2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
- Thursday, April 5th – Tuesday, April 10th (swimming)
- Optus Aquatic Centre, Gold Coast, Australia
- Prelims at 10:30am local (8:30pm previous night EDT)
- Finals at 7:30pm local (5:30am EDT)
- Official Commonwealth Games website
- Entries
- Meet Schedule + Results
- Live Stream (Canada)
- Live Stream (US)
- Live Stream (Australia)
The third preliminary session on the Gold Coast will feature six individual events, with the women’s 200 back, 100 free, 100 breast, and 800 free, and the men’s 50 breast and 100 fly. We’ll also see para events in the men’s SM8 200 IM and women’s S9 100 free.
In this session, we’ll see a strong women’s 200 back field that features Canadians Taylor Ruck and Kylie Masse, as well as Australia’s Kaylee McKeown and Emily Seebohm. Other swimmers in action include Adam Peaty in the 50 breast, Cate Campbell in the 100 free and Chad le Clos in the 100 fly.
Women’s 200 Back Prelims
- CG Record: 2:07.24, Belinda Hocking (AUS), 2014
Kaylee McKeown struggled throughout the race with going from lane line to lane line, as she did in the 100 as well, most likely due to lack of experience in outdoor pool (It looks to be quite bright out). She still easily took heat 1, and Kylie Masse cruised to a heat 2 win. The third heat was by far the slowest, with Seebohm, Ruck, and Simmonds neck-and-neck, with none ever really making a move. Taylor Ruck looked like she took the race out smooth, but wasn’t able to pick it up, and she only narrowly made the top 8.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Kylie Masse, 2:09.12
- Hilary Caldwell, 2:10.27
- Kayle McKeown, 2:10.45
- Jessica Fullalove, 2:11.51
- Emily Seebohm, 2:11.68
- Lizzie Simmonds, 2:12.12
- Taylor Ruck, 2:12.62
- Hayley Baker, 2:12.71
Men’s 50 Breast Prelims
- CG Record: 26.74, Adam Peaty (ENG), 2018
The veteran South African Cameron Van Der Burgh put up a solid 27.01 in heat 4, winning the heat by over a second. World Record holder Adam Peaty took a few yards to take the lead, but as expected, he put up a 26.98 to take the top seed heading into finals.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Adam Peaty, 26.98
- Cameron Van Der Burgh, 27.01
- Jack Packard, 27.42
- Euan Inglis, 27.84
- Michael Houlie, 27.92
- James McKechnie, 27.53
- James Wilby, 27.58
- Craig Benson, 28.06
Women’s 100 Free Prelims
- CG Record: 52.68, Cate Campbell (AUS), 2014
Penny Oleksiak won heat 3 in 54.88, and Bronte Campbell looked very relaxed en route to her 53.81. Taylor Ruck, just minutes after her 200 back, took second by almost a body length to Cate Campbell‘s 54.05. The top five in this race all hail from Canada (Ruck, Oleksiak, Sanchez) or Australia (Bronte and Cate Campbell).
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Cate Campbell, 54.05
- Taylor Ruck, 54.79
- Bronte Campbell, 54.81
- Penny Oleksiak, 54.88
- Kayla Sanchez, 54.97
- Shayna Jack, 55.00
- Freya Anderson, 55.12
- Anna Hopkin, 55.21
Men’s SM8 200 IM Prelims
Double leg amputee Jesse Aungles took the lead after fly in this race, and never looked back, winning by over 5 seconds. All prelims swimmers will advance to the final.
