Larkin Blasts 1:55.40 200 Back To Close Aussie Pan Pac Trials

2018 AUSTRALIAN PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS

• Saturday, June 30th – Wednesday, July 4th
• SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Oaklands Park, South Australia
• LCM
• Pan Pacs Selection Criteria
• Qualifiers from Commonwealth Games
• Meet Site
• Start List
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Finals Recap
• Day 4 Finals Recap
• Live Stream
• Live Results

The 2018 Australian Pan Pacific Championship Trials wrapped up at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre with 5 more qualification standards being met. Teen Ariarne Titmus, who already crushed a big 4:01.73 400m free last night, concluded her individual event campaign here with a solid 800m free victory.

Clocking 8:22.82, Titmus took the 800m free gold well under the 8:30.66 Pan Pacific qualifying standard set by Swimming Australia and represented the only sub-8:30 swimmer in the race. Titmus won Commonwealth Games gold  just weeks ago in a time of 8:20.02, a mark which remains as the 3rd fastest effort in the world this season.

Behind Titmus tonight, but still under the QT, was Kiah Melverton. Melverton already wowed the crowd with a 1500m victory and a 400m free runner-up performance here in South Australia. The 21-year-old TSS Aquatics athlete notched a mark of 8:30.45 for silver tonight to log another event to her Pan Pacs line-up.

Maddy Gough rounded out the top 3 in the 800m free tonight, stopping the clock at 8:32.85.

Joshua Parrish took the men’s 1500m free tonight in 15:26.58, outside the QT of 14:59.32. Behind him were Ben Roberts and Max Osborn, who touched in respective times of 15:28.92 and 15:34.31.

16-year-old Kaylee McKeown proved once again she belongs among the world’s best as she took the women’s 200m back race by a full second. Splitting 1:02.74/1:04.90, the teen touched in 2:07.65 to fall just .01 shy of the 2:07.64 QT. However, she already earned a Pan Pacs selection standard in the 100m and will surely get the nod in this event as well.

Her time this evening outperformed the 2:07.86 McKeown produced for 4th place at the Commonwealth Games and now situates her as #7 in the world…at just 16.

In the absence of world champion Emily Seebohm, who withdrew from the competition due to personal matters, Minna Atherton claimed silver in 2:08.75, while Sian Whittaker took bronze in 2:11.49.

For the men’s edition of the 200m back race, Mitch Larkin followed up his 200m IM, 400m IM and 100m back victories with an impressive 4th individual gold in a Pan Pacs qualifying effort. 1:55.40 is what the 2015 two-time world champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist produced to slide under the 1:56.11 qualifying time tonight.

Bradley Woodward was about a second behind in 1:56.42 for silver, while 100m freestyle champion here in South Australia, Jack Cartwright, wrangled up bronze in 1:58.53.

Larkin took gold on the Gold Coast in 1:56.10, so tonight’s performance checks-in as his first sub-1:56 time of the season. He now moves into the #2 position among the world’s best this season, jumping ahead of Pan Pacs rival Ryan Murphy of America.

Larkin’s time no doubt will give the 24-year-old confidence that moving back to St. Peters Western after a stint under Simon Cusack was the right move for him.

ranking id=204639 top=5]

Speedster Cate Campbell doubled up on her 100m free gold here with a dominating victory in the 50m sprint. C1 clocked 24.12 to snag a QT, although she has already qualified on the Gold Coast. Runner-up tonight was Shayna Jack in 24.70, with Holly Barratt next in 25.03.

James Roberts was the men’s splash n’ dash victor, scoring a winning time of 22.36. Grayson Bell and David Morgan finished in 2nd and 3rd in times of 22.43 and 22.44, respectively. No one was able to touch the stiff 21.77 selection standard, however.

After proving that her 2-week stint among elite American breaststrokers Cody Miller and Lilly King at Indiana University did her stroke some good, Jessica Hansen was back in the pool with another best time. Hansen was tonight’s top 200m breaststroker, winning in 2:25.56, a new personal best by about half a second.

Although her time tonight was outside the 2:23.81 QT, with the 100m breaststroke under her belt, Hansen will most likely get a chance to race this distance in Tokyo.

Tessa Wallace took silver this evening in 2:26.66, while Olympic finalist Taylor McKeown was 3rd in 2:26.84.

Zac Stubblety-Cook also logged a personal best, however, his was of the more monumental variety. With a winning time of 2:08.65, Stubblety-Cook dipped under the 2:10 threshold for the first time in his career to successfully capture a Pan Pacs qualifying standard. He also now checks-in as the 10th fastest swimmer in the world.

Runner-up tonight was Matthew Wilson, bronze medalist at this year’s Commonwealth Games. Wilson already snagged his slot on the Aussies Pan Pacs roster with his 2:08.64 from those Games. Under training, Wilson was still sub-2:10, registering a runner-up effort of 2:09.10. Alex Milligan wound up 3rd tonight in 2:11.54.

Post-race, the pumped-up Stubblety-Cook said of his qualification, “I still can’t believe it,. My Commonwealth Games was pretty disappointing – just choking, really, that’s the only way to put it.

“Coming back from that and working off that I knew I had to step up to get some more confidence. I’ve always trained really well and put together training well but never executed it in a race.”