2022 Commonwealth Games: Day 6 Finals Live Recap

2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

The sixth and final night of swimming from the Sandwell Aquatic Center in Birmingham, England promises to be another exciting one with medals on the line in all nine heats of racing.

Wednesday night brings us the long-anticipated matchup between Ariarne Titmus and Summer McIntosh in the women’s 400 freestyle, as both have been dominant in their other events this week, winning two individual gold medals apiece.

They’ll converge in the 400 free where Titmus is the huge favorite, having won Olympic gold last summer and then breaking the world record earlier this year.

However, McIntosh has been a wrecking ball thus far in the individual medley events, setting a pair of World Junior Records, and her form suggests she’s in position to take down her PB of 3:59.39 from the World Championships in June.

But Titmus has also been on fire, and while some may have suggested her winning time in the 200 free of 1:53.89 indicated she was slightly off her best, she’s responded with the fastest relay split of all-time in the 4×200 free relay (1:52.82), leading the Aussies to a world record, and also won the 800 free last night in a lifetime best and new Commonwealth Record of 8:13.59.

McIntosh dropped the 200 fly from her program so she had yesterday completely off, and we’ll see if that’s of benefit to her tonight.

Titmus and English swimmers Ben Proud and Thomas Hamer will be the only athletes aiming to defend their individual titles tonight, as the rest are either not present in Birmingham or missed the final, which was the case for Australia’s Mitch Larkin in the men’s 200 IM.

Proud had a blistering semi swim in the men’s 50 free last night, and has a chance to become the first swimmer to three-peat in the event after winning the world title earlier this year.

The men’s 200 IM should be an intriguing clash between New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt, who has already won the 200 fly and 400 IM, Scotland’s Duncan Scott, who has already won the 200 free and was the Olympic silver medalist in this event last year, and England’s Tom Dean, who finished fifth at the World Championships and comes in as the top seed after clocking 1:59.36 in the heats. Canada’s Finlay Knox (1:59.67) will also be a player.

In the women’s 50 back, Australian Kaylee McKeown will look to complete the women’s backstroke sweep here in Birmingham, though she’ll have her work cut out for her with Canadian Kylie Masse having set a new Games Record of 27.47 in the semis.

Masse won the 100 and 200 back four years ago, but won silver in the 50 behind Emily Seebohm. This year, she’s been the runner-up to McKeown in both the 100 and 200, and will look to alter course in the 50 tonight.

After Daniel Jervis withdrew from the meet due to COVID-19, the men’s 1500 free figured to be a battle between Australian Sam Short and Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen.

Short posted the fastest time by over 20 seconds in the prelims at 15:02.66, while Wiffen, who clocked 14:57.66 to place ninth at the World Championships this year, cruised to a time of 15:37.53 to place him out in Lane 2.

In the medley relays, the Australian women should have no trouble winning their ninth consecutive gold medal, while the Aussie men will aim to repeat their 2018 victory and claim their seventh title in the last eight Games.

England will be a factor, however, and then the race for bronze will come down to Scotland and Wales after the Canadian and South Africa were both disqualified (or DNS’d) due to bizarre circumstances this morning.

MEN’S 200 IM – FINAL

  • World Record: 1:54.00, Ryan Lochte (USA) – 2011
  • Commonwealth Record: 1:55.28, Duncan Scott – 2021
  • Commonwealth Games Record: 1:57.67, Mitch Larkin (AUS) – 2018
  • 2018 Commonwealth Champion: Mitch Larkin (AUS), 1:57.67
  1. Duncan Scott (SCO), 1:56.88
  2. Tom Dean (ENG), 1:57.01
  3. Lewis Clareburt (NZL), 1:57.59
  4. Finlay Knox (CAN), 1:58.95
  5. Brendon Smith (AUS), 1:59.57
  6. Se-Bom Lee (AUS), 1:59.86
  7. James McFadzen (ENG), 1:59.87
  8. Mark Szaranek (SCO), 2:00.73

Duncan Scott used a blistering backstroke leg to open up a big enough lead that he was able to hold off a hard-charging Tom Dean down the stretch on free, claiming Commonwealth gold in the men’s 200 IM in a time of 1:56.88.

