2017 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, April 9th – Thursday, April 13th
- Brisbane Aquatic Centre
- Prelims at 11am local/Finals at 7:30pm local
- LCM
- Meet Site
- Entry List
- Qualification Criteria
- Meet Preview
- Live Streaming (differs per session) – Day 3 Finals (through B Finals only)
- Live Results
MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE – FINAL
- Swimming Australia QT –53.39
- The Podium:
- Mitch Larkin – 53.54
- Zac Incerti – 53.95
- Joshua Beaver – 55.03
Although double world champion Mitch Larkin retained his 100m backstroke national title, he did so in a slightly lackluster fashion. Whereas last year’s meet, which served as the nation’s Olympic Trials, saw the now-23-year-old take gold in a time of 52.54, Larkin mustered just a 53.54 here in Brisbane.
Splitting 25.85/27.69, the newly-minted Commercial Swimming Club athlete is now positioned as 3rd fastest in the world rankings, but his outing missed the Aussie-mandated QT of 53.39. Larkin has already qualified for Budapest in the 200m backstroke, a race in which the Olympic silver medalist said he ‘had a hard time finding his groove.’ As such, he could still be discretionarily selected to also swim the 100m backstroke at the 2017 World Championships.
2016-2017 LCM MEN 100 BACK
XU
51.86
| 2 | Matt GREVERS | USA | 52.26 | 07/30 |
| 3 | Ryan MURPHY | USA | 52.34 | 07/26 |
| 4 | Ryosuke IRIE | JPN | 52.80 | 07/30 |
| 5 | Evgeny RYLOV | RUS | 52.89 | 07/30 |
West Coast Swimmer Zac Incerti did his best to keep with Larkin in the race, taking silver in a new personal best of 53.95. For the 20-year-old, tonight marks the first time dipping under the 54-second barrier. For bronze medal winner Joshua Beaver, his time tonight sits just outside the 53.95 he produced in Rio for 13th place at the 2016 Olympic Games.
MEN’S 200 IM – FINAL
- Swimming Australia QT –1:58.54
- The Podium:
- Clyde Lewis – 1:59.24
- Travis Mahoney – 2:00.62
- Jared Gilliland – 2:01.18
19-year-old St. Peters Western swimmer Clyde Lewis picked the right time to PB in his specialty event, the men’s 200m IM, taking his new personal fastest beneath the 2-minute mark for the first time in his young career. Lewis took gold tonight in 1:59.24, hacking 3 seconds off of his 2:02.31 morning swim and .85 off of his previous PB of 2:00.09. This represents Lewis’ first senior national title and his outing now checks in as the 7th fastest performance in Australian history.
The 2015 World Junior Champion in this event, Lewis paced his race smartly, leading wire-to-wire and firing off the only sub-26 butterfly leg and 29-second backstroke leg of the field for a swift first half. Silver medalist in the race tonight, Travis Mahoney of Marion Swimming Club, was just over a second behind, stopping the clock at 2:00.62, while bronze medalist Jared Gilliland earned 2:01.18 in the race.
Lewis already earned bronze in the 200m backstroke this meet, so the kid is racing hot in Brisbane. The bad news for him, however, is that his new 200m IM PB falls short of the 1:58.54 QT needed to make the Budapest roster in this event.
On the whole, with Japanese, American, Chinese and other swimmers well under the 2-minute barrier and into the 1:56 and 1:57 range, the green and gold have quite a lot of work to do in this event to have any kind of impact on an international level.
