Fraser-Holmes Breaks Australian Record on Day 1

In the first finals session of the 2012 Australian National Championships in Adelaide, South Australia, the women’s 400 IM that was expected to be the show-stopper was upstaged in a big way by the male counterpart.

Men’s 400 IM

That’s because Thomas Fraser-Holmes swam a 4:11.81 that crushed the Australian record in the men’s 400 IM in a way that an Australian Record hasn’t been crushed in quite some time. That broke the old mark that was set by one Justin Norris at the 2007 Aussie Championships at 4:15.20. Norris’ name may not sound all that familiar because, despite being an Australian Record, it’s just not that good of a time.

As for Fraser-Holmes, this is a great time for a big break-out meet, as he’s only 20-years old. That’s now the best time in the world in 2012, and is within half-a-second of the Commonwealth Record. That’s also 5 seconds faster than Fraser-Holmes has ever been in his life.

Fraser-Holmes had a difficult decision to make on this first day of competition between the 400 IM and the 400 Free. It’s a doable-double at the World Championships (one that he pulled off without much success) as the events bookend the meet. He was in the top-10 in the world in the 400 free last year and made the World Championship team in that race, so this decision was a gutsy one, but thus far seems to be paying off for him.

The runner-up in the race was another young swimmer – 20-year old Daniel Tranter in 4:16.38, which is a huge best for him as well. This puts two Aussies into the meet by way of FINA ‘A’ times in a race where such a qualification was one of the most uncertain.

Women’s 400 IM

In the women’s version of the 400 IM, Stephanie Rice demonstrated that her shoulder was feeling just fine for now (or else it was at least irrelevant). She won the race in 4:33.45, which is the second-best time in the world since last year’s World Championships.

She’s going out in this race a little bit slower than she was last year (1:02.5 versus 1:01.8), but is coming home faster (1:02.4 versus 1:02.7) instead. This shows that maybe she’s still got some apprehensions, either in training or in racing, about really pushing her shoulder, but the ultimate result is a faster time.

Blair Evans was expected to be the big challenger to Rice in this race, and though she didn’t do that with a 4:37.80, she did verify her transition from a solid middle-distance freestyler to an oustanding IM’er with her runner-up finish; though this time was slower than she was at this same pool in January where she had her big IM breakout. Samantha Hamill also failed to crack her season-best time with a 4:42.69 for 3rd. She went out fairly well in this race, but really fell apart in the closing 100 meters, where she split a 1:06.5.

Men’s 400 Free

And in the other final of the day, the men’s 400 free, David McKeon took a big win in 3:46.36 to continue a trend early in his career of swimming near-lifetime bests early in the year, and then blowing them still blowing them away at Nationals. This swim ranks him 5th in the world this year (and 4th with exclusion of more-than-two entries per country).

This was a back-and-forth race between McKeon and defending champ Ryan Napoleon the whole way through, with the lead changing hands on nearly every length. But in the last 1oo meters, Napoleon strangely dropped way off of the map. When he won last year, it was the closing 100 where he dropped the hammer, but since then (including at worlds) endurance has been a problem for him. He did have enough to hold off Robert Hurley, who was 3rd in 3:48.60. For the young Australian men’s team, this was two championships by 20 & unders on the first day of the meet.

Semi-Finals

Alicia Coutts didn’t put out too much effort in the prelims of this 100 fly, but she kicked things in during the semi’s to cut almost a second off of her time from the morning with a 58.30. Not to be deterred, however, veteran Jessicah Schipper dropped another few tenths as well to hold the top seed again with a 58.26. Both now head into finals in the world’s top 10.

17-year old Brittany Elmslie was impressive in prelims by dropping a second off of her lifetime-best in this race, but she still had more to give in this semi as she dropped another three-tenths to take the 3rd seed in 59.01.

Yolane Kukla, Marieke Guehrer, and Libby Trickett all qualified for the final. Trickett was able to improve her time, but is still far off of an Olympic qualification with a 59.67. With at least a 58.70 needed for qualification, in addition to a top-2 time, it looks like Trickett will leave her hopes for the 100 free – there could be a matter of slow-playing the three rounds, but the later rounds have been a sticky point for Australia’s comeback swimmers on their rush back to full-shape. Notably missing the final was Florida Gators swimmer Ellese Zalewski, who scratched the NCAA Championships for this meet. She was 11th in 1:00.59.

In the men’s 100 breast semis, Brenton Rickard, similarly to Coutts, stepped up big-time with a 1:00.36 for the top seed. Rickard, who’s struggled with consistency since the rubber suits went out of style, has to be pleased with that swim in only a semi-final. He and Christian Sprenger are well ahead of the field, with Sprenger taking the 2nd seed in 1:00.56 (also a top-10 time).

In the non-Olympic semi’s, Geoff Huegill took top honors in the 50 fly in 23.58. That’s the third-best time in the world in 2012, and a good beacon for his 100 fly qualifying, where he’s a heavy favorite. Emily Seebohm won the 100 back semi in 27.97.

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