2022 AUSTRALIAN AGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, April 13th – Monday, April 18th (able-bodied)
- SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, South Australia
- LCM (50m)
- Live Results
- Livestream: Amazon Prime
The 2022 Australian Age Championships rolled on from Adelaide, with another handful of youngsters turning some heads with the able-bodied portion of the competition now halfway over.
St. Peters Western’s Kaci Curtis continued to be a one-woman wrecking ball in the 13-year-old age category, tonight racking up wins in both the 50m back and 100m free events.
In the former, Curtis clinched the national title in a time of 29.73, the only sub-30 second result in the field. A time of 30.93 represented the promising teen’s previous personal best with that mark clocked just this past March.
Curtis then unleashed a mark of 57.75 to top the 100m free podium, once again establishing a new career-quickest. After entering the meet with a seed time of 58.78, Curtis dropped hit a 58.91 before ripping her first-ever sub-58 second outing.
Amelia Weber was another key performer tonight, claiming the 200m free for 16-year-old women. Stopping the clock in a time of 1:58.97, Weber came within half a second of the reigning Australian age record in the event. That standard remains at the 1:57.83 Ellen Fullerton put on the books in 2009.
On the men’s side, 15-year-old Marcus Da Silva got it done for gold in his age category’s 200m free, posting a winning effort of 1:50.72.
Opening in 53.66 and closing in 57.06, Da Silva beat the field by well over 3 seconds en route to crushing his previous personal best of 1:53.39 from March of this year.
Da Silva, who competes under the flag of City of Sydney Aquatic Club, now ranks as the 4th fastest Australian 15-year-old ever in the men’s 200m free event.
Australian Men’s Top Performers in 2000m Free at 15 Years of Age
- Ian Thorpe – 1:46.70, 1998
- Elijah Winnington – 1:49.30, 2016
- Flynn Southam – 1:49.66, 2022
- Marcus Da Silva – 1:50.72, 2022
- Alex Graham – 1:51.02, 2011
- Thomas Hauck – 1:51.63, 2018
Da Silva already made his mark in yesterday’s final, producing a lead-off time of 50.56 in his club’s men’s 4x100m free relay.
Opening in 24.43 and closing in 26.13, Da Silva became the 3rd fastest 15-year-old ever to come out of Australia in that event. His time sits only behind Chalmers’ age record of 49.68 and Ian Thorpe’s #2 time for the age at 50.21.
Da Silva is the most common Brazilian last name there is. Wonder if he has dual citizenship..
Da Silva improved on his 50.55 100 free from the relay the other day with a 50.33 in the individual tonight. Ranks him #4 all time behind Southam, Chalmers and Thorpe.
14 year old Sylvia Czajko looks like another promising sprint freestyler going 56.10 tonight in the 100 and 25.73 in the 50 earlier in the week. She doesn’t age up until the end of the year.
Southam’s time in the list must have been swum in 2021.
(although swimming Australia lists always have many errors and missing times)
15 year old Jaclyn Barclay went 28.26 in the 50 BK and 1:00.16 to lead off the medley relay.
That Thorpe guy was fast! Whatever happened to him as he aged up?
Yeah what did he ever end up doing
Scary good
Excellent result from Da Silva. Talking about the 200 free and another very promising swimmer, today at Danish Open Championships, Nicholas Castella, born in 2007 ( I think he’s still 14 ) swam 1.50.44. Yesterday he swam 23.13 in the 50 free heats (23.21 in the final). Castella will be swimming 200 back, 100 free and 400 free in the next 3 days of the Championships.