2021 Australian Championships – Day 5 Finals Live Recap

2021 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

We can look forward to some exciting races on the final day of the 2021 Australian Swimming Championships including swims from National Record holders Cate Campbell and Holly Barrett in the women’s 50 free and 50 fly.

Campbell has an especially close race set up with Emma McKeon in the 50 free, after the two battled in the 100 free final on day 2 where McKeon took the win. On the men’s side, just .38 separated 1st through 4th place in the men’s 50 free prelims, a field led by Hungary’s Maxim Lobanovszij.

The 200 breaststroke is set up for duels on both the men’s and women’s side with Abbey Harkin and Jenna Strauch separated by .38 in prelims and Zac Stubblety-Cook and Matthew Wilson by .43. Cook claimed victory in the 100 breast final over Wilson the other day.

Stay tuned for a live recap and analysis of the finals session.

Women’s 50 Free – Final

  • 2021 Australian Trials Qualifying Time: 26.91
  • Australian Record: 23.78 – Cate Campbell

Top 3

  1. Cate Campbell – 24.28
  2. Emma McKeon – 24.39
  3. Bronte Campbell – 24.75

Cate Campbell out touched Emma McKeon by one-tenth of a second to claim victory in this event, typing her prelims time of 24.28. This does not quite trump Campbell’s season best time, 24.11, which ranks her 2nd in the world this season. McKeon’s season best still stands at 24.17, the 3rd fastest time in the world this year.

2020-2021 LCM Women 50 Free

EmmaAUS
McKeon
08/01
23.81
2Cate
Campbell
AUS23.9406/17
3Ranomi
Kromowidjojo
NED23.9705/18
4Pernille
Blume
DEN24.0605/17
5Sarah
Sjostrom
SWE24.0708/01
View Top 26»

Campbell’s younger sister Bronte came into the wall in 3rd place. Cate’s victory has made it so a Campbell has won the event every year since 2012.

She discussed the ups and downs of competing in the finals during the morning, thinking back to the 2008 Bejing Olympics. “It really does come down to mindset…I think that you need to be able to stand up and race when it counts and we’ve seen some great racing this weekend.”

Men’s 50 Free – Final

  • 2021 Australian Trials Qualifying Time: 23.51
  • Australian Record: 21.19 – Ashley Callus

Top 3

  1. Kyle Chalmers – 22.30
  2. Maxim Lobanovszij – 22.43
  3. Jack Cartwright – 22.47

It looked like Chalmers got off the blocks first on video, but his reaction time of .68 was actually the slowest in heat. Not by much, though, and clearly it wasn’t race-deciding. Chalmers took one-third of a second off his prelims time to beat Lobanovszij by .13 and sweep the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle events at the Australian Swimming Championships. Though, his lifetime best still stands at 22.07 from 2019. Jack Cartwright gave Lobanovszij a run for his money, coming within .04 of Hungarian Lobanovszij.

“I saw a memory come up on Facebook yesterday that I was 22.6 when I was 15,” Chalmers laughed in a post-race interview. “So I don’t think I’ve improved much since then but it’s good to do the splash and dash and have a bit of fun with the boys.”

Women’s 200 Breast – Final

  • 2021 Australian Trials Qualifying Time: 2:40.04
  • Australian Record: 2:20.54 – Leisel Jones

Top 3

  1. Abbey Harkin – 2:25.26
  2. Jenna Strauch – 2:25.54
  3. Zoe Deacon – 2:27.20

Going into the 3rd turn,  Harkin had a half-a-body length lead on Strauch. But after the push off they were dead-even for the majority of the final length. After a bit of back and forth, Harkin touched the wall 1st right on her lifetime best time of 2:25.12 from 2019. Strauch was able to break 2:25.00 at the Queensland Championships in December, ranking herself 14th in the world this season:

2020-2021 LCM Women 200 Breast

2Lilly
King
USA2:19.9207/30
3Evgeniia
Chikunova
RUS2:20.5707/29
4Annie
Lazor
USA2:20.8407/30
5Molly
Renshaw
GBR2:20.8904/15
6Abbie
Wood
GBR2:21.6904/15
7Yulia
Efimova
RUS2:21.8606/06
8Lisa
Mamie
SUI2:22.0505/21
9Kaylene
Corbett
RSA2:22.0607/30
10Emily
Escobedo
USA2:22.6406/18
11Maria
Temnikova
RUS2:22.7604/08
12Bethany
Galat
USA2:22.8106/18
13Kanako
Watanabe
JPN2:23.0404/08
14Francesca
Fangio
ITA2:23.0606/27
View Top 26»

Zoe Deacon was able to close Strauch’s 2.5 second lead at the halfway point slightly, touching the wall in 3rd at 2:27.20.

