A warning shot has been fired by Olympic champion Mack Horton ahead of this week's Pan Pacs in Tokyo - at his own 4x200m freestyle relay team.
Horton will launch his Pan Pacs campaign in the 200m freestyle in day one action on Thursday but his thoughts quickly turned to their relay squad's prospects in Japan.
And he didn't mince his words.
While Horton was excited by their potential, he turned up the heat on Australia's likely 4x200m team members of fellow Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers, Alex Graham and young gun Elijah Winnington to lift in the event ahead of Tokyo 2020.
"I think it's going to be very strong in a couple of years. I think we need to put a bit more emphasis on it, probably," he said.
"And we need to figure out how to be better relay swimmers. "
"Nobody swims as fast as they do in their individual (200m event), currently. We need to step it up for relays."
Horton faces some challenges of his own after finally ditching his beloved 1500m freestyle from his program to concentrate on the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle before the latter event makes its Olympic debut in 2020.
Even after winning Rio 400m gold Horton still considered himself a 1500m specialist but the 22-year-old said he had finally got his head around ditching what is considered Australia's premier swimming event.
However he warned it may be another 12 months before he sees results in his new program switch.
"I think it has definitely been sad letting go of the 1500m but at the same time I am excited about what could happen in the 200m, 400m and 800m," he said.
"I have only been training a couple of months since Comm Games now so I don't know what to expect.
"I don't know if there is going to be a big difference now or go through a whole other year to see a big shift but I am excited to see what happens."
Horton is considered a medal threat in the 200m on Thursday and hot favourite for the 400m starting on Friday after a personal best time to win the Gold Coast Commonwealth title.
But Horton said he had no idea what to expect in his new event 800m starting on Sunday.
"I don't think many people have figured out how to swim the race. I look forward to testing the waters there," he said.
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