The door is open for recovering Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers to be picked for the world short course swimming titles after sprint king Cameron McEvoy on Friday night made himself unavailable for the Australian team.
Chalmers missed a golden chance to be selected for December's world titles in Canada when he pulled out of his pet event - the 100m freestyle - at the national short course championships due to a heath scare on Thursday night.
However, McEvoy's confirmation that he would not contest the world titles looks set to have given a fully recovered Chalmers another shot.
McEvoy won both the 100m and 200m freestyle national titles in Brisbane for the third straight year this week.
His withdrawal ensures team vacancies in both events.
Chalmers returned to the pool on Friday, showing no signs of his long-time heart condition that flared 24 hours earlier, to finish third in the 200m freestyle final.
Australia's world titles team will be named after the final day on Saturday night.
But McEvoy liked what he saw from Chalmers after the 18-year-old bounced back from his health scare.
"It is always really hard to get up and put your body on the line especially in the 200m freestyle after that heart thing last night," McEvoy said of Chalmers.
"It was good to see. Seeing him in the marshalling area he was just happy to be there and of course it was great having him back in the race."
Chalmers was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) before the Rio Games and suffered a sudden attack 20 minutes before Thursday night's 100m final.
The SVT condition can cause a dramatic spike in heart rate.
Chalmers still appeared keen to race on Thursday night but was pulled from the 100m final by medical staff after consultation with Australian head coach Jacco Verhaeren.
National mentor Verhaeren said they may yet provide an exemption for Chalmers to contest the world titles.
"We will discuss that," he said.
"We will see how far the rules allow us to make an exemption.
"We have to consider everything and we can't do that before the competition is finished."
Meanwhile, McEvoy said he only had a limited preparation for the national short course titles after taking a break following the Rio Games at which he claimed 4x100m freestyle relay bronze.
He will now focus on April's world long course titles selection trials in Brisbane.
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