Cody Simpson has started the year with a bang after splitting from his longtime model girlfriend and flagging his first major swim meet of 2022.
The La Dee Daa singer, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Tuesday, will contest the World Championship trials to be held in Adelaide in April in what will be his first major swim meet since the Olympic trials last year.
It's understood Simpson will compete in the 50m and 100m fly as well as the 100m freestyle with his best chance to crack the Australian team likely to emerge in his pet event, the 100m fly.
Over: Cody Simpson and model girlfriend Marloes Stevens have split. Both pictured
The meet could prove a golden opportunity for Simpson to crack the National team with many of the big-name swimmers sitting out the World Championships (held in Japan in May) in favour of staying fresh for the Commonwealth Games in August.
It comes as friends close to the singer-turned-swimmer confirm Simpson and his Belgian-born American model girlfriend Marloes Stevens have called it quits.
Sources close to the couple say that Simpson's dedication to his swimming career ultimately took precedence over his personal life, with Stevens also said to be homesick for her native Los Angeles.
However Stevens, who returned to the US in mid-November, has alluded to a not-so-amicable break-up with a series of cryptic messages on Instagram.
Happier times: Simpson and Stevens rocketed to glamour-couple status back in 2020 when they hooked up in the wake of Simpson's high-profile split from Miley Cyrus
One note, posted on Simpson's birthday, read: 'Fall in love with someone who will take care of you - not in a materialistic way, but rather, fall in love with someone who will take care of your soul'.
Simpson and Stevens rocketed to glamour-couple status back in 2020 when they hooked up in the wake of Simpson's high-profile split from Miley Cyrus.
Simpson is set to release new music on January 25 with the Gold Coaster confirming to Billboard.com this week that 'some' of the tracks on his fourth studio album