Canada’s Finlay Knox opened up the early lead on fly, and then it was Scott’s 29.08 backstroke split that launched him into the lead, with Dean back in seventh, two seconds behind.

Dean made a big move on the breaststroke leg, out-splitting everyone in the field by well over a second in 32.97, and then he came charging home with a 27.45 freestyle leg.

But Scott managed to hang on, also cracking 28 seconds coming home (27.98) to claim gold and break the Games Record of 1:57.67 set by Mitch Larkin in 2018.

Dean won silver—his sixth of the competition—in 1:57.01, just shy of his best time set at the World Championships in June (1:56.77).

New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt was in second for the majority of the race before getting overtaken by Dean on free, winning bronze in a time of 1:57.59. That comes just three-tenths off of his Kiwi Record (1:57.27) set at the Tokyo Olympics and is quicker than his fastest time from the World Championships (1:57.63).

Clareburt won the 200 fly and 400 IM earlier.

Knox fell back into sixth by the end of the breaststroke, but battled back on free with a 28.23 closing split to claim fourth in 1:58.95, while Australian Brendon Smith came back in 27.90 to move up two spots on the freestyle and place fifth in 1:59.57.

WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE S14 – FINAL

  1. Bethany Firth (NIR), 2:07.02
  2. Jessica-Jane Applegate (ENG), 2:08.56
  3. Louise Fiddes (ENG), 2:11.22
  4. Poppy Maskill (ENG), 2:13.54
  5. Madeleine McTernan (AUS), 2:13.89
  6. Ruby Storm (AUS), 2:15.75
  7. Jade Lucy (AUS), 2:16.64

Bethany Firth becomes the first swimmer from Northern Ireland to win gold at the Commonwealth Games, topping the women’s 200 freestyle S14 in a time of 2:07.02.

Firth, 26, set the world record in this event at 2:02.09 in 2016, winning Paralympic gold in the event. She also claimed silver in the 200 free S14 in Tokyo, and won the event at the World Championships six weeks ago.

It was a 2-3-4 for England behind Firth, with Jessica-Jane Applegate (2:08.56) and Louise Fiddes (2:11.22) getting on the podium in second and third.

MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE S14 – FINAL

  • World Record: 1:52.40, Reece Dunn (GBR) – 2021
  • Commonwealth Games Record: 1:55.88, Thomas Hamer (ENG) – 2018
  • 2018 Commonwealth Champion: Thomas Hamer (ENG), 1:55.88
  1. Nicholas Bennett (CAN), 1:54.97 GR
  2. Benjamin Hance (AUS), 1:55.50
  3. Jack Ireland (AUS), 1:56.15
  4. Jordan Catchpole (ENG), 1:56.37
  5. Reece Dunn (ENG), 1:56.42
  6. Thomas Hamer (ENG), 1:57.99
  7. Dylan Broom (WAL), 1:58.65
  8. Liam Schluter (AUS), 1:59.17

Canadian Nicholas Bennett opened up a big early lead in the men’s 200 freestyle S14, ultimately having to hold on in the closing meters as he got a push from Australian Benjamin Hance.

The 18-year-old Bennett got his hand on the wall first for gold in a time of 1:54.97, breaking the Games Record of 1:55.88 set by England’s Thomas Hamer in 2018. Bennett won silver in this event at the World Para Championships in 1:54.41.

Hance (1:55.50) and Jack Ireland (1:56.15) made it a 2-3 for Australia, as the top three here finish in the same order they did at Worlds, only in Madeira, Bennett, Hance and Ireland finished 2-3-4 behind Brazilian Gabriel Bandeira.

English swimmers Jordan Catchpole (1:56.37), Reece Dunn (1:56.42) and Hamer (1:57.99), all of whom were in the final at Worlds as well, placed fourth, fifth and sixth.

MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE – FINAL

  • World Record: 20.91, Cesar Cielo (BRA) – 2009
  • Commonwealth Record: 21.11, Ben Proud (ENG) – 2018
  • Commonwealth Games Record: 21.30, Ben Proud (ENG) – 2018
  • 2018 Commonwealth Champion: Ben Proud (ENG), 21.35
  1. Ben Proud (ENG), 21.36
  2. Lewis Burras (ENG), 21.68
  3. Josh Liendo (CAN), 22.02
  4. Dylan Carter (TTO), 22.10
  5. Tzen Wei Teong (SGP), 22.26
  6. Tom Nowakowski (AUS), 22.37
  7. Lamar Taylor (BAH), 22.51
  8. Grayson Bell (AUS), 22.53

Make it three in a row for Ben Proud, as the Englishman used his phenomenal start to open up an early advantage in the final of the men’s 50 freestyle that he would not relinquish.

After winning the world title in June in a time of 21.32, Proud nearly matches that here with a winning time of 21.36, completing the three-peat after also claiming gold in 2014 and 2018.

His teammate Lewis Burras had a noticeable better start than he did in the semis, managing to knock nine one-hundredths off his lifetime best in 21.68 for the silver medal. This is the 22-year-old’s first career individual Commonwealth medal.

Canada’s Josh Liendo came in for bronze in 22.02, claiming his second individual medal of the meet after winning the 100 fly on Tuesday.

Liendo set a Canadian Record of 21.61 en route to placing fifth at the Worlds in June, while Burras took seventh in that race in 21.83 after setting what is now his previous best time of 21.77 at the British Championships in April.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter (22.10) and Singapore’s Tzen Wei Teong (22.26) placed fourth and fifth.

WOMEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

  • World Record: 26.98, Liu Xiang (CHN) – 2018
  • Commonwealth Record: 27.16, Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2021
  • Commonwealth Games Record: 27.47, Kylie Masse (CAN) – 2022
  • 2018 Commonwealth Champion: Emily Seebohm (AUS), 27.78
  1. Kylie Masse (CAN), 27.31 GR
  2. Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS), 27.47
  3. Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 27.58
  4. Lauren Cox (ENG), 27.61
  5. Medi Harris (WAL), 27.62
  6. Bronte Job (AUS), 27.85
  7. Danielle Hill (NIR), 28.29
  8. Rebecca Meder (RSA), 28.66

The women’s 50 backstroke final proved to be a blistering one as the top five finishers were all faster than the winning time from four years ago.

Canada’s Kylie Masse, the recently-crowned world champion in the event, follows up her title in Budapest with another gold medal here in Birmingham, re-breaking the Games Record she set in the semis (27.47) in a time of 27.31.

The 26-year-old also becomes the first Canadian winner of the women’s 50 back, and has now won each of the women’s backstroke events at the Games after claiming gold in the 100 and 200 in 2018.

Masse set a new National Record earlier this year in 27.18, which ranks her eighth all-time in the event.

Stacking up her sixth medal of the competition with the silver was Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan, who came within .01 of her lifetime best in 27.47 to edge out teammate Kaylee McKeown (27.58).

McKeown won the 100 and 200 back earlier on in the competition and owns a lifetime best of 27.16 set last year.

England’s Lauren Cox (27.61) set a lifetime best to claim fourth, narrowly missing a medal by three one-hundredths, while Wales’ Medi Harris came within six one-hundredths of her best time for fifth in 27.62.

MEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE – FINAL

  • World Record: 14:31.02, Sun Yang (CHN) – 2012
  • Commonwealth Record: 14:34.56, Grant Hackett (AUS) – 2001
  • Commonwealth Games Record: 14:41.66, Kieren Perkins (AUS) – 1994
  • 2018 Commonwealth Champion: Jack McLoughlin (AUS), 14:47.09
  1. Sam Short (AUS), 14:48.54
  2. Daniel Wiffen (NIR), 14:51.79
  3. Luke Turley (ENG), 15:12.78
  4. Toby Robinson (ENG), 15:14.64
  5. Kieren Pollard (AUS), 15:18.02
  6. Eric Brown (CAN), 15:25.48
  7. Advait Page (IND), 15:32.36
  8. Kushagra Rawat (IND), 15:42.67

18-year-old Sam Short joins the elite club of Australian Commonwealth champions in the men’s 1500 freestyle, dropping nearly nine seconds from his PB to win gold in a time of 14:48.54.

Short and Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen sat side-by-side through the 800-meter mark, but Short continued to hold 29-highs while Wiffen recorded a few 30-lows, opening up a two-second lead for Short in quick order.

The two men essentially held each other at bay for the final 300, as Short negative splits his way to his first career Commonwealth gold medal. Previously, his best time stood at 14:57.22, set at the Australian Olympic Trials last year.

Wiffen came in for silver in 14:51.79, smashing the Irish Record of 14:57.66 he set at the World Championships in June.

Northern Ireland has now won three swimming medals here in Birmingham after coming in with zero all-time.

In the fight for bronze, English teammates Luke Turley and Toby Robinson duked it out throughout the race, with Turley making the move right around the same time Short did on Wiffen, overtaking Robinson at the 900 turn before pulling away to take bronze in 15:12.78. Robinson made up some ground on the last 100 and touched fourth in 15:14.64.

Turley’s best time stands at 15:07.71, while Robinson has been as fast as 15:01.35, both done last April at the British Olympic Trials.

WOMEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – FINAL

  1. Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 3:58.06 GR
  2. Summer McIntosh (CAN), 3:59.32
  3. Kiah Melverton (AUS), 4:03.12
  4. Erika Fairweather (NZL), 4:03.84
  5. Lani Pallister (AUS), 4:04.43
  6. Eve Thomas (NZL), 4:09.73
  7. Ella Jansen (CAN), 4:10.69
  8. Dune Coetzee (RSA), 4:15.53

In the most anticipated race of the week, Ariarne Titmus slowly but surely pulled ahead of Summer McIntosh over the course of the women’s 400 freestyle final, out-splitting the Canadian on every 50 except the last one en route to claiming gold in a new Games Record of 3:58.06.

Titmus successfully defends her title from four years ago, and completes the freestyle triple after winning the 200 and 800 free earlier on.

The Australian’s time stands up as her fourth-fastest ever and the eighth-fastest in history, having set the world record this past May in 3:56.40.

McIntosh paced the race extremely well, like Titmus, and came in for the silver medal in 3:59.32, dipping under her Canadian Record of 3:59.39 set at the World Championships. She maintains her place as the fourth-fastest swimmer in history, trailing Titmus (3:56.40), Katie Ledecky (3:56.46) and Federica Pellegrini (3:59.15).

Coming off a very impressive swim in the 800 free last night, Australia’s Kiah Melverton knocked three-tenths off her PB to win bronze in 4:03.12, while New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather closed faster than everyone other than McIntosh to take fourth in 4:03.84.

MEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – FINAL

  • World Record: 3:26.78, United States of America – 2021
  • Commonwealth Record: 3:27.51, Great Britain – 2021
  • Commonwealth Games Record: 3:31.04, Australia – 2018
  • 2018 Commonwealth Champion: Australia, 3:31.04
  • Relay Lineups
  1. England, 3:31.80
  2. Australia, 3:31.88
  3. Scotland, 3:35.11
  4. Wales, 3:36.43
  5. Jersey, 3:49.71
  6. Fiji, 3:55.31
  7. Guernsey, 3:56.27

The men’s 4×100 medley relay turned into a razor-thin battle between England and Australia, with Tom Dean ultimately holding off Kyle Chalmers by a mere eight one-hundredths to win Englsih gold in front of the home crowd in a time of 3:31.80.

