m freestyle, and became the first male swimmer from the state of Victoria to win an Olympic swimming gold in the Games' history.[5] [6]

Career

2012–2013

Horton first represented Australia at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Honolulu at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center, where he won gold in the 1500 metre freestyle in a championship record time of 15:10.07.[7] At the same meet, he finished second in the 400-metre freestyle[8] and 4th in the 800-metre freestyle.[9] He also placed fourth in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay with a final time of 7:27.90, tenth in the preliminaries of the 200-metre freestyle with a 1:51.83, and twenty-first in the 100-metre freestyle with a 51.79.[10]

Two months later at the final leg of the 2012 World Cup in Singapore, Horton won the 1500 metre freestyle event in 14:54.25.[11]

At the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival, Horton won gold in the 1500 metre freestyle event.[12]

Eight months later at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Dubai, Horton won five gold medals and a silver. He took out the 200 m,[13] 400 m,[14] 800 m[15] and 1500 m freestyle events[16] and alongside Luke Percy, Regan Leong and Blake Jones won the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay[17] all in new Championships record times. The team of Horton, Leong, Isaac Jones and Jack McLoughlin finished second behind the British in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay event.[18]

2014–2016

Horton qualified for his first senior team at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships where he won the 1500 metre freestyle in 14:51.55[19] and finished second behind David McKeon in the 400-metre freestyle in 3:44.60,[20] setting two new junior world records.[21] Horton also finished 5th in the 200-metre freestyle in 1:47.36[22] which also set a new junior world record.[23]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Horton won the silver medal in the 1500 metre freestyle in new junior world record time[24] of 14:48.76[25] and narrowly missed the podium in the 400-metre freestyle finishing in fourth place in 3:44.91.[26] In the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay event, Horton alongside Thomas Fraser-Holmes, David McKeon and Ned McKendry finished as the fastest qualifies with Horton swimming the anchor leg in 1:49.17.[27] In the final, Horton was replaced by Cameron McEvoy and they went on to win the gold in a new games record time of 7:07.38.[28]

Three weeks later at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Gold Coast, Australia, Horton won the silver medal in the 800-metre freestyle in 7.47.73,[29] the bronze medal in the 1500 metre freestyle in 14:52.78[30] and with McKeon, McEvoy and Fraser-Holmes won bronze in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay in 7:08.55.[31]

In April 2014, Horton became an ambassador for Horton's Heroes Water Polo team (SHWP) with the swimwear brand Speedo[32] and in August 2014, after his breakthrough performances he was named the winner of the Georgina Hope Foundation Rising Star of the Australian Swim Team.

For his first long course World Championships, the 2015 World Aquatics Championships held in August with swimming competition at Ak Bars Arena in Kazan, Russia, Horton won his first world medal in the 800 metre freestyle, finishing third with a time of 7:44.02 that was less than five seconds behind gold medalist Sun Yang of China and silver medalist Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy to win the bronze medal.[33]

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Horton represented Australia in the 400 m freestyle, in which he won gold, and the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, in which he finished 4th with his teammates.[34] He finished 5th in the final of the 1500 m freestyle.

2019–2021

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, Horton won silver in the 400 m freestyle event where he came runner up to Sun Yang. In a controversial "stand-off" Horton refused to shake the hand of Sun or to stand on the winners' podium. Horton had previously called Sun a "drug cheat". On 28 February 2020, Sun was issued an 8-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for tampering with the doping control process,[35] [36] with calls to reissue medals from affected events,[37] though the CAS clarified that Sun would not be stripped of any of his medals because "doping tests performed on [Sun] shortly before and after the aborted doping control in September 2018 were negative" and "in the absence of any evidence that [Sun] may have engaged in doping activity ... the results achieved by [Sun] in the period prior to the CAS award being issued should not be disqualified."[38]

At the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials, Horton came third in the qualification final for the 400m freestyle, failing to qualify behind Elijah Winnington and Jack McLoughlin. Horton would also make it to the final for the 200m freestyle and would come sixth, earning him selection for the 2020 Olympics in the squad for the Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay.[39] [40] [41]

2022

The following year, Horton won the silver medal in the 400-metre freestyle, with a 3:44.06, and the bronze medal in the 200-metre freestyle, with a 1:46.70, at the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships, held in May in Adelaide, and qualified to represent Australia at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and in swimming competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[42]

