When life gave Will Petric lemons, the rising Australian swimmer decided to brush up on his Mandarin.
And after going viral in China, the 22-year-old is out to stamp himself as a future star on home soil at next week’s inaugural SwimGP in Melbourne.
In March Petric became an unexpected Chinese social media sensation after doing a post-race interview in Mandarin.
At the China Open, Petric blitzed the 400m individual medal field by nearly seven seconds, before navigating Mandarin’s famously intricate tonal spoken system to declare his love for the city of Shenzhen and detail how he pushed through fatigue to take gold.
He had some basic knowledge of the language, after doing a Year 9 homestay in Nanjing.
“You've got to take these opportunities up,” Petric told AAP.
“I figured, I have very limited Chinese-speaking skills, but I wanted to attempt to interview in Chinese.
“I got a really good reception in the crowd, but also online on Chinese social media.
“There was quite a lot of engagement online there … they're encouraging me to do it. It's really quite a cool experience.”
Petric has since put together a career-best season, winning two freestyle relay gold medals and a 400m individual medley silver at the Commonwealth Games.
It was his breakthrough 200m individual medley bronze at the Pan Pacific Championships last August that cemented his status as one to watch, with Dolphins coaching staff naming him one of eight "platinum athletes’' for the SwimGP event.
Petric will lead one of four teams alongside five-time Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown, with Mollie O’Callaghan and Kyle Chalmers also part of the star-studded line-up.
“The way I finished off at Pan Pacs with an Australian bronze medal, it finally put me on the scene a little bit,” Petric said.
“SwimGP is for sure a stepping stone … this is all gearing up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
“I look at where (French swimmer) Leon Marchand was in Paris and how he had to deal with the home-crowd expectation. Coming second is, in everyone's eyes, a failure.
“I'd love to be in a similar position in 2032 where I'm fighting for a gold medal. I want to be able to rise to the occasion, not crumble under that pressure.”
Similar to last year’s Australia versus the World meet, SwimGP combines traditional races with staggered-start events, elimination skins and fan-voted formats in a bid to build domestic interest ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Petric’s enthusiasm for the event ties back to his openness to interview in Mandarin.
“This format, you're going to get really good race practice, but you’re also learning to be an entertainer,” Petric said.
“You see it with AFL superstars that they have personalities, and they share them.
“This is another thing that us swimmers need to get really good at, being able to be authentic and not be scared to receive criticism.”
Petric’s billing as a headline act won’t stop with SwimGP, with the 22-year-old to return to China for next month’s world short-course championships.
“Maybe now I'll be a little bit of a crowd favourite,” he said.
