Cate Campbell's Olympic Games hopes in last-chance saloon with 50m freestyle at Australian Swimming Trials

Cate Campbell has one more chance to make the Olympic team. (Supplied: Delly Carr)

It's been 16 years since Cate Campbell won a spot on her first Olympic team.

Now, whether one of Australia's greatest ever sprint freestyle swimmers makes it to a fifth Games rests on whether she can conjure one last surge of power down a single lap of the Brisbane Aquatic Centre pool.

Campbell was an 18-year-old when she won two bronze medals at that Games in Beijing: In the 4x100m relay alongside Libby Trickett (Lenton), Alice Mills and Melanie Schlanger, and in the 50m freestyle.

And it's the 50m that holds all Campbell's hopes for making a fifth-straight Games in Paris after her 100m dreams ended in heartbreak on Friday morning.

Campbell was crushed by the disappointment, both in missing the final and perhaps in the knowledge that it was illness that has cruelled her at the last.

"I'm obviously really disappointed for Cate," said sister Bronte.

"I know she was a bit ill leading into this and had a really rough last few weeks.

"I'm sure she'll be disappointed because we all know that she's an incredible athlete and can swim a lot faster than that."

Bronte, Cate's long-time training partner as well as a sister, could not speak higher of the swimmer she knows better than any other.

"I think she's one of the most incredible athletes that we've ever had in this event," she said after the 100m heats.

"I mean, she was a number-one freestyler, what — 10, 11, 12 years in a row? That's a feat that's pretty much unmatched in Australian sporting history."

After the final of the 100m on Friday night, where Bronte finished in fourth spot and booked a place in the relay team, she was emotional when talking about Cate's influence on her career.

"I felt devastated for my sister this morning," Bronte said on Channel 9.

"But she is absolutely incredible. I mean, she held this individual spot for 100m freestyle for 11 years. I think that's going to be a record in Australia.

"I want to pay homage to what an incredible athlete she is. I know she made me a better swimmer.

"These girls would have grown up watching her swim. So even though she wasn't there with us in the pool tonight she's still a huge part of our success."

From that first Games in 2008, Campbell has won 37 major international medals — 23 of them gold.

Through the countless injuries, health scares and doubts, Campbell is firmly established as one of the all-time greats of Australian swimming.

An admired and respected ambassador for the sport, one of Australia's two flag bearers at the Tokyo Games and now chair of the AOC Athletes' Commission.

But aside from all the out-the-pool accolades and honours, Campbell is, above all, a phenomenal competition swimmer.

Campbell has been at the heart of the women's 4x100m relay since 2008, winning 10 global medals in that event alone.

Her other Olympic gold also came in a relay, the 4x100m medley in Tokyo.

She has, inarguably, helped drive Australian sprinting to the next level.

"I inherited [Australia's sprinting legacy] from Libby [Trickett] and Jodie [Henry] and Alice [Tait]," Campbell told the AOC in 2023.

"I feel like I've helped drive the women's 100m freestyle globally."

Not just globally, but domestically too.

"Cate's one of those phenomenons that will last forever," Shayna Jack said after Friday's final.

"I grew up idolising Cate, and then I trained with Cate, and then Cate became a massive mentor because she's been through some difficult times in her past.

"So I really was grateful for every bit of wisdom she could pass on."

The age of the finalists in last night's 100m freestyle ranged from 30-year-old's Emma McKeon and Bronte Campbell to 17-year-old Jansen Milla.

"I mean like you've seen in the past four or five years there's rookies getting on the team that have swum absolutely incredibly," 22-year-old Meg Harris said following the heats.

"There's so many of us, it's just, that's the way it's going to be."

Australia has extraordinary strength in depth in the 100m freestyle — as evidenced by their three-straight Olympic titles in the 4x100m relay.

That depth is matched by the field in Saturday's 50m free too, making Campbell's task incredibly tough.

It seems almost cruel that a career so decorated will be determined by how Campbell performs in a maximum of two swims lasting less than 25 seconds each.

But perhaps there's a sliver of romance in her opportunity for one last hurrah takes place in the 50m sprint.

After all, it was a 50m free that earned Campbell a first individual Olympic medal in Beijing.

And Campbell doesn't have to look far for inspiration, only into her own past.

Winning silver in that event was American symbol of swimming longevity, Dara Torres, who became swimming's oldest silver medallist aged 41 at that Games.

Campbell, at 32, is the oldest swimmer in the 97-strong field that features a handful of girls who were not even born when Campbell swum in her first Games.

Now would be a great time to show the world that there is still enough in the tank for one last great swim.