2021 SYDNEY OPEN
- Thursday, May 13th – Sunday, May 16th
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Heats at 6pm local; Finals at 9am local
- Meet Site
- Start List
- SwimSwam Preview
- Results or Meet Mobile
In addition to Kaylee McKeown‘s magical 100m backstroke swim this morning during the 2021 Sydney Open finals, several other standout swims got on the board to kick-off day 3.
Among them was 21-year-old Matthew Temple busting through the 24-second barrier to take the victory in the men’s 50m fly. After producing a solid night prelim swim of 23.97, Temple dropped another .23 to reap gold in 23.74, the fastest time of his career.
Entering this meet, the talented Nunawading swimmer’s personal best in this sprint rested at the 24.08 posted at the 2019 Australian Championships.
This morning he was joined on the podium by another sub-24-second swimmer in Alex Quach. The 19-year-old notched a lifetime best of his own to hit 23.94, while Shaun Champion also accomplished the feat in 23.96 to round out the top 3. Of note, pop singer Cody Simpson placed 5th in 24.52, just off his night heats time of 24.47.
The women’s 100m fly saw on-fire Emma McKeon easily take gold in 56.81, beating out the next-closest competitor, 200m fly Olympic finalist Brianna Throssell, by nearly 2 seconds.
Opening in 26.77 and closing in 30.04, 26-year-old McKeon’s time here represents another top-notch effort, positioned behind her season-best of 56.44 which renders her as the world’s #3 performer this season.
Of note, 200m fly Olympic silver medalist Maddie Groves was in the women’s 100m fly prelims field, popping a time of 1:00.39 to claim the 6th seed before dropping the final.
Per her usual routine, Griffith University’s McKeon doubled up on the fly with the 50m free, grabbing her 2nd gold of the session in 24.58. That was enough to hold the edge over a charging Madi Wilson of Marion who produced yet another personal best on her over-year-long trail of career-fastest freestyle times.
Bronte Campbell rounded out the top 3 women’s 50m freestyles in 24.73, while Cate Campbell opted out of the event and the aforementioned Groves placed 10th out of the heats in 25.95.
The men’s 200m free saw Bond’s Alex Graham get it done for gold in 1:47.80, while Zac Stubblety-Cook produced the only sub-1:01 effort in the men’s 100m breast at 59.72 for gold. For Stubblety-Cook, the man managed to slice .11 off of his previous lifetime best to top the podium just a month out from the Aussie Trials.
Additional Winners:
- Although comeback kid Tamsin Cook punched the fastest time of the 400m free prelims in 4:06.48, the West Aussie checked in ultimately with a mark of 4:09.54 to capture the bronze come this morning’s final. Taking this women’s event was 18-year-old Lani Pallister, with the mom-trained teen produced 4:08.47 to get the nearly one-second edge over Kiah Melverton and her runner-up time of 4:09.41.
- Tessa Wallace got to the wall first in the women’s 200m breast, clocking 2:25.11, while Bond’s Jenna Strauch put up a fight in a time less than a second behind in 2:25.97.
- Sans Mitch Larkin in the field, who was originally supposed to race here in Sydney, Tristan Hollard got the gold in 1:57.40 in the men’s 200m back.
Curzan busted out a 24.17 in the 50 free and 56.4 in the 100 fly just ahead of the McKeon time, so far McKeon has a better 100 free (52.29) we’ll see what time curzan puts in the 100 free this weekend
Yea, curious because I would’ve expected faster swims in the 100fly and 50free based on her 100free. I’d be curious to see her 200free
If claire curzan goes under 53 this weekend (I know it would be a huge massive PB considering her best time is 54.4 from last month) I would love to see what she is capable of doing in the 200 free simply just to put her and comparison to Emma McKeon
With that being said I read in the news article that curzan does not like to swim the 500 yard free and she rarely does, which one would think that you would need training in the 500 yard free to be competitive in the 200 m free
It doesn’t matter what Emma is doing in 100 fly or 50 free. She’s not a contender in those events. Just an outside medal threat.
If Sarah and Ikee are healthy, she may only have a small chance.
Emma is all about 100 free and 200 free and those relays.
Curzan should be worried about Zhang and Maggie in 100 fly.
Ikee did not qualify for any individual events for the Olympics only relay duty
Rikako Ikee is not swimming the women’s 100 meter butterfly at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.
It’s a victory if Claire Curzan gets on the podium in the women’s 100 meter butterfly at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.
Sarah might be healed by she isn’t “healthy” unfortunately.
Claire Curzan is currently the favorite to be the top qualifier in the women’s 100 meter butterfly at the 2021 Olympic Team Trials. The question is whether Claire Curzan can break Dana Vollmer’s American record at the 2021 Olympic Team Trials.
If Claire Curzan can post a 24.17 in the women’s 50 meter freestyle and a 56.20 in the women’s 100 meter butterfly, Claire Curzan should be able to improve upon a 54.40 in the women’s 100 meter freestyle.
She has her 100 freestyle tomorrow!!! I’m hoping for something special in that race