2024 AUSTRALIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, September 26th – Sunday, September 29th
- SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Swimming Australia SC Worlds Qualification Procedures
- Start List
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Live Results
The 2024 Australian Short Course Championships wrapped up in South Australia tonight with multiple Olympians in the water. That was despite 23-year-old megastar Kaylee McKeown scratching the women’s 100m IM event.
For instance, 20-year-old Isaac Cooper of St. Andrew’s fired off a head-turning time of 20.81 en route to winning the men’s 50m freestyle.
After producing a top-seeded effort of 20.85 out of the morning heats, Cooper managed to slice another .04 to get the advantage over Jamie Jack who settled for silver in 20.97. Jack was quicker in the morning with 20.89.
Thomas Nowakowski of USC Spartans rounded out the podium in 20.99, the only other sub-21-second result of the field.
As for Cooper, his 20.81 put Kyle Chalmers‘ 20.68 Australian record on notice, a time which has been on the books since 2021.
Instead, Cooper now checks in as the #3 Aussie performer of all time with Jack right behind him in the rankings.
Top 5 Australian Men’s SCM 50 Freestyle Performers All-Time
- Kyle Chalmers – 20.68, 2021
- Cameron Mcevoy – 20.75, 2015
- Isaac Cooper – 20.81, 2024
- Matt Abood – 20.89, 2009 &Â Jamie Jack -20.89, 2024
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The women’s 50m free saw 24-year-old Alexandria Perkins get to the wall first, with the USC Spartan registering a winning time of 23.77.
17-year-old Bond ace Milla Jansen was next, hitting 24.10 as the silver medalist while 19-year-old Jaimie De Lutiis also landed on the podium in 24.38 for bronze.
These top 3 performers all earned times that cleared the qualification standard for December’s Short Course World Championships. Perkins’ performance represents her first-ever foray under the 24-second barrier, overtaking her previous personal best of 24.49 from the 2022 edition of these championships.
Olympian Elizabeth Dekkers dove in for the final of the women’s 200m fly where she demonstrated her prowess in a time of 2:03.13.
Dekkers came within striking distance of the longstanding Aussie national record of 2:02.88 Gandy established over a decade ago in 2013.
But Dekkers wasn’t the only one in 2:03 territory, as 19-year-old Bella Grant busted out a result of 2:03.85 followed by a bronze medal-worthy outing of 2:03.93 at the hands of Brittany Castelluzzo.
Dekkers’ 2:03.13 hacked more than half a second off her previous personal best of 2:03.94, a time which garnered her the bronze medal at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
Grant’s effort tonight obliterated her previous career-quickest of 2:07.57 from September 2023 and Castelluzzo’s 2:03.93 also tore her previous PB of 2:06.46 from 2022 to shreds.
The women’s 200m breast saw 21-year-old Melbourne Vicentre athlete Tara Kinder get it done for gold in 2:18.25, a new lifetime best.
Splitting 14.60/17.43/17.29/17.71/17.44/17.97/17.82/18.09, Kinder entered the all-time Aussie performers list in slot #2, crushing her previous PB of 2:21.69 in the process.
Top 5 Aussie Women’s SCM 200 Breaststroke Performers All-Time
- Leisel Jones – 2:15.42, 2009
- Tara Kinder – 2:18.25, 2024
- Jenna Strauch – 2:18.87, 2022
- Sally Hunter – 2:19.23, 2015
- Taylor McKeown – 2:20.13, 2015
Over 3 seconds back, 15-year-old Lily Koch was also still impressive in the women’s 200m breast final. The Nunawading swimmer logged 2:21.97 for a new Australian Age Record.
Additional Notes
- Harrison Turner topped the men’s 200m fly field in a time of 1:52.95, beating his competitors by over 2 seconds.
- Olympian Joshua Yong logged a time of 2:03.56 to win the men’s 200m breast, with Joshua Collett in the silver medal position in 2:04.57. Chandler’s Bailey Lello posted 2:05.24 for 3rd place.
- Lani Pallister collected another freestyle win, taking the women’s 800m free. Pallister turned in a time of 8:06.71 to beat the field by over 10 seconds. Her performance represents the 2nd best time of her career, one which boasts a PB of 8:04.07 from when she won gold at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
- World Championships medalist Iona Anderson registered a time of 59.12 as the top women’s 100m IM performer. She and runner-up Jaimie De Lutiis (59.37) hit the sole times under the minute barrier tonight. Anderson now checks in as Australia’s #3 performer of all time.
- Joshua Collett was golden in the men’s edition of the 100m IM, putting up a time of 52.68. Olympian Se-Bom Lee was next to the wall in 53.55.
- Matthew Galea hit a time of 14:40.55 to take the men’s 1500m freestyle event.
I tried to order those who hit SA QT by WA points excluding the individual Olympic medallists named to the team (Harris, McKeown, Winnington). If they hit SA QT in multiple events, the event with the highest WA points was used. Green highlight means they were named to the team; red means they were not. I did this all manually so sorry for any mistakes.
https://postimg.cc/T5cDRRcq
Deep in the selection guidelines it does say they are ranked against the rest of the world in the last full calendar year. (Excluding Australians).
I think this is how it’s done. If I did it right then Jack should’ve been selected instead of Johnson.
The WA points are used as tie breaker
That’s a pretty big mistake by SA if correct.
I was hesitant to post it in case I screwed up somewhere.
Okay I found the problem and SA is 100% correct! The ranking system requires removing Australians from the rankings and I didn’t do it properly so Maddy Gough was still ranked ahead of Moesha Johnson. Once removed Johnson moves up to 7 which has her ahead of Jamie Jack.
This one is hopefully correct.
I’m surprised Jamie Jack wasn’t selected for Budapest is that right ? I thought he did enough in the sprint events and for relays
Only taking 24, so quite a few missed out
You guys missed Lukas Dunn the 15 year old that equaled the Aus record in the 50 and went 22.42
I thought Kyle Chalmers accepted an invite to attend Budapest as announced by the commentators on live tv and yet his name wasn’t called
The team looks quite strong particular on the women’s side and their relays
Australian Michael Andree
I’m yet to see cooper swim 100 brs
Cooper is an individual LCM World Champ though
Yeah but MA is a relay Olympic champion and WR holder. I say they are pretty similar.
Do we think Cam has a 20.4?
yes
i love cameron mcevoy
Cam loves you. He forgives you but never forgets.
I believe in a post olympic interview, he mentioned that he hadn’t done a “tumble turn” at pace in a about a year since he didn’t need to spend time training for one in the 50 LCM. I’m sure he could add it to his training, but currently his 50 SCM might not be as fast as we think.
But with that said, 20.68 is fairly pedestrian for his capability. Chalmers was still probably getting a head of steam on when he touched in that swim. McEvoy could have an imperfect turn and still dial it under that time I would think.