A little over three months later, Horton qualified for and was named to the Australia roster for the 2022 World Short Course Championships, to be held in December following the Championships relocation from the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan to his hometown of Melbourne, based on his performances in August at the 2022 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships.[43] Day three of the 2022 World Short Course Championships, contested at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, he ranked fourth in the preliminaries of the 400 metre freestyle with a time of 3:38.09 and qualified for the evening final.[44] Dropping to a 3:37.94 in the final, he placed sixth.[45] The following day, he won a silver medal as part of the finals relay in the 4×200 metre freestyle relay, splitting a 1:43.19 for the fourth leg of the relay to help set new Oceanian, Commonwealth, and Australian records in the event with finals relay teammates Thomas Neill, Kyle Chalmers, and Flynn Southam in a time of 6:46.54.[46] [47] In the inaugural men's 800 metre freestyle at a World Short Course Championships, the following day, he placed ninth overall with a time of 7:40.64.[48]

2023

At the 2023 Australian Swimming Championships in April, Horton advanced to the final of the 400-metre freestyle on day one with a time of 3:54.31 in the preliminaries, then finished 0.05 seconds behind sixth-place finisher Joshua Staples in the final to place seventh. He followed up with a placing of fifth in the 800-metre freestyle on day three in 8:08.31.[49] He improved to a third-place finish in the 400-metre freestyle at the 2023 Australian Swimming Trials in June, finishing in a time of 3:46.71 in the final.[50]

2024

On the 21 January 2024, Horton announced his retirement from swimming just 6 months before the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.[51]

International championships (50 m)

Meet100 freestyle200 freestyle400 freestyle800 freestyle1500 freestyle4×100 freestyle4×200 freestyle4×100 mixed freestyle
Junior level
21st 10th (h) 4th 4th
2nd (h)
Senior level
4th
5th
11th 11th
5th 4th
11th DNS 4th
11th 6th
14th
9th
4th

Horton swam only in the preliminaries.

Career-best times

EventTimeRecordMeet
Long course
200 m freestyle 1:45.892018 Commonwealth Games
400 m freestyle 3:41.552016 Summer Olympics
800 m freestyle 7:44.022015 World Aquatics Championships
1500 m freestyle 14:39.54[52] 2016 Australian Championships

Personal life

On 16 September 2023, Horton married his high school sweetheart Ella Walter, a nurse.[53] They had been dating since 2015 and got engaged in January 2022.[54] In one of the interviews, Horton described Walter as "the secret to his swimming success".[55]

