Sam Short has matched it with Grant Hackett before.
But the 22-year-old is out to do something that even Australia's legendary distance swimmer has never done.
Freestyle ace Short has set himself the ambitious goal of winning the 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 4x200m races at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 800m will be raced for the first time in the men's program at the Games, while the 1500m has been added to the women's program.
Short proved he's up to the task in June, pulling off the individual sweep at national trials to become the second Australian after three-time Olympic gold medallist Hackett to win the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m races at the same meet.
Hackett never won every middle-distance freestyle race at a single Commonwealth Games, while five-time Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe won the 100m, 200m, and 400m in 2002 in Manchester.
Short still gets "goosebumps" when he's mentioned in the same sentence as Hackett.
"He was probably my idol growing up," Short told AAP.
"I just really loved the way he trained, the way he raced. He wanted to break his competitors mentally and physically - I really respected that.
"I couldn't believe that he was the only one (to win the four distance events at the same meet). No one's done it since Grant.
"And we've had tremendous distance swimmers like Mack Horton and Jack McLoughlin come through.
"I didn't really know that until after the 1500. Someone told me, and I was like, 'Oh, hell yeah'."
And if the program wasn't challenging enough, the schedule has added to the difficulty.
Short will contest the five races in four days, culminating in the 200m and the 1500m on the final day of swimming in Glasgow.
In the 200m field will be Matt Richards (Wales), Tom Dean (England), Duncan Scott (Scotland), James Guy (England) - Great Britain's all-conquering 4x200m freestyle team, who won gold medals at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
"It is a whole week. I'll obviously have to do fast heat swims," Short said.
"It will be very hard, but I don't race not to win. That's always the goal.
"The 200 and the 1500 are the same day. That's going to be a very big day.
"The 1500, maybe, it will force me to swim it a bit smarter - save the energy at the start instead of dying at the end."
And while Short has already tempted himself with envisioning four individual gold medals around his neck, the 22-year-old is also out to set new records.
That bid begins with the 400m final on Sunday morning (AEST), when Short will be eyeing Thorpe's long-held Commonwealth record of three minutes and 40.08 seconds set in 2002.
He swam a personal best of three minutes and 40.67 at the swim trials to book his spot in Glasgow.
