Aussie Sam Williamson Posts Season’s Top 50 Breast Time On Day One Of Victorian Open

2025 VICTORIAN OPEN LC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, February 14th – Sunday, February 16th
• Melbourne Sports Centres (MSAC) Outdoor Pool
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results

The 2025 Victorian Open Long Course Championships kicked off today at the Melbourne Sports Centres (MSAC) outdoor pool.

Although not a qualifying competition, this 3-day affair is an important benchmark on the way to the all-important World Championships selection meet, the 2025 Australian Swimming Trials on the calendar for June.

18-year-old Olivia Wunsch from Carlile put her speed on display in two events, racing in the women’s 50m fly and later the women’s 100m free.

In the former, Wunsch was the first Australian to touch, hitting 26.53 to capture the bronze behind a pair of visiting Japanese athletes.

Three-time Olympian Rikako Ikee, who has been training at Griffith University since late 2023, clocked the fastest time of 25.95 to reach the top of the podium. She was slightly quicker in the heats, reaching the wall in 25.92 to take the top seed.

Ai Soma captured silver in the final, producing 26.48 to get the edge over Wunsch, although Wunsch’s time of 26.34 in the morning matched her best-ever result.

The women’s 100m free saw Wunsch upgrade to gold, posting a successful swim of 54.16.

She represented the sole swimmer of the field to delve under the 55-second barrier, as fellow Aussie 18-year-old Inez Miller snagged silver in 55.84 followed by Ikee who hit 56.60 as the bronze medalist.

The top 3 finishers of the women’s 100m breast were all under 17 years of age, led by 15-year-old Albury Amateur ace Sienna Toohey.

Toohey stopped the clock at 1:07.19 to beat the pack by well over a second, splitting 31.68/35.51 in the process.

16-year-old Lily Koch of Nunawading ripped a big-time personal best en route to silver, producing 1:08.48 as her first-ever foray under the 1:09 barrier. Entering this competition, Koch’s PB rested at the 1:09.24 turned in at last December’s Victoria Age Championships.

Bronze medalist tonight Isabelle Rae rounded out the podium in 1:10.97.

As for Toohey, her effort this evening came within .18 of her lifetime best, a performance of 1:07.01 notched at last year’s Australian Olympic Trials. She overtook her previous season-best of 1:07.69 from last month’s South Australian State Open Championships, now ranking #1 in the world.

Olympian Sam Williamson was the top performer of the men’s 50m breast, touching in a time of 26.66 to dominate the field by nearly a second. That was within striking distance of the 26.32 Oceanian and Australian record he established en route to taking the gold in this event at the 2024 World Championships.

Germany’s Lucas Matzerath registered 27.60 for silver tonight followed by Cameron Jordan of Bendigo East who logged 27.85.

Williamson, who has been largely quiet since a relatively disappointing Paris, represents the world’s sole sub-27-second swimmer thus far this season.

Another Paris Olympian Maximillian Giuliani dove in for two events in the morning, taking on the 400m free and 100m free. He clocked 3:59.77 in the 400m free to place 7th in the heats before scratching the final to focus on the sprint.

In the 100m main event, Giuliani raced his way to gold in a time of 49.81.

Although well off his personal best of 48.21, it was enough to get the job done as the sole swimmer under 50 seconds.

Metro North East’s Gabriel Gorgas registered 50.28 followed closely by Tigersharks’ Cameron Bladen‘s time of 50.30.

As a refresher, Giuliani recently changed up training bases, following coach Richard Scarce in his move from Miami to TSS Aquatics. The freestyle ace last competed at the LC Prep Meet in November where he notched a time of 49.84 in the 100m free and 3:57.04 in the 400m free.

Additional Notes

• Malaysia’s Khiew Hoe Yean topped the men’s 400m free final in a time of 3:53.29. His personal best of 3:48.36 from last year’s Australian National Championships established the current national record in the event. New Zealand Olympian Lewis Clareburt was entered in the event but was a no-show; we’ll look into it.
• Archie Kreutzberger was the fastest men’s 200m butterflier, hitting 2:03.09 for the win.
• The women’s 400m IM saw 21-year-old Tara Kinder get the job done in 4:46.02. That sliced .17 off her previous career-quickest outing of 4:46.19 put up at the Paris Trials.
• Paris Olympic medalist and 3-time World Championships medalist Iona Anderson was the woman to beat in the 200m backstroke tonight. The 19-year-old logged 2:13.22 to win decisively.
• South Korea’s Lee Juho topped the men’s 50m back podium in a time of 25.90.
• MLC Aquatics’ Mackenzie Hunter posted the victory in the women’s 800m free, producing 9:01.68 as the gold medalist.