Top 6 Qualifiers:
- Jesse Aungles, 2:31.30
- Black Cochrane, 2:36.43
- Philippe Vachon, 2:38.34
- Celyn Edwards, 2:40.28
- Zach Zona, 2:40.81
- Rohan Bright, 2:44.27
Women’s S9 100 Free Prelims
The Australians, including Lakeisha Patterson who is actually classified as an S8, dominated this race. They went 1-2-3, setting up a possible podium sweep in the finals.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Ellie Cole, 1:03.98
- Emily Beecroft, 1:04.64
- Lakeisha Patterson, 1:05.66
- Alice Tai, 1:06.88
- Katarina Roxon, 1:07.84
- Toni Shaw, 1:08.00
- Morgan Bird, 1:09.76
- Abigail Tripp, 1:10.47
Women’s 200 IM Prelims
- CG Record: 2:08.21, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (ENG), 2014
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Siobhan Marie O’Connor, 2:11.31
- Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, 2:12.24
- Hannah Miley, 2:12.50
- Abbie Wood, 2:12.85
- Sarah Darcel, 2:12.95
- Aime Willmott, 2:13.38
- Meg Bailey, 2:13.61
- Blair Evans, 2:13.63
Men’s 100 Fly Prelims
- CG Record: 51.29, Chad le Clos (RSA), 2014
Despite a very ill-timed final half-stroke, James Guy will be the top qualifier heading into semi-finals.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- James Guy, 53.16
- Sean Campsie, 53.31
- Josiah Binnema/David Morgan, 53.49
- Chad le Clos, 53.67
- Jacob Peters, 53.72
- Mackenzie Darragh, 53.81
- Grant Irvine, 53.89
Women’s 100 Breast Prelims
- CG Record: 1:05.09, Leisel Jones (AUS), 2006
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Georgia Bohl, 1:07.40
- Tatjana Schoenmaker, 1:07.69
- Kierra Smith, 1:07.81
- Faith Knelson, 1:08.50
- Jessica Hansen, 1:08.81
- Rachel Nicol. 1:08.87
- Sarah Vasey, 1:08.95
- Chloe Tutton, 1:09.06
Women’s 800 Free Prelims
- CG Record: 8:18.11, Jazmin Carlin (WAL), 2014
Jessica Ashwood took heat one by a couple body lengths, posting an 8:29.30. Heat two was a battle between Jazmin Carlin and Ariarne Titmus, who are separated in age by a decade. The two went stroke-for-stroke much of the way, with Titmus building a slight lead at the 500 and extending it significantly over the final 300. Notably, only 9 swimmers were entered, so only South Africa’s Kristin Bellingan will not advance.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Jessica Ashwood, 8:29.30
- Ariarne Titmus, 8:32.78
- Camilla Hattersley, 8:35.62
- Jazmin Carlin, 8:36.52
- Holly Hibbott, 8:39.57
- Kiah Melverton, 8:42.01
- Ellena Jones, 8:43.89
- Kate Beavon, 8:49.16
Am I missing something? No Schooling in the 100fly? Is he at the Commonwealth games?
No.It’s his last few weeks of college and his senior year.
No, he choose NCAA, and then Asian Games.
I’ll bet Ruck could have picked it up… She’s saving energy
She had a double in the morning almost back to back swim. What a tough schedule for her. So need to save up for 200 back just to make the final so that she could make the 100 Free final.
Ruck will only get better. She will probably have 13 swims in 4 days when she attends Stanford and competes at NCs.
Man, Chad is really warning up lol.
Warming up. Autocorrect is evil and useless
I heard Dean Farris has dual citizenship in Australia and will be competing in the 50 breast today. Peaty must be worried!
this is a very slow prelims session.
Taylor Ruck going slower in prelims for the 100FR than she went out in the first half of 200FR relay split… HA! Saving up the energy.
The faster swimmers have the luxury of swimming slower than usual in prelims and can still make it back. And in the events with only two heats you have a fifty percent chance of making the final. These prelim times are comparable to the TYR Atlanta Pro Series prelim times.
Ruck cut it very close there. With the form she’s in, I’ll just say she will win the 200 back and it won’t be close. And she may hit that historic sub-2:05. It’s such a joy to witness her senior breakthrough here!
Peaty has totally changed his start; apparently they’ve deliberately slowed his RT as it was too quick as he hit the water. Noticeable that he is slower, but also not going as deep off the dive and it *seems* to be working; didnt lose that much in his 50 heat.
Ruck has the most perfect physique for backstroke. I dont think you could create an athlete more perfect for the 200bk in a lab… She will do a very, very special time in her career.
Until she matures . it isn’t just female body fat (everyone calm down ) but bone & muscle eg Missy Penny are very different girls a few years on . Ruck may indeed stay like that or maintain power to weight ratio but equally may not .