In 2019, both Horton and Walter became subjects of online abuse and death threats from fans of Chinese swimmer Sun Yang after Horton staged a podium protest at the world swimming titles in South Korea and refused to shake hands with Sun pointing out that he was unhappy that Sun had been allowed to compete at the world titles ahead of a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing to decide his fate in a long-running doping allegations scandal.[56]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Mack Horton speaks out after golden swim as unrest poisons Rio pool . Robert . Kitson . 7 August 2016 . . 9 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160808000426/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/07/mack-horton-speaks-out-gold-medal-rio-2016 . 8 August 2016 . live .
  2. Web site: Profile of Mack Horton. Glasgow 2014. 29 July 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140823195414/http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/swimming/1030638/m_horton.html. 23 August 2014. live.
  3. Web site: Profile of Mack Horton. Swimming Australia. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090829/http://www.swimming.org.au/article.php?group_id=7852tml. 4 March 2016. dead.
  4. Web site: Mack Horton, Olympic gold medalist from Australia, retires from swimming. 20 January 2024.
  5. Web site: Mack Horton wins gold in 400m freestyle. 9 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160808181331/http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/08/07/gold-medal-mack-horton-wins-gold-in-mens-400m-freestyle/. 8 August 2016. live.
  6. News: Mack Horton the first Victorian swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal. News.com.au. 8 August 2016. 9 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160812033353/http://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/mack-horton-the-first-victorian-swimmer-to-win-an-olympic-gold-medal/news-story/3382e049703e84ee061b34dbab3d4a58. 12 August 2016. live.
  7. Web site: Results of the boys' 1500 metre freestyle at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Pan Pacific Swimming Association. 24 August 2012. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191427/http://www.swmeets.com/realtime/jr%20panpacs/2012/120823F008.htm. 4 March 2016. live.
  8. Web site: Results of the boys' 400-metre freestyle at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Pan Pacific Swimming Association. 25 August 2012. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160914220236/http://www.swmeets.com/realtime/jr%20panpacs/2012/120823F018.htm. 14 September 2016. live.
  9. Web site: Results of the boys' 800-metre freestyle at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Pan Pacific Swimming Association. 27 August 2012. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072141/http://www.swmeets.com/realtime/jr%20panpacs/2012/120823F032.htm. 4 March 2016. live.
  10. https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/eventsdocuments/meet-results/international-event-results/junior-pan-pacs/2012-junior-pan-pacific-championships.pdf "2012 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming 8/23/2012 to 8/27/2012: Results"
  11. Web site: Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle at the 2012 FINA Swimming World Cup event in Singapore. pdf. Omega SA. 11 November 2012. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924132429/http://www.omegatiming.com/File/Download?id=00010C010A00000502FFFFFFFFFFFF02. 24 September 2015. live.
  12. Web site: Results of the boys' 1500 metre freestyle at the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival. AOC. January 2013. 20 August 2014.
  13. Web site: Results of the boys' 200-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships . 42 . . 31 August 2013 . 20 August 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728150635/http://www.fina.org/H2O/docs/events/swjuniors2013/results.pdf . 28 July 2014.
  14. Web site: Results of the boys' 400-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships . 1 . . 31 August 2013 . 20 August 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728150635/http://www.fina.org/H2O/docs/events/swjuniors2013/results.pdf . 28 July 2014.
  15. Web site: Results of the boys' 800-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships . 73 . . 31 August 2013 . 20 August 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728150635/http://www.fina.org/H2O/docs/events/swjuniors2013/results.pdf . 28 July 2014.
  16. Web site: Results of the boys' 1500 metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships . 141 . . 31 August 2013 . 20 August 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728150635/http://www.fina.org/H2O/docs/events/swjuniors2013/results.pdf . 28 July 2014 .
  17. Web site: Results of the boys' 4 × 100-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships . 23 . . 31 August 2013 . 20 August 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728150635/http://www.fina.org/H2O/docs/events/swjuniors2013/results.pdf . 28 July 2014.
  18. Web site: Results of the boys' 4 × 200-metre freestyle final at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships . 95 . . 31 August 2013 . 20 August 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728150635/http://www.fina.org/H2O/docs/events/swjuniors2013/results.pdf . 28 July 2014.
  19. Web site: Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle final at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships. Swimming Australia. 6 April 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20151006173236/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014OPEN1/140401F056.htm. 6 October 2015. live.
  20. Web site: Results of the men's 400-metre freestyle final at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships. Swimming Australia. 1 April 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20151006183031/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014OPEN1/140401F004.htm. 6 October 2015. live.
  21. Jason. Marsteller. FINA world junior records can begin being set today. Swimming World. Sports Publications International. 1 April 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160921115035/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/fina-world-junior-records-can-begin-being-set-today/. 21 September 2016. live.
  22. Web site: Results of the men's 200-metre freestyle final at the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships. Swimming Australia. 2 April 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083538/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014OPEN1/140401F017.htm. 4 March 2016. live.