A beaming Harkin explained that she’s targeting both the 100 and 200 breast at the upcoming Olympic Trials in her post-race interview. She took 2nd place in the 100 breaststroke final on day 2.

Men’s 200 Breast – Final

  • 2021 Australian Trials Qualifying Time: 2:22.39
  • Australian Record: 2:06.67 – Matthew Wilson

Top 3

  1. Zac Stubblety-Cook – 2:08.28
  2. Matthew Wilson – 2:09.44
  3.  Daniel Cave – 2:14.22

Zac Stubblety-Cook won this race all within the last 25 meters. Former world record holder Matthew Wilson held a solid lead on the field, looking strong and gliding all the way to the 15-meter mark on his initial underwater. But Stubblety-Cook really picked up his tempo and pushed past him on that last lap, effectively sweeping both breaststroke races at this meet after winning the 100 breast final on day 2. Stubblety-Cook’s season best time, 2:07.96 ranks him 6th in the world this season while Wilson’s ranks him 10th.

2020-2021 LCM Men 200 Breast

2Shoma
Sato
JPN2:06.4004/07
3Arno
Kamminga
NED2:06.8512/04
4Anton
Chupkov
RUS2:06.9905/20
5Ippei
Watanabe
JPN2:07.0812/06
6Matti
Mattsson
FIN2:07.1307/19
7Nic
Fink
USA2:07.5506/17
8Ryuya
Mura
JPN2:07.5804/07
9Erik
Persson
SWE2:07.6605/20
10Kirill
Prigoda
RUS2:07.8510/03
View Top 26»

Daniel Cave claimed 3rd place, remaining about 4 seconds behind the battle between Stubblety-Cook and Wilson throughout the halfway point. His lifetime best, 2:10.38, is from August 2019.

“I was pretty happy with that swim, considering the time of the season,” Stubblety-Cook told post-race reporters, referring to the fact that most competitors, himself included, did not taper for this meet as they will for the Australian Trials in a few weeks.

Women’s 50 Fly – Final

Top 3

  1. Holly Barratt – 25.75
  2. Madison Wilson – 26.92
  3. Sasha Touretski – 27.16

It’s rare that a 50 of any stroke is not a tight race. 33-year-old Holly Barrett did not let anyone come close to her during this 50 fly final, as even the announcers knew she had it at the halfway point. She has now won this event 3 times at the Australian Swimming Championships, now becoming the oldest woman to win it at this meet. This time ranks her 5th in the world this season:

2020-2021 LCM Women 50 Fly

2Ranomi
Kromowidjojo
NED25.2403/13
3Sarah
Sjostrom
SWE25.4206/25
4Emilie
Beckmann
DEN25.5003/05
5Marie
Wattel
FRA25.5102/13
View Top 26»

Madison Wilson and Sasha Touretski battled it out for 2nd place, with Wilson touching the wall 1st with a time of 26.92. Both swimmers improved upon their prelims times and Touretski out touched 19-year-old Abigail Schoorl by .01 to snag 3rd place.

“I’ve gotta say when I was a little girl starting my swimming career, being the oldest at everything wasn’t really on my mind,” she laughed in her post-race interview. “But, I’m still loving it obviously… I still feel young, I feel like an underdog most of the time…it’s really good to have younger girls as well pushing me along.”

Men’s 50 Fly – Final

  • Australian Record: 22.73 – Matt Targett

Top 3

  1. Shaun Champion – 23.94
  2. William Yang – 24.08
  3. Edward Marks – 24.25

21-year-old Shaun Champion defeated defending champion William Yang by being the only swimmer to crack 24 seconds. Unlike the women’s 50 fly, this was anyone’s race and Champion went for it. This was Champion’s first time under 24 seconds as he set his previous lifetime best at 24.01 during the 2019 Australian Championships.

