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SINGAPORE: Lani Pallister on Saturday urged her young Australian team-mates to “soak in the moment” at swimming’s world championships in Singapore with one eye on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Australians won seven swimming golds at the Paris Olympics but several big names have since retired or are skipping this year’s world championships, which begin Sunday.

That has opened the door for 10 debutants and Pallister, who made her Olympic bow in Paris, urged them to make the most of the experience.

“I think it’s important for those on the team this year to really soak in the moment and do their best,” said the 23-year-old.

“I don’t really think it’s about the medal table, I think in three years’ time is the bigger picture.”

Australia’s most successful Olympian, Emma McKeon, has hung up her goggles as have other stalwarts including Mitch Larkin, Brianna Throssell and Jenna Strauch.

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus—who lost her 400m freestyle world record to Canadian Summer McIntosh last month—is on an extended break.

Eleven of Australia’s squad in Singapore are aged 20 or under.

Veteran Cameron McEvoy, who is appearing at his seventh world championship, said the Australians were a team in transition.

“Things come and go, things change, you have to build up from time to time, you can’t be constantly at the top and only at the top,” said the 31-year-old, the 50m freestyle Olympic champion.

“We have the most rookies on our team that I’ve seen across my whole time, which is exciting too.”

At just 16, Sienna Toohey came from nowhere to qualify for the 50m and 100m breaststroke.

Australia also have high hopes for fellow newcomers Hannah Fredericks (200m backstroke) and Ben Goedemans (800m freestyle), while Ella Ramsay, 21, will contest four events.

“A lot of them are very young, they’ve got a lot of years ahead of them,” said McEvoy.

“Starting that three years out from the Olympics instead of, say, 2027, one year out, goes a long way too.”

And, Leon Marchand said on Saturday that he still has “a lot to do in the swimming world” a year on from his sensational home Olympics in Paris.

The 23-year-old was the face of the Paris Games last summer, winning four individual gold medals to thrill the French fans and become a national hero.

Speaking on the eve of his first major competition since, at the world championships in Singapore, Marchand said it had been “a transition year” since his exploits in the French capital.

“It’s more like getting back into the game,” said Marchand, who won the 200m and 400m individual medley events in Paris, and the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke.

“I had a pretty good year of relaxing and getting back into it, but really taking my time.

“I’m excited for the world championships. I want to be close to my personal bests in all my races and of course break world records in the next few years.

“I still have a lot to do in the swimming world.”

Marchand, the world record holder in the 400m medley and a multiple world champion, said that the attention now heaped on him from the French public in particular was “a lot to handle at first”.

“It’s been good and bad,” he said of the adulation he now receives back home.

“I am getting used to it, I know how to handle it better, I know how to say no better.

“I get a lot more peace when I travel outside of France, for sure. I was able to train better and do my own thing like usual.”

Marchand has scaled back his schedule in Singapore to focus on the 200m and 400m medley and ultimately has his sights set on Ryan Lochte’s long-standing 200m world record.