  23. Jason. Marsteller. Thomas Fraser-Holmes proves successful with difficult double on night two of Aussie nationals. Swimming World. Sports Publications International. 2 April 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141101092842/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/thomas-fraser-holmes-proves-successful-with-difficult-double-on-night-two-of-aussie-nationals/. 1 November 2014. live.
  24. Web site: Craig. Lord. Park Tae-Hwan leads the speed in realm of rare catch-up mission for USA at Pan Pacs. swimvortex.com. 14 August 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140828021123/http://www.swimvortex.com/park-tae-hwan-leads-the-speed-in-realm-of-rare-catch-up-mission-for-usa-at-pan-pacs/. 28 August 2014. dead.
  25. Web site: Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140730085803/http://results.glasgow2014.com/event/swimming/swm015101/mens_1500m_freestyle_final.html. 30 July 2014. live.
  26. Web site: Results of the men's 400-metre freestyle final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140729135434/http://results.glasgow2014.com/event/swimming/swm014101/mens_400m_freestyle_final.html. 29 July 2014. live.
  27. Web site: Results of heat 2 of the men's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140730080054/http://results.glasgow2014.com/event/swimming/swm412902/mens_4_x_200m_freestyle_relay___heat_2.html. 30 July 2014. live.
  28. Web site: Results of the men's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow 2014. 3 August 2014. 20 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140810211044/http://results.glasgow2014.com/event/swimming/swm412101/mens_4_x_200m_freestyle_relay_final.html. 10 August 2014. live.
  29. Web site: Results of the men's 800-metre freestyle at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Swimming Australia. 24 August 2014. 26 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115634/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014PP/140821F025.htm. 26 August 2014. live.
  30. Web site: Results of the men's 1500 metre freestyle at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Swimming Australia. 21 August 2014. 26 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140826160728/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014PP/140821F008.htm. 26 August 2014. live.
  31. Web site: Results of the men's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Swimming Australia. 22 August 2014. 26 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140826113356/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014PP/140821F016.htm. 26 August 2014. live.
  32. Web site: Speedo signs Australian rising star swimmer Mack Horton. Swimming Australia. 9 April 2014. 15 September 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043354/http://www.swimming.org.au/article.php?group_id=28739. 4 March 2016. dead.
  33. Balym, Todd (6 August 2015). "2015 FINA World Championships: Mack Horton wins bronze in 800m freestyle final". Fox Sports. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  34. Web site: 2016 Australian Olympic Swimming Team selected. Australian Olympic Committee. 14 April 2016. 5 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161011063212/http://rio2016.olympics.com.au/news/2016-australian-olympic-swimming-team-selected. 11 October 2016. dead.
  35. Web site: World Swimming Championships: Sun Yang wins 400m freestyle but bad blood with Mack Horton spills over. 22 July 2019. Reuters. Independent. 23 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190722150143/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/swimming/world-swimming-championship-2019-sun-yang-mack-horton-drugs-cheat-anti-doping-a9014496.html. 22 July 2019. live.
  36. Web site: Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang banned for eight years after Cas ruling. . 28 February 2020.
  37. News: Sun Yang banned for eight years for breaking anti-doping rules. ABC News. 28 February 2020.
  38. Web site: Sun Yang Verdict: Ryan Cochrane And Chad Le Clos On The Lasting Pain Of Loss. Swimming World News. 28 February 2020.
  39. News: Campbell set for fourth Olympics as Australia name swimming team. Reuters. 17 June 2021. 1 July 2021.
  40. Web site: Horton fails to qualify for Tokyo Olympics . 2024-01-25 . wwos.nine.com.au . 12 June 2021 . en.
  41. News: 2021-06-12 . Mack Horton misses out on Olympic selection in gold-medal event . 2024-01-25 . ABC News . en-AU.
  42. Hanson, Ian (16 June 2022). "Olympic Champions Kyle Chalmers and Mack Horton Lead New Look Dolphins For Budapest World Championship Assault". Swimming World. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  43. https://www.swimming.org.au/articles/dolphins-named-for-home-world-short-course-championships "Dolphins Named For Home World Short Course Championships"
  44. [FINA]
  45. [FINA]
  46. [FINA]
  47. Pérez, Marta (16 December 2022). "España, 6a con doble tope en unos 4x200 libre con récord del mundo de Estados Unidos" (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  48. [FINA]
  49. https://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2023Opens/ "Meet Results: 2023 Australian Swimming Championships"
  50. https://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2023TRIALS/ "Meet Results: 2023 Australian Swimming Trials"
  51. Web site: 2024-01-22 . Mack Horton stuns world with retirement ahead of Paris 2024 . 2024-01-25 . www.insidethegames.biz.
  52. Web site: Horton Passes Perkins Chasing Hackett in Lake of Legends – 14:39; McLoughlin 14:48 . Craig . Lord . 14 April 2016 . Swimvortex . 14 April 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160421091133/http://www.swimvortex.com/horton-passes-perkins-chasing-hackett-in-lake-of-legends-1439-mcloughlin-1448/ . 21 April 2016 . dead .
  53. Web site: Australian champion swimmer Mack Horton marries high school sweetheart Ella Walter . 21 September 2023 . 7News . 7 February 2024 .
  54. Web site: Olympic Gold Medalist Mack Horton Marries High School Sweetheart Ella Walter . 17 September 2023 . Swim Swam . 7 February 2024 .
  55. Web site: Swim star Mack Horton reveals his high school sweetheart is the secret to his swimming success . 30 March 2018 . Herald Sun . 7 February 2024 .
  56. Web site: Girlfriend at centre of disgusting new twist in Mack Horton furore . 22 July 2019 . Yahoo Sport Australia . 7 February 2024 .

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