15-Year-Old O’Callaghan Making Waves In Aussie Backstroke All-Time List

7TH FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019

  • Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
  • Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
  • Heats 9:30am GMT+2 (3:30 am EDT / 12:30 am PDT)/ Semifinals and Finals 5:30pm GMT+2 (11:30am EDT / 8:30am PDT)
  • 50-meter (LCM) course
  • Meet site
  • Entries book
  • FinaTV Live Stream (subscription required)
  • Live results

Australia showed up big-time on night 1 of the 2019 World Junior Championships, first with Thomas Neill taking home the 400m free silver in a huge new personal best, then with Mollie O’Callaghan‘s powerful performance in the women’s 100m backstroke.

15-year-old O’Callaghan of St. Peters Western has been turning heads for some time now, most recently collecting 4 relay gold medals and 4 individual medals in her age group at the Australian Age Swimming Championships in Adelaide this past April. Her time there of 1:01.05 that won 100m back gold represented the teen’s personal best, but she already laid waste to that mark with her morning swim of 1:00.53.

Splitting 29.35/31.18, O’Callaghan produced the first sub-1:01 time of her career and set herself up nicely as the 2nd seeded swimmer headed into tonight’s semi-finals in Budapest.

Racing the semi, the Dean Boxall-trained athlete powered her way to yet another PB, this time hitting the wall in a result of 1:00.53. Splits for the teen included 29.09/31.20 to place her once again as the 3rd seed.

Like the aforementioned Neill, O’Callaghan’s time tonight inserts her among the Australian greats in the 15-year-old age category. Her time of 1:00.53 this evening keeps O’Callagahn as the 4th fastest swimmer ever, but she is inching up on World Championships mega stars Minna Atherton, Emily Seebohm and Kaylee McKeown.

All-Time Australian 15-year-old Female Performers in 100 Backstroke

59.37 Minna Atherton Brisbane Grammar Brisbane QLD State 12.12.15
59.59 Emily Seebohm Brothers Sydney Australian Champs 22.03.08
1:00.28 Kaylee McKeown USC Spartans Brisbane Australian Champs 09.04.17
1:00.53 Mollie O’Callaghan St Peters Western World Junior Championships Budapest 20.08.19

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Troyy
5 years ago

You’ve used the same splits for both the heat and semi.

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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