New coach Jacco Verhaeren gets seal of approval from James Magnussen James Magnussen at a launch for the 2014 TRYathlon event yesterday, says he is 'really excited' about the appointment of Jacco Verhaeren as Australia's new head coach. Picture: Bob Barker Source: TheAustralian WORLD 100m freestyle champion James Magnussen believes Australia's new head coach Jacco Verhaeren can help him and his coach Brant Best find the final ingredient to transform him from an Olympic silver medallist in London last year to a gold medallist in Rio in 2016. The Dutchman, who will become the first foreign head coach, has an extraordinary record as a coach of 100m freestylers, having guided Pieter van den Hoogenband, Inge de Bruijn and Ranomi Kromowidjojo to Olympic gold medals in the past 13 years. Magnussen revealed he had his "fingers crossed" that Verhaeren would get the job after getting a "strong inkling" that the Dutchman was being courted by Swimming Australia. Magnussen is eager to learn all he can from a modern master of the sprint. "I am really excited about Jacco's appointment," he said. I think he's going to do great things with Australian swimming. Magnussen is particularly keen to tap into Verhaeren's Olympic experience with the 100m freestyle. Both he and Best were Olympic rookies in London and both admit they made some mistakes. "There's a lot of pressure and expectation that surrounds that event," Magnussen said. He took Pieter to back-to-back gold medals (in 2000 and 2004) and I hope I and my coach can draw on that experience and composure. In the dealings I have had with Jacco he's been very intent on professionalism and preparation and the finer details and skills. I think he's got a great eye for swimming. Magnussen believes his other essential for Rio is to restore his confidence to where it was before it took a brutal knock at the London Olympics and during the Stilnox scandal that followed. While winning a second world title this year went some way to exorcising his demons, he still thinks he has work to do. To that end, he intends to race himself to a standstill next year, taking on three major championships - the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July, the Pan Pacific titles in Brisbane in August and the world short-course championships in Doha in December. "When I went on a run between early 2011 and (mid) 2012, I won 20 100 free races in a row and that built my confidence up to a level where I was really comfortable racing under any circumstances," he said. I'd like to get my confidence back to that level by continual racing and performing at a high level. Consequently, he is laying a heavy fitness base in training so he will hold up through a year of almost constant racing. "Training has been extraordinarily hard," he said. But I feel as fit and healthy as I have been since I moved to Sydney (four years ago).