2024 SYDNEY OPEN & UNISPORT NATIONALS
- Thursday, May 9th – Saturday, May 11th
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Start List
- Heats Program
- Live Results on Meet Mobile: “2024 Sydney Open Meet”
- Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
The final heats session of the 2024 Sydney Open & Unisport Nationals took place this morning in Australia. A host of significant talent is descending upon the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre over the course of this 3-day meet, giving us a glimpse into athletes’ preparation for next month’s Olympic Trials.
Day 3 Event Schedule:
- Men’s 200 Freestyle
- Women’s 100 Freestyle
- Men’s 400 IM
- Women’s 100 Butterfly
- Men’s 50 Butterfly
- Women’s 50 Breaststroke
- Men’s 100 Backstroke
- Women’s 200 Backstroke
- Men’s 200 Breaststroke
The men’s 400 IM prelims were topped by 19-year-old William Petric, who notched a solid result of 4:19.33. Japan’s Daiya Seto and New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt will also be among the fray in tonight’s final, as the duo posted the 2nd and 3rd swiftest marks of the morning. It was Seto (4:22.94) who out-battled Clareburt (4:25.39), with Seto winning heat one and Clareburt nabbing heat two.
Seto and Clareburt went head-to-head in the 200 IM on Thursday, where Seto touched 1st in 1:56.99 to Clareburt’s 1:57.55. The two renewed that battle during the 200 fly last night, where Seto (1:55.45) once again prevailed over Clareburt (1:55.64). Clareburt won the 400 IM at the World Championships in February while Seto settled for bronze, so it should be a hotly-contested race in just a few hours time.
Bond-trained Flynn Southam kicked off the session in the men’s 200 free, where he stopped the clock in 1:49.33 to secure the top qualification spot. The 18-year-old opened through the first 100m in 52.39 before closing with a back half split of 56.94. Earlier in the meet, Southam bagged 400 free gold (3:53.21), 100 free silver (48.97), and placed 5th in the 50 free (22.60). He’s best known for his 100 and 200 capabilities, as he helped Team Australia to 4×100 free relay gold at the 2023 World Championships. He owns career bests of 47.77 and 1:46.36 in the 100 and 200 events.
World Junior Champion Olivia Wunsch was among the headlines in the women’s 100 free heats. She nabbed the 2nd seed for tonight’s final with a morning effort of 55.10. She stopped the clock in 1:59.38 during last night’s 200 free final, which earned her 2nd place in addition to a new best time. During Thursday’s 50 free, she fired off a 24.78 to come within .19 of her 24.59 lifetime best.
Milla Jansen, who placed 2nd to Wunsch in this event at September’s World Junior Championships, was quickest to the wall this morning. She punched an outing of 54.98 to represent as the only swimmer under :55 seconds, less than a second outside of her personal-best 54.03. Jansen trains under the guidance of coach Chris Mooney at Bond, and she’s been on the cusp of breaking :54 for the past several months.
Former world record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook was the class of the men’s 200 breast prelims. He put his hands on the wall in 2:11.59 to ensure top qualifier status. The 200m specialist won the 100 breast on Thursday in 1:00.21, which was slightly off his 59.85 from the Australian Open in April.
Additional Qualifiers:
- 21-year-old Bond swimmer, Ben Armbruster, hit the wall in 23.71 to lead the men’s 50 fly prelims. Cameron McEvoy (23.87), Shaun Champion (23.99), and Matt Temple (24.03) aren’t too far behind though, as just 0.32 separates the top four.
- Japan’s Rikako Ikee (58.14) led a trio of swimmers under a minute in the women’s 100 fly. She earned the top spot for tonight’s final by 1.31 seconds, with Bella Grant (59.45) and Elizabeth Dekkers (59.53) joining her under the elusive minute barrier.
- New Zealand’s Kane Follows clocked 55.24 to lead the men’s 100 back heats. Mark Nikolaev (55.52), Bradley Woodward, and Stuart Swinburn (55.69) joined Follows in the 55-second sector. Australian record holder Mitch Larkin sits in 5th at 56.04.
- Australian backstroke legend Emily Seebohm (2:16.05) touched-out Minna Atherton (2:16.89) in the women’s 200 back prelims.
- Bond’s Mia O’Leary was the only swimmer under 32 in the women’s 50 breast, as she glided to a time of 31.87. She narrowly missed her entry time of 31.29.
Channel 9 news report on the St Peters Western simulation featuring Duncan Armstrong, Laurie Laurence and Mollie’s mum Toni:
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/australian-olympic-swimmers-simulate-paris-swim/vi-BB1mcQch?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=EDGEESS&cvid=0baf158876b34df2809dfa6c77ed3281&ei=13
Casey 55.57 relay lead – faster than her individual.
Dekkers 55.46 anchor.
And Da Silva 49.16 anchor not too bad too
just found out that the skins event was cancelled. no confirmation as to why, but I suspect there was a lack of interest
Nick showed up at the pool to attend earlier today and was told it was cancelled and not given a reason. They didn’t even warn ticket holders
Woodward scratched the final. Hope all is well. He is our last best hope.
Cooper claims to be training for the relay so who knows lol. I won’t hold my breath though
I have faith in JES hitting his taper in 200 and making the team. Too much talent. The 100m is barren however. Worse than breaststroke.
Is that a recent quote from Isaac?
He said it on a podcast. I don’t remember which one but it was a bit after Doha I think.
He basically said he only wants to swim 50s but will train for the 100 back because he is “needed”. I quite like him but the implication that he’ll begrudgingly train for the 100 back out of duty because no one else is good enough rubbed me the wrong way.
Isaac Cooper is very talented, if only he has the right attitude, the sky is the limit.
the 50m focus in non-freestyle events is so baffling to me. Is there really a comfortable financial reward to be had from that? Flip over lad and get to the 100m touch. Our relay needs you…have a pep talk with king Kyle.
Maybe Yang should give backstroke another go for his country 🇦🇺
Or Flynn.
Dekkers is on form. Her 200 Fly rivals have such packed schedules. I think she is huge chance to roll them in Paris.
Would love that soooo much!
We have some current evidence that Lizzie’s front-end speed is improving. If she can combine that with her excellent back-end, she should be absolutely in the mix.
Realistically, she’d need to drip another 1+ secs (?). Final is on Day 6, and it’s the 1st event of that night.
Regan will have had the 200Bk heats that morning, but Summer won’t have swum yet, that day (assuming CAN won’t use her in a relay heat). Before then, she will probably have had the 200 and 400 Free, and the 400IM, plus at least 1 relay.
Forgive my exclusion of other potential medal threats. Pudar (BIH) is certainly one.
*drOp 🙂
She’s being underrated by too many people especially now it looks like she’ll have 57 speed when tapered.
2:07 for ZSC. Solid as always.
Yes.
Was that a PB for Collett in 3rd (2:12.34)?
Yes. ~0.8
2:11 in 2 back for both Seebohm and Atherton. Fastest both have been since their return.
55.01 must be Larkin’s fastest in a while – though not that fast at all really.
At this rate he will qualify for the relay leg.