Australia's swimming star Kaylee McKeown has issued a sobering warning to her fellow world pacesetters ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
"Once you get to that number one spot, it's even harder to stay there," McKeown said.
Australia on Thursday night named a 35-strong swim team for next month's Tokyo Olympics.
In nine events, an Australian is currently ranked top in the world this year.
McKeown holds top billing in three of them: she broke the 100m backstroke world record on Sunday night and is also the world leader in the 200m backstroke and 400m individual medley.
Emma McKeon, who could contest eight events at the Games, is the world's pacesetter in the 100m and 200m freestyles, with Ariarne Titmus holding that status in the 400m and 800m freestyles.
Elijiah Winnington (400m freestyle) and Zac Stubblety-Cook (200m breaststroke) also hold the year's best times in their events.
The Dolphins team features two swimmers who will compete at their fourth Olympics, freestyler Cate Campbell and backstroker Emily Seebohm.
Campbell and Seebohm join Leisel Jones as the only Australian swimmers to make four Olympic teams.
Three swimmers - Mitch Larkin, Bronte Campbell and Cam McEvoy - will race at their third Olympics.
Bronte Campbell and McEvoy made the team as relay squad members while Larkin is a medal contender in the 200m individual medley while also securing a 100m backstroke swim.
The 19-year-old McKeown is among 21 Olympic debutants on a team featuring 18 men and 17 women.
Only one Australian swimmer, 100m freestyler Kyle Chalmers, will defend an Oympic title.
Mack Horton, the reigning Olympic 400m freestyle champion, missed selection for individual swims in that event and the 200m freestyle, but made the team as a relay squad member.
And selectors also threw an Olympic lifeline to breaststroker Matt Wilson.
Wilson was picked as a relay squad member - he finished second behind Stubblety-Cook in the 200m breaststroke, some 0.24 seconds outside the qualifying time specified by Swimming Australia.
In 2016, Wilson won the breaststroke race at trials but was 0.26s shy of the qualifying mark and missed the team for the Rio Games.
Wilson, a former world record holder and silver medallist at the 2019 world titles, was added to the Tokyo team as a discretionary pick, with selectors saying the death of his grandmother had disrupted his trial performance and preparation.
"We got informed yesterday that there were some extenuating circumstances that we needed to look into - and we did," Swimming Australia's head coach Rohan Taylor said.
"We determined, based on the fact that we have got a former world record holder, who won a world (championship) silver medal not that long ago, from a performance point of view he can add value.
"And we wanted to give him the opportunity to add value to the team, so that was the decision made, using that within the selection criteria."
Australian Associated Press