Yang’s season-best time of 23.56 from the 2021 New South Whales Open Championships ranks him 19th in the world this season:

2020-2021 LCM Men 50 Fly

OlegRUS
Kostin
10/29
22.82
2Szebasztian
Szabo
HUN22.9612/09
3Andrii
Govorov
UKR22.9705/20
4Caeleb
Dressel
USA23.0007/31
5Andrey
Zhilikin
RUS23.0205/20
5Nyls
Korstanje
NED23.0204/11
5Andrei
Minakov
RUS23.0204/04
8Josif
Miladinov
BUL23.0812/19
9Konrad
Czerniak
POL23.0905/21
10Takeshi
Kawamoto
JPN23.1704/10
11Thom
de Boer
NED23.1907/03
12Thomas
Ceccon
ITA23.2212/19
13Abdel
Mahmoud
EGY23.2404/06
14Roman
Shevlyakov
RUS23.2504/04
15Thomas
Ceccon
ITA23.3105/20
15Maxime
Grousset
FRA23.3102/05
17Naoki
Mizunuma
JPN23.3206/03
18Nicholas
Lia
NOR23.3307/04
19Thomas
Verhoeven
NED23.3407/03
View Top 29»

Edward Marks fended off 3 swimmers within one-third of a second of him to snag 3rd place with a time of 24.25.

“Feels a bit surreal … Just happy that things worked out,” Champion said humbly with a smile during his post-race interview. “I’ve dropped a lot of time this season, training’s been going really well … The 100 is definitely my main focus going forward for Trials, so we’ll see what happens in June.”

Women’s 800 Free – Final

  • 2021 Australian Trials Qualifying Time: 9:10.48
  • Australian Record: 8:15.70 – Ariarne Titmus

Top 3

  1. Ariarne Titmus – 8:23.13
  2. Madeleine Gough – 8:25.24
  3. Kiah Melverton – 8:32.84

Despite battling a shoulder injury earlier this season, Ariarne Titmus swept the 200 free, 400 free, and now the 800 freestyle events. She held her lead throughout the race, but Maddie Gough pushed her just a body length and a half behind. This time, which Titmus called “not great” in her post race interview, ranks the 20-year-old 4th in the world this season:

2020-2021 LCM Women 800 Free

KatieUSA
Ledecky
07/31
8:12.57
2Ariarne
Titmus
AUS8:13.8307/31
3Katie
Grimes
USA8:17.0507/29
4Simona
Quadarella
ITA8:17.3207/29
5Sarah
Koehler
GER8:17.3307/29
View Top 26»

“That one hurt more than I remember. You know, the time’s not great but I’m happy to hang on and get the win,” Titmus said. “This week is pretty much another week of training for us, lots of racing, last night was my first session off. So it’s been a long week but I’m happy to finish it now with an alright swim.”

Kiah Melverton kept up with Gough through the 400-meter mark, until Gough pulled away during her chase with Titmus. Melverton claimed 3rd about 7.5 seconds behind Gough.

Men’s 1500 Free – Final

  • 2021 Australian Trials Qualifying Time: 16:06.66
  • Australian Record: 14:34.56 – Grant Hackett

Top 3

  1. Nick Sloman – 15:02.19
  2. Thomas Neill – 15:07.23
  3. Jack McLoughlin – 15:20.95

Distance and open water specialist Nick Sloman clocked a lifetime best time to win this event, crushing his previous best from the 2020 Queensland Championships. Sloman noted during his interview that there was added pressure to perform well at this meet, because during the official Australian Olympic Trials in 4 weeks he will be in Portugal competing at the Open Water Championships.

“Probably won’t be good enough, but I’m still happy with a 15:02,” he said. “Obviously doing a good time here is in the back of my mind, but the Open Water is the main goal so still all eyes ahead for that race.”

