McKeon Siblings Rock Wins On First Day Of 2017 Victorian Open

2017 VICTORIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, January 20th – Sunday, January 22nd
• Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Center (MSAC)
• Prelims at 9am local/Finals at 6pm local
• LCM
• Meet Information
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results

Key players were out in full force on the first day of the 2017 Victorian Open Championships, as Olympians Emma McKeon, Madison Wilson, Mack Horton and others made their initial race appearances.

Race Highlights

First up in the men’s 400m freestyle, the reigning Olympic Champion Horton saw countryman and fellow Olympic teammate David McKeon take the reins immediately and never relinquish control of tonight’s final. McKeon wrangled in a final time of 3:50.74 to take first place, with Horton settling for bronze in 3:54.53. In the middle of the Aussies was Malaysian athlete Sim Welson, the multiple national record holder who scored a 3:54.07 to hold off Horton for silver.

Finishing 4th in the men’s 400m free was new St. Peters Western swimmer Daniel Smith, who made the move to join McKeon and others after the elite squad at Miami Swimming Club essentially dissolved. After touching in 3:55.04 in the 400m free final as a warm-up, Smith edged out the men’s 100m freestyle field to win gold in 50.23. It’s rare at an Aussie meet that one of the typical freestyle kings doesn’t go sub-50 for the win, but Smith is no-doubt going all-in for his specialty event, the 200m freestyle as he tries to lay a solid foundation for potentially earning a spot on the Aussie World Championships roster.

Olympic bronze medalist Emma McKeon got the job done today in the 50m butterfly, taking the race in the 26.67, the only sub-27-second time of the field. That mark sits within the top 10 times of the 22-year-old St. Peters Western swimmer. McKeon also threw down some speed in the women’s 100m freestyle, taking the race in a comfortable 54.88. That’s a modest time (by her standards) for the star who owns a personal best of 52.80 from last year’s trials, but was still able to clear tonight’s competitors by over a second. For perspective, McKeon was 54.06 at this same meet last year, an Olympic year.

A battle ensued in the women’s 200m backstroke, with Olympian Wilson holding off a budding star in 15-year-old Kaylee McKeown. Wilson earned the win in 2:09.96, a time that now sits as the 4th-fastest in the world. For McKeown, the USC Spartans youngster scorched a final 50m split of 31.90 to touch in 2:10.38. That outing rests just .02 behind the 2:10.38 she registered at last year’s Queensland states – a time that is still the 5th fastest thus far for the season.