A couple of times every four years, Australians become diehard swimming fans – arguably the one international sport in which we can truly take on the world and win.
It happened at last year's Olympic Games where the likes of Emma McKeon, Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown and Zac Stubblety-Cook scooped the Tokyo pool.
For a little over a week, our swimmers – particularly the women – blitzed the field, bringing home an extraordinary haul of medals, gladdening the hearts of Australians worn down by the COVID lockdowns.
Just one year later, the Birmingham Commonwealth Games are looming, and on Wednesday in Adelaide the Australian Swimming Championships begin, doubling as trials for the Games in July and World Championships in Budapest one month earlier.
While we'll see the return of most of our Tokyo superstars, all eyes will be on Shayna Jack, who's aiming to make her first Australian team since the end of her two-year doping ban.
It starts on Wednesday night with Jack swimming in the 100m freestyle events in great form – she has the fastest time in the world this year over 100m.
Later in the week she'll compete in the 50m freestyle, holding the third-fastest time in the world this year.
Jack is one of the young women who'll have the chance to shine at these trials – it's the first time in more than a decade that a major Australian swimming meet won't feature either McKeon or Cate and Bronte Campbell.
Both of the Campbell sisters are taking a year off.
And McKeon, just a year after becoming Australia's most successful Olympian, is skipping the trials and the World Championships, but she does plan to compete at the Commonwealth Games
She has automatic entry into the Games courtesy of her medals at the Olympics.
Cate Campbell won the Australian 100m freestyle title seven times before she was finally toppled by McKeon last year.
So the door is open tonight for the likes of Jack as well as Mollie O'Callaghan, Madison Wilson and Meg Harrison, who all won relay gold medals in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay with the Campbell sisters and McKeon, to swim without the dominant women of the past decade next to them.
It means Australia will field a very different women's relay teams at the World Championships come June and the Commonwealth Game.
Adding some intrigue, Australia's Olympic gold medallist in the 200m and 400m freestyle events, Titmus, will also race in the 100m tonight.
Like McKeon, Titmus will miss the World Championships and focus entirely on the Commonwealth Games.
Another Tokyo multiple gold medallist, McKeown, will swim the 200m and 400m individual medley races as well as her pet backstroke events.
After breaking the world record in the 100m backstroke at least year's Olympic trials, McKeown is flying again with the two fastest times in the world this year.
Returning to the pool tonight will be the Rio 400m freestyle gold medallist, Mack Horton, who’s looking to respark his career after missing out on selection for Tokyo.
At 26, Horton has left his long-time coach, Craig Jackson, to join the successful squad of Michael Bohl in Queensland.
Veteran swimming journalist Ian Hanson of the Swimming World Magazine says there is excitement about some up and coming young women.
Hanson highlighted another two backstrokers, Minna Atherton and Tahlia Thornton, as ones to watch, as well as Alexandria Perkins in the 100m butterfly.
On the men's side, Hanson said there's huge excitement about 16-year-old Queensland freestyler Flynn Southam.
"Flynn Southam, he is going to be something else, particularly the way he races. He's got a really strong back end," Hanson said.
Last month, Southam broke the 16-years Australian age record that Kyle Chalmers set in 2015 just one year before his historic Rio Olympics Gold Medal.
Southam's time of 48.60 was even faster than the times Tokyo Gold medallist, Caleb Dressel, was swimming at the same age.
At the same meet he got within eight-tenths of a second of Ian Thorpe's Australian 1999 16-years age record in the 200m freestyle.
"He can negative split (swimming faster in the second half of the race) or go close to negative split," said Hanson.
"That's an exciting thing for a young boy. He's an absolutely exciting prospect."
Australia's 100m freestyle silver medallist at Tokyo, Kyle Chalmers, is having a low-key championship.
The Rio Gold Medallist had shoulders surgery in December and will only swim in the butterfly events – which counterintuitively places less stress on the joint.
Chalmers will be swimming in the 100m butterfly tonight alongside Matt Temple, who set a new Australian record at last year's Olympic trials.
Temple finished fifth in the event at the Olympics, returning with two bronze medals in relays.
The pop singer turned swimmer, Cody Simpson, is a chance to make the Commonwealth Games in the 100 fly.
The Tokyo Olympics were a massive high for the Dolphins and with another chance to shine on the world stage at the Commonwealth Games in July, Australia's swimmers will be desperate to nail a spot on the team.
Will we see McKeown break another world record? Or will the young guns knock off their seasoned rivals?
The championships will be streamed on Amazon Prime.