Brodie Williams (54.02), James Wilby (59.22) and James Guy (51.22) handed Dean a lead of 58 one-hundredths over Chalmers, and Dean managed to produce a 47.34 anchor leg to hold off Chalmers, who came storming home with a blistering 46.86 split.

The victory gives Dean his first gold medal of the competition after winning an incredible six silvers throughout the last six days.

The biggest difference for England that opened up that lead came on breaststroke, where Wilby was a full seven-tenths quicker than Zac Stubblety-Cook (59.92). Joining Stubblety-Cook and Chalmers on the Aussie relay was Bradley Woodward (54.07) on backstroke and Matt Temple (51.03) on fly, as they finished in a time of 3:31.88.

Scotland held third place throughout the race, with Craig McNally (54.79), Ross Murdoch (59.59), Duncan Scott (51.74) and Evan Jones (48.99) combining for a time of 3:35.11. This was Murdoch’s retirement race, dropping a very impressive split to help secure a medal.

Wales was fourth in 3:36.43, with Matt Richards splitting sub-48 on the end in 47.98.

Top 4 Splits:

WOMEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – FINAL

  • World Record: 3:50.40, United States – 2019
  • Commonwealth Record: 3:51.60, Australia – 2021 Olympic Games
  • Commonwealth Games Record: 3:54.36, Australia – 2018
  • 2018 Commonwealth Champion: Australia, 3:54.36
  • Relay Lineups
  1. Australia, 3:54.44
  2. Canada, 3:56.59
  3. England, 3:59.44
  4. South Africa, 3:59.63
  5. Scotland, 4:04.83
  6. Guernsey, 4:23.37

The Australian women had no problem securing their ninth consecutive title in the 4×100 medley relay, clocking a time of 3:54.44 to narrowly miss the Commonwealth Games Record they set in 2018 (3:54.36).

Kaylee McKeown (58.79) got the better of Canada’s Kylie Masse (59.01) on the lead-off leg, and then the Aussie lead grew to over a second as Chelsea Hodges (1:06.68) soundly out-split Sophie Angus (1:07.66).

After finishing within .02 of each other in the individual 100 fly, Emma McKeon and Maggie MacNeil produced matching 56.59 splits here, and then 100 free champion Mollie O’Callaghan finished things off for Australia in 52.38.

Australia’s time of 3:54.44 narrowly misses what the quartet of McKeown, Jenna StrauchBrianna Throssell and O’Callaghan produced at the World Championships en route to winning silver (3:54.25).

Summer McIntosh was called on for anchor duties here for the Canadians despite just getting out of the water in the 400 free, and she proved it was a good call as the 15-year-old put up a very impressive 53.33 split to bring Canada in for silver in 3:56.59.

McIntosh notably set a best time of 54.62 leading off Canada’s 400 free relay early in the meet, making her the pick over Katerine Savard (54.44 on that relay) and Rebecca Smith (54.41 on the mixed free relay).

The South African team moved into third place on the breaststroke leg as individual 100-meter champion Lara van Niekerk had the fastest split in the field at 1:05.56, and then they held that position going into the final exchange as Erin Gallagher (58.88) out-split England’s Laura Stephens (58.96) on fly.

Coming in trailing by just under half a second, Anna Hopkin split 53.15 on the end fot bring England in for the bronze in 3:59.44, edging out South Africa (3:59.63) and Aimee Canny (53.80).

Top 4 Splits:

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John26
2 years ago

It would be interesting to take the swimmers who swam at worlds and commies for the larger nations and compare their times at each to see who actually swam faster at each. For the swimmers who went to both, Clareburt, and Ocallaghan stand out as people who did swim better at commies. But not sure if many others did. McIntosh was probs a bit better in her main 2 events.

Jamesabc
Reply to  John26
2 years ago

I think Clareburt, O’Callaghan and McIntosh are probably the only ones. Three tapers in two months isn’t really ideal.

Troyy
Reply to  Jamesabc
2 years ago

Melverton did two PBs at Comm Games.

