On Day 1 of the special 2011 Australian Relay Selection meet, Kyle Richardson and Marieke Guehrer claimed relay spots for Shanghai in the 100 freestyle. On day 2, there was no such luck, as no swimmers cleared the required qualifying times (set by the 5th-fastest finisher at Aussie Nationals).
On the men’s side, David McKeon, who had a breakout meet at Nationals in April by having the fastest prelims swim in the 400, took the win in 1:48.78 (missing the required mark of 1:48.50. McKeon is only 18, however, and that is a great time for a kid that age (as a comparison, the only 18 & under in the US in 2010 faster than that was Clay Youngquist in 1:48.48). McKeon might not have gotten a spot for this year’s World Championships, but he’ll definitely be a contender to earn a bid for the Olympics in 2012.
The women’s race was also won by an 18-year old, Ellen Fullerton, in 2:00.42. That was almost three seconds off of the required qualifying time, which is not much of a surprise because this race was incredibly fast at the National Championships. Fullerton missed this year’s squad after qualifying for the 2009 World Championships in both the 200 and 400 freestyles individually.
Was it not Clay Youngquist who went 1:48 last year?