2016-2017 LCM MEN 200 IM
KALISZ
1.55.56
| 2 | Phillip HEINTZ | GER | 1.55.76 | 06/16 |
| 3 | Kosuke HAGINO | JPN | 1.56.01 | 07/27 |
| 4 | Wang SHUN | CHN | 1.56.16 | 04/14 |
| 5 | Max LITCHFIELD | GBR | 1.56.64 | 07/26 |
| 6 | Abrahm DEVINE | USA | 1.56.79 | 07/01 |
| 7 | Jeremy DESPLANCHES | SUI | 1.56.86 | 07/26 |
| 8 | Daiya SETO | JPN | 1.56.90 | 09/09 |
| 9 | Haiyang QIN | CHN | 1.57.06*WJR | 07/27 |
| 10 | Josh PRENOT | USA | 1.57.14 | 07/01 |
WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – FINAL
- Swimming Australia QT –1:56.95
- The Podium:
- Emma McKeon – 1:55.68
- Ariarne Titmus – 1:58.11
- Kotuku Ngawati – 1:58.24
The reigning Olympic bronze medalist in this event, Emma McKeon, got the job done tonight in Brisbane, crushing the competition with her Budapest-qualifying mark of 1:55.68. This makes 2 individual national titles for the 22-year-old St. Peters Western star, as McKeon already notched a win in the 100m butterfly, while also scoring a silver in the 100m freestyle. As such, McKeon is slated to attack a potential 6-event line-up at the 2017 World Championships, consisting of the aforementioned trio of individual races, in addition to 3 Aussie relays.
With her result tonight, McKeon checks in as the 2nd fastest swimmer in the world this season, just .04 off of Sweden’s Michelle Coleman. McKeon has now won the 200m freestyle at the last 4 consecutive Australian National LCM Championships.
2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 200 FREE
LEDECKY
1.54.69
| 2 | Federica PELLEGRINI | ITA | 1.54.73 | 07/26 |
| 3 | Emma McKEON | AUS | 1.54.99 | 07/25 |
| 4 | Veronika POPOVA | RUS | 1.55.08 | 07/25 |
| 5 | Sarah SJOSTROM | SWE | 1.55.51 | 08/08 |
16-year-old Ariarne Titmus made the most of the opportunity to snag a minor medal with 3 of last year’s top 8 finishers – Maddie Groves, Tamsin Cook and Bronte Barratt – out of this year’s competition. The Tasmanian teen already shocked the Brisbane audience earlier this meet, stealing the 800m freestyle victory in a World Championship-qualifying time. Now tonight, Titmus rocked a new personal best in this event, taking her morning 1:59.40 even lower to 1:58.11 to represent the only 2 occasions she has dipped under the 2:00 threshold.
A new personal best was also clinched by tonight’s bronze medalist Kotuku Ngawati. Entering these championships, the 22-year-old’s lifetime quickest was the 1:59.77 notched at the 2015 NSW Championships. Tonight she scored her first 1:58 mark, touching just .13 behind Ariarne for the bronze in 1:58.24.
Note that 100m freestyle world record holder Cate Campbell originally claimed the 8th seed in this event, but decided to scratch, giving Kiah Melverton a shot at the final. Melverton moved up a spot to finish 7th in 1:59.73.
WOMEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE- FINAL
- Swimming Australia QT – N/A
- The Podium
- Holly Barratt – 27.60
- Emily Seebohm – 27.78
- Kaylee McKeown – 28.11
29-year-old Rockingham athlete Holly Barratt proved again that age is just a number, earning the first Australian national title of her career. Barratt already qualified for Budapest via her silver medal-garnering 100m backstroke performance last night, but followed that up with a swift 50m backstroke time of 27.60 for gold. That bumps Barratt into the number one spot in the world rankings in this event.
2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 50 BACK
MEDEIROS
27.14
| 2 | Yuanhui FU | CHN | 27.15 | 07/27 |
| 3 | Aliaksandra HERASIMENIA | BLR | 27.23 | 07/27 |
| 4 | Emily SEEBOHM | AUS | 27.37 | 07/27 |
| 5 | Kathleen BAKER | USA | 27.48 | 07/26 |
Brisbane Grammar’s Emily Seebohm was impressive as usual, cranking out a 27.78 for silver. She and Barratt were the only 2 27-point swimmers, with 15-year-old USC Spartans swimmer Kaylee McKeown claiming bronze in 28.11.
MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL
- Swimming Australia QT –59.75
- The Podium:
- Daniel Cave – 1:00.45
- Matthew Wilson – 1:00.54
- Tommy Sucipto – 1:00.95
A pair of 18-year-olds finished 1-2 in the sprint breaststroke tonight, led by Melbourne Vicentre’s Daniel Cave. Improving immensely on his 1:01.81 prelims outing, Cave dropped down to 1:00.45 to edge runner-up and 200m breaststroke national champion Matthew Wilson by just .09 of a second.
While Wilson’s personal best rests at the 1:00.23 national age group record he set earlier this year, Cave has never ventured beneath the 1:01 barrier, but did so in a big way with his time tonight. However, with the Aussie-mandated QT sitting at 59.75 and even the FINA A cut at 1:00.35, no one directly qualified for this event individually, although Wilson may be discretionarily selected to race it in Budapest since he is already on the roster.
Rockingham’s Tommy Sucipto, the All Comers Record holder in the short course version of this event, settled for bronze in 1:00.95.
WOMEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – FINAL
- Swimming Australia QT –N/A
- The Podium:
- Brittany Elmslie – 26.48
- Holly Barratt – 26.64
- Sara Saal – 26.95
After a quiet 100m freestyle earlier in the meet, Olympic relay gold medalist Brittany Elmslie scored a victory in the 50m butterfly. Touching in 26.48, the 22-year-old Brisbane Grammar athlete scored the win, beating 50m backstroke winner Holly Barratt. Barratt’s back was earlier this session, so the 29-year-old threw down a double and went 2-for-2 in medals.
Bronze tonight went to Commercial’s Sara Saal, the 30-year-old who touched just about a tenth of a second off of her personal best in this event.
I like these talks about taking time or even a year off after Olympic Games as businesses as usual. Look at successful Olympians like Kylie Masse or Sarah Sjostrom setting world records or Americans Olympians breaking college and American records.
Good for those swimmers who keep breaking records.
But not every swimmer is at the same stage in their respective life and/or career.
Maya Dirado just stopped swimming right after she reached her by far the most successful and absolute highest peak of her swimming career. That would be like Usain Bolt decided to totally stop competing after Beijing to work in some shop in Jamaica.
Hosszu keep competing in as many meets and events as possible, and yet you keep making snide remarks about her.
And where’s Oleksiak? Why didn’t she train? For you, it may be criminal to swim 53 high after winning Olympics gold. Pease dn’t tell me she has had injuries, because some… Read more »
I agree with you. Let’s all take a break. But if you really want from me a serious answer then please provide your contact information and let’s keep this long conversation out of this site because it’s getting personal.
Regarding Hosszu remark in your statement. If participation in this meet was for the purpose of honing her skills at her major events in tough competition then what she did was stupid thing to do. If she considered it as type of training exercise then i can responsibly tell you that any high school varsity swimmer makes longer and more intensive routines during daily training session. If she was there for her family business then it is none of my business if she “works like horse” or getting easy money.
My personal view on so called “Hosszu phenomenon” is quite different from yours one.
I know it’s post-olympic year, but Australian swimming has gotten soft.
Bring back Klim.
Sarah Sjostrom made 52.54 at 100 free
I see the possibility that Australia gets zero gold in Budapest.
Quite possible. But if they win one gold, it’s likely to come from m100 free.
4×100 free relay maybe if Americans and Canadians get lazy. Under no circumstances they will beat Sarah Sjostrom at freestyle sprint.
As I said during Canadian trials, Post-Olympic year is always slow, we need to get used to underwhelming trials. I know a good number of big name Brits who swam well in Rio in a similar position having taken an extended break (SMOC & Carlin particularly). These trials are very poor for Australian standards, but I don’t think it truly reflects the position Aussie swimming is in, save for a few events like womens BR & men’s IM.
I’m probably somewhat less sanguine than you are.
Has anything really changed over the past 3-4 years ? AUS position on medal tallies at various international meets was due to the presence of a certain number of outstanding individuals who were on the top of their game at said meets and pocketed a swag on medals. This thus flowed on to some but not all relays making them medal and even gold contenders. What happened in Rio is that almost all of above internationals misfired badly.