This new lifetime best ranks Sloman 10th in the world this season, right behind McLoughlin:

2020-2021 LCM Men 1500 Free

FlorianGER
Wellbrock
04/18
14:36.45
2Bobby
Finke
USA14:39.6508/01
3Mykhailo
Romanchuk
UKR14:39.8905/19
4Gregorio
Paltrinieri
ITA14:40.3804/03
5Lukas
Märtens
GER14:49.2604/11
6Daniel
Jervis
GBR14:50.2207/30
7Sergii
Frolov
UKR14:51.8307/30
8Felix
Auboeck
AUT14:51.8807/30
9Kirill
Martynychev
RUS14:52.6607/30
10Jack
McLoughlin
AUS14:52.6912/15
View Top 26»

18-year-old Thomas Neill snagged 2nd ahead of Jack McLoughlin, about 8 seconds off his lifetime best from 2019. This podium looked very similar to the 800 free podium where Neill took 1st place, McLoughlin 2nd, and Sloman 3rd.

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay – Final

  • Australian Record: 3:52.58 – Seebohm/Katsoulis/Schipper/Trickett

Top 3

  1. Madison Wilson/Leiston Pickett/Ellysia Oldsen/Bethan Mounfield – 4:05.72
  2. Olivia Lefoe/Mikayla Smith/Gabriella Peiniger/Isabel Ekelmans – 4:12.68
  3. Tanya Stovgaard/Kiah Melverton/Alice Stuart/Laura Taylor – 4:14.33

Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay – Final

  • Australian Record: 3:28.64 – Delaney/Rickard/Lauterstein/Targett

Top 3

  1. Connor O’Neill/Grayson Bell/David Morgan/Zach Maher – 3:44.81
  2. Conor Daff/Josh Hardess/Peter Mills/Alexander Grant – 3:46.12
  3. Will Sharp/Calvin Reed/Ryan Bicknell/Nicholas Wu – 3:49.93

In This Story

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Verram
3 years ago

Any updates on these former Olympians and whether they have retired or planning to swim at Olympic trials ?

1. Madeline Groves
2. Josh Palmer
3. Thomas Fraser Holmes

commonwombat
Reply to  Verram
3 years ago

TFH was down to swim at this meet but didn’t front.

No idea about Palmer

Groves swam at Pan Pacs in 2018 albeit part of 4×200 rather than fly. Not seen in any significant meet since.

Troyy
Reply to  Verram
3 years ago

Groves and Fraser-Holmes are on the start list for Sydney.

Yozhik
3 years ago

Can anybody explain the reasoning behind Titmus’ very strange rhythm of breathing with strokes.
Yesterday it was 1-1-2, 1-1-2, ….
Previous years it was even more weird combined with alternation of breathing on different sides.
During her famous 2012 Olympic race Katie Ledecky was breathing on two sides. And later Bruce Gemmell forced her to breath each stroke on one side only, finding it making her style to be more efficient and more powerful.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

Ledecky switched to a lope. Not as exaggerated as some, but still a lope. As for Titmus, wouldn’t discount the shoulder injury as affecting sidedness or frequency of breathing. Laying out on a bad shoulder with a high elbow catch to breathe hurts. But thanks for giving Rowdy something new to comment on.

Yozhik
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

My English vocabulary isn’t sufficient sometimes to allow me to be perfectly clear with my statements or questions. Or I cannot even say if you were sarcastic with your answer or it was a knowledgeable explanation. But breathing pattern of Titmus during a swimming race is indeed unusual. And you can see it even at 200 race when she was absolutely healthy. My question actually was if it just happened with her naturally or it was designed by her coach.
BTW, nice to see you here again. The times are difficult now not only for swimmers but for their fans as well.

Last edited 3 years ago by Yozhik
STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
3 years ago

Overall the times at this meet were pretty good given that most swimmers are in heavy training. Most of the big names performed well and it will be a relief to the coaches that Chalmers and Titmus who had injury concerns managed to dispel them. For most swimmers, evening heats produced faster times than morning finals but you have to expect that as adjustment is made to the inverted schedule.

Gheko
3 years ago

Some promising swims at this meet, We will see after trials where we stand on the world stage going forward!

HoosierDaddy
3 years ago

AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE AUSIE… Read more »

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
3 years ago

Why is Torri Huske’s time of 24.44 missing from the LCM Women 50 free list?

Troyy
Reply to  Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
3 years ago

Probably cos it’s not top 5.

anon6
Reply to  Troyy
3 years ago

Its not even on the top 25 list. I do no think swimswam always updates or they miss some. Hopefully they fix it soon

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  anon6
3 years ago

You get my point.

anon6
Reply to  Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
3 years ago

Of course 🙂 Torri should be ranked 9th right ahead of Weitzel.

