Former world record holders Brenton Rickard and Christian Sprenger kicked off the Saturday night session of the EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships in a big way, booking their tickets to Barcelona with big swims in the men’s 100 breaststroke. Sprenger, the silver medalist in the this event last summer in London, reenforced his case as the man to beat this summer in Barcelona, winning in a time of 59.31. Although that was slower than his semifinal time (59.05), Sprenger made a strong statement this weekend by breaking a minute in all three swims, and he now holds the four fastest times in the world this year. Rickard’s final time of 1:00.00 was good for second place, also making him the third fastest performer of 2013 behind Sprenger and Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli.
In the other men’s final of the session, Matt Targett captured the title in the 50 butterfly, winning handily in 23.20. Expect Targett to contend for a podium position in Barcelona; the two-time Olympian is one of the best sprint flyers in history, and he won silver in this event at the 2011 World Championships behind fellow former Auburn Tiger Cesar Cielo. Mitchell Patterson was also under the FINA ‘A’ standard in this event, finishing second in 23.58.
Australian Olympian Ashley Delaney took the top spot in the semifinals of the men’s 100 backstroke in 53.70, good for sixth fastest in the world this year. Delaney has been a staple near the top of Aussie rankings for years now, but he had a disappointing season last year, missing the Olympic team entirely, despite being the national record holder in the 50 and 200 backstroke. He looks to be in good position to get back on the team. Other notable national team members Robert Hurley (54.02, second place), Daniel Arnamnart (54.28, third), and Hayden Stoeckel (55.14, seventh) also made the final heat.
Following the action in tonight’s semifinal, the race with the most intrigue tomorrow night will be the men’s 200 freestyle. The field is absolutely loaded, with young gun Cameron McEvoy leading the way in 1:46.59, almost a second ahead of the next fastest qualifier. He’ll be joined in the big final by Olympians Thomas Fraser-Holmes, James Magnussen, Ryan Napoleon, Ned McKendry, and David McKeon. The most notable name missing has to be Jordan Harrison; the 17-year-old dropped a 3:45.85 to finish second in the 400 freestyle yesterday, but didn’t have the speed to make the final heat (he finished in 1:49.61, a full second out of the top eight).
Alicia Coutts was the evening’s most outstanding performer, posting world bests in a pair of victories. Coutts started out with an easy win in the women’s 100 fly, touching in 57.18, making her the fastest swimmer this year be a half second. 18-year-old Britta Elmslie held off Ellen Gandy to secure the second spot on the Worlds team, touching in 58.02 (Gandy was 58.15). Coutts doubled up later in the evening in the 200 IM, setting a new Australia All-Comers record in a time of 2:08.63. Considering she won silver last summer in this event, the win itself isn’t a surprise. The dominance she displayed, however, winning by 2.5 seconds (Emily Seebohm was second) and easily bettering Ye Shiwen‘s top-ranked time in 2013, is what really stuck out from the other top performers this evening.
A pair of rather uneventful semifinals rounded out the evening. Commonwealth gold medalist and Aussie Olympian Leiston Pickett claimed the top seed in the women’s 100 breast, finishing in 1:08.00. Belinda Hocking and Emily Seebohm took the top two spots in the women’s 100 backstroke, touching in 1:00.24 and 1:00.44, respectively.
I just wished Coutts choose either 100 fly or 200 IM. I think she’d have very good chance winning either this year, but not when swimming both.
Wow! Amazing double by Coutts!