2026 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS
- Monday, June 8 – Saturday, June 13, 2026
- Sydney, Australia
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Commonwealth Selection Criteria
- Pan Pac Selection Criteria
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Storylines To Watch
- Live Recaps:
HEAT SHEET (ALL PRELIMS)
Good morning (or evening for the American swimming fans)! Welcome to the 4th prelims session of the 2026 Australian Swimming Trials.
We have been treated to some incredibly fast swimming over the last few days, and there are some exciting events on the docket this morning from some of the top swimmers in the meet so far.
We will open with the women’s 200 backstroke, where world record holder Kaylee McKeown is the top seed by more than five seconds over the rest of the field. Hannah Fredericks is the only other athlete who is seeded under 2:10.
After the women’s 200 backstroke will be the men’s 200 IM. William Petric is seeded 1st in 1:57.18, followed by David Schlicht (1:58.10) and Matt Sates (1:58.83) as the only other men seeded under 2:00. SwimSwam reported earlier this week that Sates is seeking Australian citizenship. With his last meet for South Africa coming at the 2025 World Championships, Sates could theoretically qualify for the Pan Pacs team this week. The 200 IM is his best shot.
There will be two MC para events after the men’s 200 IM with both the women and the men swimming the 400 freestyle. S9 athletes Lakeisha Patterson and Brenden Hall have the fastest seed times.
Elizabeth Dekkers holds the top seed in the women’s 200 fly at 2:05.39, the only swimmer under 2:06 in the event. Brittany Castelluzzo is seeded 2nd in 2:06.86.
In the 100 freestyle, Kyle Chalmers will race his 2nd prelims event of the meet. On Tuesday, he swam the prelims session, qualifying 2nd in the 100 fly, before scratching the final. He is seeded in 47.17, and he is joined under 48 seconds by Flynn Southam (47.69), Sunwoo Hwang (47.94), and Taylor Kai (47.97). Hwang competes internationally for South Korea, and is not eligible for any Australian international teams.
That event will be followed by the women’s and men’s MC 100 breaststroke events. SB9 swimmer Keira Stephens has the fastest seedtime on the women’s side at 1:17.23 while SB14 athlete Jake Michel has the men’s fastest time in 1:03.51.
The session will wrap up with the women’s 800 freestyle prelims, where Lani Pallister will be aiming to earn the middle lane in tomorrow’s event final, seeded in 8:05.98, nearly 20 seconds ahead of 2nd seed Maria Fernanda Costa from Brazil.
Women’s 200 Back — Prelims
- World Record: 2:03.14, Kaylee McKeown (AUS) — 2023
- Commonwealth Record: 2:03.14, Kaylee McKeown (AUS) — 2023
- Australian Record: 2:03.14, Kaylee McKeown — 2023
- All Comers Record: 2:03.14, Kaylee McKeown (AUS) — 2023
- SA Qualifying Time: 2:09.09
Top 8 Finishers
- Kaylee McKeown (USCS) — 2:10.09
- Iona Anderson (HLDR) — 2:10.17
- Hannah Fredericks (STPET) — 2:10.34
- Jenna Forrester (STPET) — 2:11.28
- Ivy Miller (GUSC) — 2:13.17
- Zoe Ammundsen (NCOLL) — 2:13.62
- Alannah Banks (MVC) — 2:13.79
- Heidi Shumack (SOSC) — 2:14.12
Unsurprisingly, Kaylee McKeown took the top spot in the women’s 200 backstroke prelims, cruising to a time of 2:10.09 to earn the middle lane for tonight’s event final.
McKeown came in just under a tenth ahead of Iona Anderson, who swam 2:10.17 for 2nd. This was Anderson’s 2nd best time ever in the event, coming in only behind the 2:09.22 she swam at the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials.
Anderson was out almost a second faster than McKeown, splitting 1:02.53 to McKeown’s 1:03.42 to open the race. From there, McKeown came home strong, swimming 33.15/33.52 to split 1:06.67 on the closing 100. This made up almost a second on Anderson’s 1:07.64.
Hannah Fredericks took 3rd, stopping the clock in 2:10.34 to be the final sub-2:11 swimmer in the prelims. She almost even split her race, swimming 1:04.61/1:05.73 to have the fastest closing split in the field. Fredericks’ best time stands at 2:08.24 from the 2024 Australian Trials.
Jenna Forrester took 4th as she will shoot for a 4th individual event qualification in tonight’s final She stopped the clock in 2:11.28, just under two seconds off her best time of 2:09.74 from the 2023 World Championships. Her season best stands at 2:10.74 from the Australian Open in April.
