Chalmers Splashes For 20th+ Time In 5 Days; Kaylee McKeown Scorches 50 Back

2020 SOUTH AUSTRALIA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, January 18 – Thursday, January 23rd
• SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Oaklands Park
• LCM
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap
• Live Results

After having clocked the world’s first sub-48 second 100m freestyle last night during his 11th race of these 2020 South Australia State Championships, 21-year-old Kyle Chalmers scaled back the speed a bit on day 5.

The 100m free Olympic champion from Rio took on the 100m fly and 200m free events today, taking gold in the open category of each with ease.

In the former, Chalmers stopped the clock in a time of 53.39. That’s well off the man’s personal best of 52.07 logged at the 2019 Australia National Championships, but enough to get the job done comfortably this evening.

In the 200m free, Chalmers represented the only swimmer to get under the 1:50 threshold across all age groups, registering a gold medal-worthy time of 1:49.90. The Marion swimmer holds a PB of 1:46.56 in the event, which is the mark he put up to top the podium at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Madi Wilson, also of Marion and longtime partner of Chalmers, did major damage in the women’s 100m freestyle after having a successful meet already across her events. The 25-year-old established herself as the top-seeded swimmer with a time of 54.18 in the morning heats before firing off a quick 53.92 to take the gold.

Splitting 26.39/27.53, Wilson is staking her claim on a possible 4x100m freestyle relay spot early for this summer’s Olympics, tying her 4th fastest time ever, just in January. The Olympian holds a lifetime best of 53.60 notched at last year’s World Trials.

In Gwangju, Wilson proved her worth as a member of the Australian women’s 4x200m freestyle relay, which topped the podium in a new World Record time. But, she was a strong contributor in the heats of the nation’s other powerhouse relays, including the women’s 4x100m free, mixed 4x100m free and women’s 4x100m medley relays. She clocked 100m free splits of 53.90, 53.48 and 53.22 in the heats of each, respectively.

Wilson’s time tonight places her just outside the top 10 performers in the world for the 2019/20 season.

Wilson also took the open women’s 50m back in a time of 28.57, but it was on-fire 18-year-old Kaylee McKeown who clocked the fastest time overall on the day.

After ripping a 100m back time of 58.52 and 200m back time of 2:05.83 earlier in the meet, McKeown took the 17-18 age gold in a mark of 27.68 to overtake her previous season-best of 27.92 produced at the Doha World Cup. Her time tonight would have placed 4th in Gwangju, falling just .03 outside of her time there.

With her strong effort this evening, McKeown now ranks as the 3rd fastest performer worldwide this season.

Top 3 Women’s 50m Back Performers for 2019/20 Season:

Rank       Time             Name                                 Date
1               27.36            Liu, Xiang CHN               01/14/2020
2              27.49             Toussaint, Kira NED      10/11/2019
3              27.68             Kaylee McKeown AUS   01/22/2020

Additional Notes:

• Kiah Melverton got the job done in the women’s 400m IM, clocking 4:46.09 to win by over 25 seconds.
• 19-year-old Nunawading swimmer Brendon Smith came up golden in the 400m IM for the men, registering 4:20.29 for the win.
• Kalani Ireland of USC Spartans put up a time of 26.42 to take the men’s 17-18 50m back. He doubled up with a gold in the age category’s 100m fly, producing a mark of 55.15.
• Commonwealth Games medalist Laura Taylor posted a time of 2:11.86 in the 200m fly to just edge out runner-up Mikkayla Sheridan and her silver medal-worthy 2:11.94.