2026 NEW SOUTH WALES STATE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, March 6th – Sunday, March 8thIona
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Start List
- Recap #1
- Live Results
The 2026 New South Wales State Open Championships wrapped up tonight at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, where we saw some impressive performances unfold. While not a selection meet, this competition serves as an important milestone along the journey to June’s Australian Championships, the affair where the Commonwealth Games roster will be determined.
Making his way back to form since missing last year’s championships season with a knee injury, Melbourne Vicentre’s Sam Williamson got it done for gold in the men’s 50m breaststroke.
28-year-old Williamson stopped the clock at 27.40 to top the podium to add gold to his previous 100m breast victory here, beating out Gideon Burnes and Alistair Gorgijovski in the process. Burnes touched in 27.60 and Gorgijovski hit 28.19.
As for Williamson, his time here was off the 27.08 he produced just last month at the Vic Open. He is the reigning Aussie national record holder in this event, courtesy of the 26.32 established at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.
Milla Jansen was too quick to catch in the women’s 200m freestyle, posting a winning effort of 1:58.06 as one of two athletes to clear the 2:00 barrier in the final.
Cruiz’s Abbey Webb joined her under the threshold, stopping the clock at 1:58.87 for the silver while Amelia Weber rounded out the podium in 2:00.06.
While still representing Bond at this competition, we reported how 19-year-old Jansen revealed she will be making the move to St. Peters Western under storied coach Dean Boxall.
In splash n’ dash news, 23-year-old Jamie Jack turned in a time of 22.05 to take 50m free gold this evening.
The St. Peters Western ace held a healthy advantage over the rest of the field, with Thomas Nowakowski snagging silver in 22.41 and Ollie Moclair bagging the bronze in 22.59.
Jack’s lifetime best remains at the 21.43 he ripped at last year’s U.S. Summer Open Championships, a result which rendered the brother of Olympic medalist Shayna Jack Australia’s 4th-fastest man in history.
Australian Top-5 Performers, Men’s 50m Free
- Cam McEvoy (2023) – 21.06
- Ashley Callus (2009) – 21.19
- Eamonn Sullivan (2008) – 21.28
- Jamie Jack (2025) – 21.43
- James Magnusson (2013) – 21.52
Jenna Forrester put on a show in the women’s 200m IM, keeping Ella Ramsay at bay in the closely-contested affair.
22-year-old World Championships silver medalist Forrester registered an outing of 2:10.21, with 21-year-old Ramsay less than half a second behind in 2:10.55. Tara Kinder wrangled up bronze in 2:13.19.
Forrester represents Australia’s 4th-best female of all time in this event based on her lifetime best of 2:08.98 produced at the 2023 World Championships, where she placed 4th overall.
Of note, Olympic multi-medalist and Aussie national record holder in this 2IM event Kaylee McKeown raced in the prelims, putting up a top-seeded mark of 2:12.04 before bowing out of this evening’s main event.
Additional Notes
- The women’s 50m back saw USC Spartan Alexandria Perkins win the McKeown-less event, registering 27.64 as the victor. That held off two-time World Championships medalist Iona Anderson who clocked 27.97 followed by Elizabeth Gan‘s effort of 28.58.
- Mia O’Leary got on the board, courtesy of the Griffith University athlete’s mark of 30.72 in the 50m breast. That narrowly defeated 16-year-old Sienna Toohey who touched the timepad a fingernail behind in 30.75. Sienna Harben rounded out the podium in 31.14. 23-year-old O’Leary’s performance this evening represented the best time of her career, overtaking her previous PB of 30.91 notched at last year’s Australian World Championship Trials.
- Bella Grant topped the women’s 200m fly podium, hitting 2:10.43. She’s been as fast as 2:07.98 in her career, a swim nabbed at the 2024 Olympic Trials.
- Visiting New Zealand Olympian and Commonwealth Games champion Lewis Clareburt reaped gold in the men’s 400m IM, putting up a mark of 4:12.36. He got to the wall a hair ahead of William Petric who touched in 4:12.88 in essentially the two-man race. Two-time Olympian Se-Bom Lee rounded out the podium in 4:17.74.
- Rising 17-year-old star Henry Allan got it done for gold in the men’s 100m backstroke, registering 54.74 as the sole swimmer of the pack to clear the 55-second threshold. Behind him was 24-year-old Stuart Swinburn who touched in 55.24 and Rishabh Das who collected bronze in 55.51. Allan owns a lifetime best of 53.72 in this event, a mark he produced at last December’s Queensland Championships.
I say this as a big Kaylee fan, but have we considered the possibility she was just embarrassed to put up sub-par (for her standards) backstroke times, especially compared to what the Americans are doing? Her 2back time was her slowest NSW Open time since 2022, and she probably figured her 100m/50m back wouldn’t be much better. Because if it was injury, why swim the 200m IM over the 50m back, when she doesn’t want to swim it internationally, it’s longer and includes fly, which would exacerbate any shoulder injury if present?
Wasn’t she less than one second behind Regan’s time from the other day? Plus I don’t think she cares and does not get embarrassed. After all, she is a 4 time Olympic gold medalist individually. Plus has won 3 individual golds twice at a World Champs I think. She’s good.
Possible, but doesn’t seem likely. Her 200 back time would have medalled at literally every swimming event in history. I don’t understand the comparison to the Americans since none of them threw down any amazing times? Regan was a tenth faster than Kaylee
Kaylee has nothing to feel embarrassed about at this point. And at this meet, she can have a crack at a 200IM to see where she’s at. We want her fast in a few months time!
I think Kaylee was just trying to post long course times on the board this season .. then skipping finals altogether which doesn’t make sense when you travel all the way to Sydney .. maybe for funding purposes she needed to post some times on the board even though she’s sick or injured or something but of course we’re not meant to find out these things and just accept things as they are
Fast-all-the-time Kaylee was great, but I like this more reserved new version of her too. She wasn’t so fast last year either in-season as she used to be – and then she was lights out at Worlds.
It feels like more than just being slower in season. She likely always planned to skip Sunday finals but doesn’t make sense why she scratched Saturday finals and the 50 back heats. Feels like there’s an issue… but hopefully you’re right and she’s just in heavy training and not ready for big numbers yet