Jamesabc
Reply to  Troyy
2 years ago

Oh true. And Van Niekerk too. A couple of others. But not many.

Troyy
2 years ago

So Swimming Australia has a new website and it’s only a slight improvement on the old one.

Jamesabc
Reply to  Troyy
2 years ago

Is it just me, or has their new website got new details on Duel in the Pool that were unknown before? Or was I just out of the loop?

Half the events are 50s… ugh. I guess that confirms it must be SCM right?

The program does not look fun tbh. But I’ll still try to enjoy it.

Jamesabc
Reply to  Troyy
2 years ago

Is it just me, or has their new website got new details on Duel in the Pool that were unknown before? Or was I just out of the loop?

Half the events are 50s… ugh. I guess that confirms it must be SCM right? The only event that has 200s is freestyle. There are so many skins and broken freestyles and mixed medleys. It’s like someone took ISL and then took a bunch of hallucinogens and wrote a program. Oof

Troyy
Reply to  Jamesabc
2 years ago

First I’ve seen of the program. What a mess. Hopefully they’ll announce the rest of the team soon.

Last edited 2 years ago by Troyy
Jamesabc
Reply to  Troyy
2 years ago

Just to explain a little further, this is basically the full program:

-Traditional 50m for all strokes (8)
-Traditional 100m for all strokes (8)
-Traditional 200 free but no other traditional 200 events (2)
-50m skins for all strokes (8 x 3)
-400m and 800m “broken freestyle” which I think is like skins? (4)
-200m “mystery” individual medley (No idea??) (2)
-Traditional men’s 100m free relay (but no women’s free relay???)
-Traditional 100m medley relays (2)
-Traditional 100m mixed medley relay (1)
-Mixed 50m “random relay” (no idea?) (1)
-Mixed 6x50m free but with 3 swimmers (2F 1M) who swim 50m each twice (WTF) (1)
-Mixed 2×200 vs 4×100… Read more »

Sub13
Reply to  Jamesabc
2 years ago

Can we get an article breaking this down? Haha

Comparison
2 years ago

Commonwealth events in which the winning time was faster than at Worlds in June:

Men:
100 free (47.51 – but Popovici set the fastest time of 2022 with a 47.13 in semis)

Women:
100 free (52.63 – Callaghan improves her WC time by .04)
200 free (1:53.89)
400 free (3:58.06 – Titmus outdoes Ledecky by .09)
50 Back (TIE! Masse repeats 27.31 from WC)
200 Breast (2:21.96)
400 IM (4:29.01 – a rested McIntosh here versus tired McIntosh at WCs)
4 x 100 free (3:30.64)
4 x 200 free (7:39.29; WR, the only one set at these games)

Sub13
Reply to  Comparison
2 years ago

You missed W100 free. Which makes a quarter of the events faster. Then another 5 events were won by the world champion. Another two events were within 0.03 seconds of the world championship time. So that’s almost half.

But we do have to give props to Ledecky. If she went to Comm Games she would have won a gold AND a silver with her worlds times. Two whole medals!

Sub13
Reply to  Sub13
2 years ago

I meant W100 breast btw

Go Bucky
Reply to  Sub13
2 years ago

Are we just talking women’s swimming here? The men’s world’s meet was significantly faster, yes?

Sub13
Reply to  Go Bucky
2 years ago

If you’re talking overall, a quarter of events were faster at Comm Games. If you’re talking just Olympic events, just under a third of events were faster at Comm Games.

If you’re talking just men, then yes, the vast majority of events were faster at worlds.

If you’re talking female events only, 9/19 events were faster at Comm Games. If you’re just talking female Olympic events, more than half were faster at Comm Games.

Go Bucky
Reply to  Sub13
2 years ago

Gotcha. Very thorough, thanks!

Personal Best
Reply to  Comparison
2 years ago

There were also those swimmers who went personal bests at the Comm Games.