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  anon6
3 years ago

In addition, Erica Sullivan (4:06.35) is missing from the women’s 400 meter freestyle list.

https://swimswam.com/erica-sullivan-clocks-406-35-in-400m-free-at-gain-prelims-after-weather-delay/

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  Troyy
3 years ago

View Top 26, please!

Gheko
3 years ago

Kyle wins 50m 100m and 200m!

kevin
Reply to  Gheko
3 years ago

Two huge positives from this meet that King Kyle and Wicked Titmus have recovered from shoulder injuries

Troyy
Reply to  kevin
3 years ago

Chalmers said in an interview that the shoulder problem isn’t entirely gone.

Yozhik
Reply to  kevin
3 years ago

How quickly your unbridled excitement switched to just “positives”. Titmus is #2 this season with this swim. And this result stands about same far percentage wise from her personal best in this event as it was in the cases with 200 and 400 races. Nothing new has happened today. That is her form at the moment.
Arirna Titmus is the best that has happened to the Australian women swimming during last decade if not longer. Should Katie Ledecky were out of the picture then Arirna Titmus would have all media attention as the world class swimmer at the broad range of events from sprint to long distances. It is just her bad luck that Katie Ledecky’s phenomenon did happen… Read more »

pSL1988
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

Don’t forget that Ariarna is fully rested for this meet.

Gheko
Reply to  pSL1988
3 years ago

Lol

Gheko
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

Actually she is ranked 4

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  Gheko
3 years ago

If you go by the Speedo Rankings.

Yozhik
Reply to  Gheko
3 years ago

I’m talking about 2021 Olympic season.

Yozhik
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

If swimswam wants to stay with the college season definition in their ranking procedure then that is their problem.
If Kirpichnikova swam recently at Russian trials being specially prepared for this meet to pass qualification requirements and get selected to race this event in Tokyo then I would consider 8:24.84 her current best form. Why should I care how she swam back in December. Too many things happened since then.
I have heard nothing about Wang this season and can look up of course what she did last September. But it would be so unreliable thing to do that would rather prefer no information about her readiness for OG then to be misled by outdated info.

Last edited 3 years ago by Yozhik
Yozhik
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

Whatever…
You like it – use it. Why should I change or criticize your habits.
I prefer FINA ranking procedure that is around calendar year and I have my reasons for that.
I actually can specify the ranking time frame and that is the right way to provide ranking service IMO

Last edited 3 years ago by Yozhik
AnEn
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

In general i agree with you on this one. I would rather look at the best times of the year (so far) instead of rankings for the season. The obvious problem with that is that some swimmers haven’t had an opportunity/reason to race fast this year, while pretty much all of them (in normal times) had at least one opportunity/reason within the last year, so in that sense seasonal rankings might give a better picture.

I don’t necessarily agree about Kirpichnikova. I don’t know what the russian standard was, but maybe she just did enough to get under it and wasn’t at 100 %?

Not sure if this meeting tells us much about Titmus’ medal chances in Tokyo. I think… Read more »

Yozhik
Reply to  AnEn
3 years ago

In the case of Kirpichnikova the qualification time wasn’t the only motivation factor. Russian national record in front of home crowd and strong rivalry with Anna Egorova. On the women’s side of these trials 800 race was the best spectacle of the meet. They both got on the team in this event suddenly becoming if not a medal contenders then finalists for sure.

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  AnEn
3 years ago

The pandemic has limited athletes from countries hit hard by the fourth wave in calendar year 2021.

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

That’s a bunch of crock! You have dissed Frederica Pellegrini in the women’s 200 meter freestyle and Simona Quadarella in the women’s 800 meter freestyle and the women’s 1500 meter freestyle. You have zero credibility.

Yozhik
Reply to  Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
3 years ago

Why does my credibility bother you that much? 😀
Let it be a concern of my relatives.
Also against the background of my bunch of crock your greatness is shining even brighter 😀

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  Yozhik
3 years ago

Your argument holds no weight.

About Annika Johnson

Annika Johnson

Annika came into the sport competitively at age eight, following in the footsteps of her twin sister and older brother. The sibling rivalry was further fueled when all three began focusing on distance freestyle, forcing the family to buy two lap counters. Annika is a three-time Futures finalist in the 200 …

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