Men’s 200 IM — Prelims
- World Record: 1:52.69, Leon Marchand (FRA) — 2025
- Commonwealth Record: 1:55.28, Duncan Scott (GBR) — 2021
- Australian Record: 1:55.72, Mitch Larkin — 2019
- All Comers Record: 1:54.98, Michael Phelps (USA) — 2007
- SA Qualifying Time: 1:57.49
Top 8 Finishers
- William Petric (NUN) — 1:59.04
- Thomas Neill (RACKL) — 2:00.14
- David Schlicht (MLC) — 2:00.86
- Brendon Smith (STPET) — 2:01:04
- Matt Sates (RSA) — 2:02.03
- Samuel Higgs (NUN) — 2:02.20
- Lukas Dunn (KPSC) — 2:02.84
- Joshua Kerr (MIAMI) — 2:03.17
Women’s 400 Free MC — Prelims
Men’s 400 Free MC — Prelims
Women’s 200 Fly — Prelims
- World Record: 2:01.81, Liu Zige (CHN) — 2009
- Commonwealth Record: 2:01.99, Summer McIntosh (CAN) — 2025
- Australian Record: 2:03.41, Jessicah Schipper — 2009
- All Comers Record: 2:03.41, Jessicah Schipper (AUS) — 2009
- SA Qualifying Time: 2:07.95
Men’s 100 Free — Prelims
- World Record: 46.40, Pan Zhanle (CHN) — 2024
- Commonwealth Record: 47.04, Cameron McEvoy (AUS) — 2016
- Australian Record: 47.04, Cameron McEvoy — 2016
- All Comers Record: 47.04, Cameron McEvoy (AUS) — 2016
- SA Qualifying Time: 53.51
Women’s 100 Breast MC — Prelims
Men’s 100 Breast MC — Prelims
Women’s 800 Free — Prelims
- World Record: 8:04.12, Katie Ledecky (USA) — 2025
- Commonwealth Record: 8:05.07, Summer McIntosh (CAN) — 2025
- Australian Record: 8:05.98, Lani Pallister — 2025
- All Comers Record: 8:10.84, Lani Pallister (AUS) — 2025
- SA Qualifying Time: 8:27.51
30 second personal best? as giann would say, WOWZERS
a 5min ad break in between heat 1&2 of a mc event bruuuuuuuuuh
Shame about Jacklyn Barclay, she went low 2.07 as a 17/18 year old & now swimming 2.16.
Either lost interest or injured?
She was injured last year and has now inexplicably moved to Griffith where all swimmers seem to be doing poorly
At last year’s Nationals she also went 2:16 (after a 2:15 in the heat).
Then at Worlds Trials she went 2:12 in final (after 2:13 in heat).
So…not sure what to conclude from that. If she was injured/recovering from injury when she did the 2:12 last year (which would make some sense vs. the 2:07 PB, in ’24), then obviously there are still injury/other factors affecting her.
Must be tough to deal with. :/
Anyone have insights on Jacyln’s trajectory, since ’24? Almost 3 seconds off making the A Final.
I gather she is now training under MM (or one of her team)?
Well done Heidi Shumack – she is tracking nicely across several events.
Yikes Jaclyn barclay only swimming 2:16 given her PB is 2:07 I believe
oops my post above a little late, but yeah!!!
a lot of things we dont know about swimmers unless they voluntarily offer the reasons.. given Sam Willaimson came back with flying colours after a SERIIUS knee injury, it all comes down to motivation I suppose
Well put.
Speaking of Sam, I can’t remember now, but did we ever get an understanding of what happened to him at Paris? Was he one of the many that got COVID?
He went from 58.8 at Trials, to 1:00.50 (24th place), just 6 weeks later.
That also meant that he was surpassed by Josh Yong, who then swam BRS in the Med Relay.
i am not sure whether Sates will obtain Australian citizenship by Pan Pacs .. doesnt he have to meet residency requirements in Australia first?
apparently will be by end of this year. Has to be 12 months since competing under South Africa. No intl comps this year but next year should be fine for worlds
Earlier this week they said that the time limit was a minimum of 12 months since the athlete last represented their original country – but I’m not sure when that was. ’25 Worlds?
yes but doesnt he have to be Australian first before he can represent the country? despite the one-year World Aquatics rule
Sorry – yes that’s the primary mandatory requirement.
No idea, it would be good if a clued-in journo like Tom Decent specifically asked Sates about it.
unless he already has dual citizenship (RSA-AUS) that we dont know about
Yes – but the 12 month clocks when he last represented South Africa, not when he gets his citizenship. If he gets his citizenship in October, for example, he immediately becomes eligible (assuming he meets the 6 months in a year residency, which I believe is still part of the rule).
yes but his eligibility for Pan Pacs might be affected by the citizenship issue not by the 12-month rule
I’d be surprised if he were expecting that this year
Is that a PB for Iona?
World Aquatics has her listed with a 2:09.22 (’24 Olympic Trials).
umm giaan the qualifying time in 200 back isn’t so fast cause there is no depth worldwide in this event – and not matt mistaking kaylee’s heat time as her WR time. such lazy commentary and just clueless