Kiah Melverton was very impressive here, huge PBs compared to Worlds.
McIntosh too.
MOC swam a big PB here in the 200 for silver, faster than at Worlds.
Sam Short had a much better swim in the 1500.

M.T.
2 years ago

LOL…was McIntosh saving energy on the 400m for the medley relay???

Jamesabc
Reply to  M.T.
2 years ago

You think she gave up a chance to take down the WR holder in order to save energy for a relay that her team couldn’t possibly win? Doubt.

Go Kamminga Go
2 years ago

Early prediction:

Summer Mackintosh will be the Female Swimmer of the Meet in 2024 Paris!

Robbos
Reply to  Go Kamminga Go
2 years ago

But what events will she swim?

boknows34
Reply to  Go Kamminga Go
2 years ago

And LA in 2028

Taa
Reply to  boknows34
2 years ago

I would love to see some swimming events in 2028 I bet the ticket prices are insane. Im going to volunteer maybe I can get some viewing in.

boknows34
Reply to  Taa
2 years ago

I had tickets for 2012.

Jamesabc
Reply to  Go Kamminga Go
2 years ago

She could realistically medal in the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, 200 fly, 200IM and 400IM. Possibly even 1500 free but hard to judge at this stage. Obviously she won’t swim all of these. I assume she would pick maximum 4, but possibly only 3.

If I were her, I would choose the 200 fly, 400IM and 800 free, with the 400 free as a possible fourth. This has only one double the entire meet with the 200 fly and 200 relay final in the same session (assuming she swims the 100 and 200 free relays).

The 200 fly only really has Yufei as a realistic competition and I think Summer can beat her. The 400IM has Summer way… Read more »

Robbos
Reply to  Jamesabc
2 years ago

Very good summary.
She reminds me of Shane Gould, a Aussie swimmer in the 70s, she won a medal in every freestyle events available to her in 1972, 100 200, 400 & 800, including 2 golds & also gold in the 200IM. She tackled 5 individual events wow!!!!

I think McIntosh plays it smart, she said recently, she is trying to improve in every event without concentrating on a particular event.
Depending on her improvements the easier events (all events are difficult) but 200 fly, 200 & 400 IM. The freestyles are stacked with quality swimmers, but not sure that will stop McIntosh.

Troyy
Reply to  Go Kamminga Go
2 years ago

Very bold.

Last edited 2 years ago by Troyy
commonwombat
2 years ago

As apropos of nothing; AUS total medals 65 (25G/21S/19B); combined GBR 49 (11G/18S/20B)

Excluding mixed and para-events; the mens/womens medal splits for countries as follows

AUS M-6G/W-12G M-7S/W-10S M-4B/W-10B Total M-17/W-32
ENG M-6G/W-0G M-9S/W-3S M-2B/W-3B Total M-17/W-6
CAN M1-G/W-4G M-0S/W-5S M-3B/W-1B Total M-4/W-10
RSA M-1G/W-3G M-2S/W-2S M-1B/W-1B Total M-4/W-6
SCO M-2G/W-0G M-0S/W-0S M-6S/W-2B Total M-8/W-2

All NZL able-bodied medals won by men, likewise for NIR & SIN. WAL only medal in women’s

Mixed medals AUS 2G; ENG 1S/1B; CAN 1S/1B

Para medals AUS 5G/4S/5B – 14; ENG 2G/3S/2B – 7; CAN 2G/1S/1B – 4; NZL 2G/2S – 4; NIR 1G/1B – 2; SCO 1S/1B- 2; one each RSA/SIN/WAL

The unoriginal Tim
Reply to  commonwombat
2 years ago

So mixed events are supposed to help smaller countries but the big countries got all the medals.

PS Aus trounced everyone. May as well have been Aus nationals with a few guest appearances.

Last edited 2 years ago by The unoriginal Tim
Jamesabc
Reply to  The unoriginal Tim
2 years ago

The mixed events had more entries than the men’s or women’s relays. I don’t think anyone expects the small nations to win medals, but it gives them a better chance to perform and make a final.

