2019 NSW STATE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, March 15th – Sunday, March 17th
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC)
- LCM
- Meet Site
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Start List
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
King Kyle Chalmers wrangled up his 2nd win in as many days at the NSW State Open Championships, following up his first day 100m free victory with the gold in the 200m distance.
Yesterday Chalmers turned heads by clocking his fastest 100m free time since Rio, topping the field here as well as the world rankings with his mighty 47.89. That represents the only sub-48 second outing in the world so far this season.
Tonight, the 20-year-old Marion star threw down a 200m free winning effort of 1:47.45 to mark the only swimmer under 1:48. Splitting a masterful 53.43/54.02, Chalmers clocked his fastest in-season time to-date.
The AFL-hopeful’s previous non-championship personal best rested at the 1:47.64 he notched at the Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara back in 2016, while his all-time PB holds fast at the 1:45.56 he crushed on the Gold Coast to take gold at last year’s Commonwealth Games. Chalmer’s 1:47.45 time here now ranks the 100m free Olympic champion 7th in the world.
2018-2019 LCM MEN 200 FREE
RAPSYS
1.44.38
| 2 | Clyde LEWIS | AUS | 1.44.90 | 07/22 |
| 3 | Duncan SCOTT | GBR | 1.44.91 | 07/26 |
| 4 | Sun YANG | CHN | 1.44.93 | 07/23 |
| 5 | Katsuhiro MATSUMOTO | JPN | 1.45.22 | 07/23 |
Behind Chalmers tonight was visiting swimmer Welson Sim of Malaysia, the man who fired off a new 400m free National Record last night. Sim staked his claim on this shorter event this morning by cranking out a strong 1:48.04. He was slightly off that mark but still earned silver with a time of 1:48.21 this evening. He holds his nation’s standard in the 1:47.36 he produced back in 2017.
23-year-old Bond athlete Alex Graham, who will be joining Chalmers on the ISL London Team, punched a time of 1:48.38 for bronze tonight, while yesterday’s 400m free champion Elijah Winnington was right behind in 1:48.82 for 4th.
Other big guns in this men’s 200m free race included Cameron McEvoy, Mack Horton and Thomas Fraser-Holmes, who finished in 6th, 7th and 8th placed, respectively. Their times in order were 1:49.95, 1:49.96 and 1:50.79.
Australian Open Water Championships runner-up Kiah Melverton also snagged her 2nd win of these NSW Championships by taking the 400m free this evening in 4:11.19.
After winning the 800m free yesterday, Melverton was able to hold off a charging UCSC swimmer in Olympian Leah Neale in this event, with Neale settling for silver in 4:12.85. Ravenswood swimmer Olivia Adams, 19, took bronze in 4:14.41.
Melverton had reaped the B-Final win last summer at the 2018 Pan Pacs Championships, snagging a time of 4:08.46, a mark that would have finished 5th in the A-final of the event in Tokyo.
Olympian Emma McKeon was also back at it tonight at SOPAC, topping the women’s 100m fly field in a mark of 57.84. That’s within .3 of the 57.59 the Griffith University swimmer registered for the win in the event at this same competition last year.
TSS Aquatics’ Laura Taylor, the Commonwealth Games silver medalist in the 200m fly touched in 59.91 for silver tonight, while 23-year-old Yolane Kukla rounded out the top 3 in 1:00.18.
For McKeon, tonight’s outing represents the fastest of the season for the 24-year-old, placing her in the #3 slot on the season’s world rankings.
2018-2019 LCM WOMEN 100 FLY
MacNeil
55.83
| 2 | Sarah SJOSTROM | SWE | 56.2 | 07/22 |
| 3 | Emma McKEON | AUS | 56.61 | 04/22 |
| 4 | Marie WATTEL | FRA | 57.00 | 07/21 |
| 5 | Brianna THROSSELL | AUS | 57.02 | 07/21 |
Matthew Wilson tied the NSW State Record with his 100m breaststroke win tonight. Clocking 59.83, Wilson crushed the field, with the next fastest competitor clocking in the range of 1:02. Wilson was slower last year on the Gold Coast, mustering just a 1:00.48 to finish 7th overall at the Commonwealth GAmes.
