In her first swim of the evening on the third day at the Australian Short Championships Alicia Coutts just missed the 100 IM World record that Katinka Hosszu set in only 13 days ago at the World Cup in Berlin. Coutts posted a 57.71 winning the final by over two seconds and destroyed Emily Seebhom‘s 2009 Australian and Commonwealth record of 58.50.
Hosszu broke Hinkelien Schreuder’s 2009 record 57.74 in Eindhoven and improved on it once again in Berlin swimming a 57.45.
Coutts skipped the 100 butterfly, but went on to win the women’s 50 freestyle later in the evening recording a time of 24.56.
Kenneth To also continued his winning ways on day three taking the men’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 59.12 and the 200 IM in a time of 1:54.55. To won the 200 IM at both the World Cup events in Eindhoven and Berlin earlier this month as he started his quest towards a second straight World Cup Series victory.
Without Coutts competing for the title in the 100 butterfly Ellen Gandy was able to take the event easily winning in a time of 56.94 almost a full second ahead of Christina Licciardi who finished second in a time of 57.84. Gandy is just coming off finishing third in this event in both Berlin and Eindhoven.
World Championships 200 backstroke silver medalist Belinda Hocking continued her winning ways after taking the 200 backstroke yesterday came back on evening two to win the 100 backstroke in a time of 57.52.
Sally Foster had a dominating performance in the women’s 200 breaststroke winning the event in a time of 2:20.07 almost four seconds ahead of Lorna Tonks who posted a 2:23.69. Foster, who finished seventh in the event in Barcelona had a very similar performance at the Australian World Championship Trials where she won the event by over two and a half seconds.
Matson Lawson and Travis Mahoney had a great battle for the 200 backstroke title. Mahoney went into the last turn with a healthy lead only to see Lawson storm past him in the final 50 meters, where he was over a full second quicker than Mahoney.
Lawson took the event in a time of 1:51.74 followed by Mahoney who touched in a time of 1:52.02.
In the 200 freestyle Bobby Hurley and Hugo Morris battled head to head for the entire distance. The 19 year old Morris, who won the 200 butterfly yesterday had the lead throughout the race only to be overtaken by Hurley on the final 50 meters. Hurley won the event in a time of 1:44.24 while Morris finished second in a time of 1:44.62.
Laura Crockart has continued her incredible competition sweeping the women’s distance events winning the 1500 freestyle in Commonwealth record time on the first evening, taking the 800 freestyle on day two and on day three she went on to win the 400 freestyle posting a time of 4:05.36.
Nathaniel Romeo took the 50 butterfly in a time of 22.92.
Full results can be found here
Why is anyone older than 14 swimming 100im? Why short course in international competition? Can this be any more boring? Who cares?
As Coutts is that fast in short course, she could do a little bit World Cup meets to challenge Hosszu and vice versa.
Small correction: it was Hinkelien Schreuder’s world record that Hosszu broke. Zhao held it before Schreuder.
Woah! I got a mention on swimswam!! Cheers Jeff
And rightfully so, congrats on your great achievement.
I hope Coutts go to some of World Cup stops and make a mess in WR books.After her World Champs, she deserves that(and some money too).
I’ve never heard of Nathaniel Romeo before but 22.9 is pretty immense especially since he’s relatively young for a sprinter!
I can`t imagine somebody disappointed with 5 silver medals.
I don’t think she was disappointed in Barcelona, but she was really devastated after the w4x100 free final.
If only Brittany Elmslie had focused on the free relay, Coutts did not have to swim that relay.
And that is one of the biggest reasons why you’re not an elite athlete.
Is five silver medals a big achievement? Is it possible to be happy with five silver medals? Of course it is, and Coutts will probably be very happy and proud of them.
However, virtually every elite athlete really loves winning and really hates losing. It’s their biggest motivator, it’s what drives them to push themselves and succeed. It’s ingrained into them. An individual gold medal is a very special thing, and while many athletes will never be completely content no matter how many gold medals they get, it counts for a lot. In a sense, it’s a victory over the entire world. A lot… Read more »
Thanks Bourdais for your insightful post.
I often find it interesting that many athletes consider a bronze medal to be a big prize, while 4th place is seen as winning nothing, even a failure. The number of medals we hand out (three) is completely arbitrary. It doesn’t make sense to consider 3rd in the world to be much better than 4th, and at the same time considering 4th and 5th places to be achievements of more or less the same magnitude, only because some dude or dudes over a century ago decided to go with three medals.
If my memory is anything to go by I think two former Brits are now competing for Australia. Not only Ellen Gandy who is the obvious one but also Lorna Tonks. She was a very good junior for Britain at the same time as Kate Haywood. She seems to have improved a lot recently and almost made the Aussie Olympic team in 2012 and has a 1.07 pb now. One to watch going forward.
I think you’re right…thought that name sounded familiar!