The major chasms we are seeing at this meet have, for the most part, been very apparent for some years.
-Womens IM hasn’t been able to replace firstly Rice now Coutts.
–… Read more »
@cw. Enjoying your insights. What’s a superannuation? You’ve mentioned it a few times. Hoping it’s one of those cool Australian words. Tx in advance.
Superannuation is a payment into a pension. Effectively.
I suspect your insights are far more accurate than my own, seemingly being a closer follower of Australian swimming over a number of decades and I can’t offer any opposition to anything you’ve said. I just think *perhaps* post-Olympic year isnt the best time to judge a nations power. Alternatively, one might well suggest the problems it throws up makes it the ideal time to judge the shape a nation finds itself in.
Canadian & Italian trials also seemed fairly regressive relative to expectations & 2016 results in many events, so I’d not worry too much if I was an Australian. You guys have a canny ability of turning average swimmers into superstars when the world least expect it.… Read more »
As much as it upsets me to say this you have summed up comprehensively the future of Australian swimming. I think you are so spot on with most of your comments over the last year or so about the state of swimming in this country. Lets hope a few surprises emerge!
One must wonder about the Aussie policy on times eligible to be taken to the World Champs – seems like they deny a lot of younger swimmers who fall somewhat short of the Aussie time requirements the chance for international experience which could help them later in their swim careers when Olympic gold is on the line – may be partly to blame for the Aussies Olympic struggles. Why not take a full team like the US does and give those younger swimmers the chance for international experieince, even if their medal chances are slight?
When did Australia start to implement such rough qualifying standards. There were not always this way, otherwise many of their swimmer stars would not have started their swimming career in major international meets at a young age.
Who knows if Horton could have developed faster and became a greater swimmer had they allowed him to swim in 2013 Barcelona instead of sending him junior meets. Likewise with Wilson last year. After all, data show that talented young swimmers improve a lot more rapidly when allowed to swim in elite global meets even when their times at nationals/trials were not overly impressive/times that would medal. I don’t have to name examples.
Oh what the heck, I’ll name them: Thorpe,… Read more »
You just listed a group of really fast swimmers that were able to swim really fast at a young age. Phelps, Missy and Katie were the fastest in their events. Officials. If swimmers are young and can’t meet the World Championships QTs, that’s why we have the National Junior Teams and Junior Worlds Championships.
Phelps was not the fastest in 200 fly on 2000 trials.
Thorpe was nowhere near the fastest in 400 free in 1997 pan pacs trials.
Leisel Jones swam time in 2000 trials that was not likely to win any medal.
Missy was not the fastest in any event going to 2010 pan pacs.
As I said, swimmers like Horton and Wilson DID meet FINA A (and both Horton and Wilson finished fastest in the trials in their main events) and yet the Aussie selectors chose not to take them to 2013 world championships and 2016 Rio respectively.
I don’t think it matters whether they go to Snr or Jnr worlds as debut . Only a % will improve after youth so its a bit of a lucky dip .
I hate to say it but some who had express routes to snr internationals have been suicidal & unfortunately one recently did . I think this is behind the philosophy of holding back & a more gradual exposure .
Ive said it & pleae do not ask for more info.
Then in perth 1998 Thorpey drops a time that no one can match the time he did back then.
Plus he did it in speedos to boot.
Where are those youngsters who are supposedly missing out ? Titmus made the team at 800 as did Wilson at 200BRS. There IS a very sound case for sending Lewis with the 200IM but I’m really struggling to find ANY other arguable cases for sending the youngster, Maybe the winner of the M100BRS but he was still a long way off the mark.
Sadly in too many cases, its not the youngsters who are finishing in the places but outside the QT but rather experienced swimmers in their 20s including Rio team members. Not sure they should be rewarding those who took long breaks and haven’t quite got back into the swing of things
They could have sent Wilson to swim 200 breast in Rio.
Instead, they chose not to.
So far, Budapest is looking far bleaker for the Aussie dolphins than Kazan.
100 breaststroke is reeeaally missing Jake Packard.