Robbos
Reply to  The unoriginal Tim
2 years ago

I think you will find that from the men’s side of things it was Australia v England & that was as close as the 4×100 medley, so not sure you could call it a Aust nationals with guest appearances.

In the women’s side I agree, with Canada missing a few of it’s top swimmers it was Australia with guest appearance from Summer McIntosh & a couple of Sth African breaststrokers..

commonwombat
Reply to  Robbos
2 years ago

Yes, it was dead even between AUS & ENG on the men’s side; both in regards to total medals and golds. If taken as “all GBR”; it comes out as GBR 8G/26 T. I didn’t think the Brits, as a whole, had the home meet that they perhaps hoped for but AUS men’s results essentially told the story; a few pleasing showings from newcomers like Short/Williamson but reliant on less than a handful of big hitters (Chalmers/Winnington/ZSC).

I don’t think the addition of the missing top CAN women would’ve altered any golds; maybe readjusted the direction of some minor medals and certainly made the two free relays more competitive. Other than adding Kylie Masse to the “guest appearances”; I concur… Read more »

Robbos
Reply to  commonwombat
2 years ago

Sorry to keep harping but Team GB was not invited to the CWG. So pointless discussion there.

But point taken on Masse & McNeil.

However, main point maybe not a Mickey mouse competition as The Unoriginal Tim tries to make out.
It’s not the WCs, but neither is the European Championship or the Pan Pacs etc.
It’s just a regional competition for countries to swim at int’l level to gain experience.

CanSwimFan
Reply to  Robbos
2 years ago

Don’t forget about Kylie Masse and Maggie MacNeil! 🙂

commonwombat
Reply to  CanSwimFan
2 years ago

Fair point, Maggie should not be overlooked.

Pullbuoy
Reply to  commonwombat
2 years ago

I think in doing this comparison, if you haven’t already done so (and I will admit I haven’t checked), you need to consider that the relay results may have been different if GB was joined up and the Home Nations couldn’t win more than 1 relay medal as GB, so you can’t just sum the medal numbers.

Emily Se-Bom Lee
2 years ago

fantasy draft final scores:

Braden – 127 (9 / 21 / 17 / 22 / 26 / 32)
Retta – 123.5 (13 / 32 / 20 / 20 / 17.5 / 21)
Coleman – 113 (14 / 30 / 19 / 16 / 14 / 20)
Ben – 105 (21 / 19 / 20 / 6 / 19 / 20)

Top 4 scorers:
McKeon – 37 (Retta)
MOC – 33 (Ben)
McKeown – 29 (Braden)
Dean – 28 (Coleman)

Top undrafted swimmer – Wilson (15)

Last edited 2 years ago by Emily Se-Bom Lee
flicker
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
2 years ago

I think the top undrafted swimmer would be Melverton (2 individual silvers, 1 individual bronze, 1 relay gold with WR)

Emily Se-Bom Lee
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
2 years ago

edit: Top undrafted swimmer is actually melverton with 19 points. but wilson was obviously a better pick than harris even before the meet started

Jamesabc
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
2 years ago

And Sates was a disaster pick again. Poor guy.

Sub13
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
2 years ago

How did you get Wilson’s score?

Wasn’t she individual bronze (4), relay gold with WR (5) and relay heat (1) for a total of 10? Or have I missed something?

Emily Se-Bom Lee
Reply to  Sub13
2 years ago

200 free bronze (4)
w4x100 free gold (4)
w4x200 free gold, wr (5)
mixed 4×100 free heat (1)
mixed 4×100 medley heat (1)

Sub13
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
2 years ago

Oh I must have been getting confused about who swam which relays. For some reason I thought she wasn’t on the 100 relay and I also didn’t know she swam the mixed medley heat.

Renée
2 years ago

Not sure, however i’m under the impression that the coaches on the Canadian Team changed Summer’s stroke a bit, so it fits more to the sprint distances, just me..?

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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