He picked himself up and dipped under the minute mark at Pan Pacs, however, establishing that 59.83 state record for 6th in a tightly packed field with the top 6 competitors all within .75 of each other.
Wilson is now ranked 6th in the world in this event this season. He would go on to win the men’s 200m IM tonight as well in 2:00.54.
2018-2019 LCM MEN 100 BREAST
PEATY
56.88 *WR
| 2 | Ilya SHYMANOVICH | BLR | 58.29 | 03/24 |
| 3 | James WILBY | GBR | 58.46 | 07/22 |
| 4 | Yan ZIBEI | CHN | 58.63 | 07/22 |
| 5 | Yasuhiro KOSEKI | JPN | 58.89 | 07/21 |
Jenna Strauch also nailed a new NSW State Record with her win in the women’s 200m breast. The 21-year-old Bond swimmer touched in 2:27.84 to clear the Samantha Marshall time of 2:27.99 from 2009. Olympic finalist Taylor McKeown was also under the old record, finishing in 2:27.96 for silver.
Cate Campbell completed her 1-2 punch in the freestyle sprints, following up her 100m free win from last night with the 50m gold this evening. Establishing herself as the top seed of the morning in 24.82, C1 punched a winning time of 24.41 to represent the only sub-25 second swimmer.
Wilson reaped silver in 25.26, while 31-year-old Holly Barratt, last night’s 50m fly victor, earned bronze in 25.34.
C1 now ranks as the 3rd fastest performer in this 50m free event in the world. Of note, her sister Bronte Campbell, was the 2nd seed swimmer of the morning with her mark of 25.02, but the younger sister declined the final.
2018-2019 LCM WOMEN 50 FREE
SJOSTROM
23.77
| 2 | Cate CAMPBELL | AUS | 24.00 | 04/28 |
| 3 | Simone MANUEL | USA | 24.05 | 07/28 |
| 4 | Pernille BLUME | DEN | 24.08 | 06/01 |
| 5 | Bronte CAMPBELL | AUS | 24.17 | 06/14 |
Additional Winners:
- William Yang doubled up on his 50m back gold from night 1 with a win in the 50m fly tonight. Yang clocked 23.49 for the win in the ony sub-24 second time of the field.
- Olympic finalist Madi Wilson was tonight’s 100m backstroke gold medalist for the winner, as the Marion athlete hit the wall in 1:00.20. Kaylee McKeown was right behind in 1:00.39.
- Tristan Hollard took the men’s 200m back in 1:58.10.
- The men’s 800m free saw Zac Reid win the event in a time of 8:04.06.
Some solid swimming. Shame about the crowd / lack of atmosphere. NSW swimming do Something!
Well not much to do there aside from watch the swimming .. not sure if they even orgasnised a meet or greet with the swimmers
Back in the early 2000s swimming events were packed and on television
There were far more $$$ going into the sport and AUS was still reaping the benefits of the investment into Sydney (which didn’t dissipate until post Beijing) and corporates were far more open to sponsoring meets.
As regards TV, its only ever been Nationals (which usually double as selection Trials), the odd selection meet when the event has been early in the year rather than Northern Hemi summer and for a brief period early this decade, the Super Series meet in Perth during Jan. It hasn’t always been shown live or in prime-time either.
Not sure which out of Natonals or June’s World’s selection trials will be televised or whether the Ch7 contract is only for Nats or whether… Read more »
There lies the state of Australian swimming in a nutshell .. not even sure Worlds will be televised .. just have to wait for Tokyo 2020
Marion swimmers Chalmers and Wilson have shaved for this meet
Chalmers didn’t… not sure about Wilson
Shaved really? Looks to me he had a beard when he swam 47.89 based on his Instagram pic with James Roberts ..
Beard unshaven but legs look shaved
Madi Wilson has been looking good this meet. Her sprint freestyle is improving with a 53. swim in the 100 yesterday and her 100 back looked better than it has in a while (although still 1.5 seconds away from her PB from 2015).