2018 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, December 15th – Friday, December 21st
- 12/15 – relays only; 12/20 & 12/21 – age groupers
- Brisbane Aquatic Center
- LCM
- Meet Site
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Entry List
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Stream
- Live Results
Australian stars such as Shayna Jack, James Roberts and Ben Treffers kicked things off in Brisbane last night with relay swims to warm-up the pool for the individual events. On the docket today at the 2018 Queensland Championships for the open category were the men’s and women’s 200m free, 200m breast, 100m back and 400m IM.
World Championships swimmer and Commonwealth Games medalist Jack opened her individual campaign at these Queensland Championships with a win in the 200m freestyle. After establishing herself as the top seeded swimmer of the morning in a casual 2:00.52, the 20-year-old St. Peters Western swimmer produced a winning effort of 1:58.30 to keep Olympic medalist Emma McKeon at bay.
McKeon, who won 2 individual bronze medals at this year’s Pan Pacs, touched the wall just .43 behind Jack in 1:58.73, well-off her National Record of 1:54.83 set back in 2016. Brisbane’s Gemma Cooney was also under the 2:00 mark, earning bronze in a time of 1:59.70.
The men’s 200m free saw Elijah Winnington take the title, with the 18-year-old Bond University athlete out-touching Chandler’s Jack McCloughlin by less than .30. Winnington fired off an opening split of 51.72 to McLoughlin’s 52.35, and held on to finish in 1:46.64 to McLoughlin’s 1:46.90.
For Winnington, his mark of 1:46.64 is just .24 off of the World Junior Record of 1:46.40 set by Russia’s Ivan Girev at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Indianapolis.
Griffith’s Georgia Bohl took the women’s 200m breaststroke in 2:28.48 to represent the only female under 2:30, while SOPAC’s Matthew Wilson got the job done for the men in 2:09.14. In Wilson’s race, it wound up being a 2-man battle against 19-year-old Zac Stubblety-Cook, with the teen falling just .01 shy in 2:09.15.
Additional Winners:
- 14-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan took the open women’s 100m backstroke in 1:02.81.
- Bradley Woodward was tonight’s 100m backstroke victor for the men, hitting a time of 55.10.
- The women’s 400m IM saw Youth Olympic Games champion Kaylee McKeown race her way to the top of the podium in 4:40.83, with Kiah Melverton of TSS Aquatics right behind in 4:40.92 for silver. McKeown was also the women’s 17-18 age group winner in the women’s 100m back, clocking 1:00.75 for gold.
- Rackley 16-year-old Thomas Neill was the 400m IM winner for the men with his time of 4:25.73.
