2022 QUEENSLAND LC PREPARATION MEET #1
- Saturday, October 8th – Sunday, October 9th
- Brisbane Aquatic Center
- LCM (50m)
- Timed Finals
- Draft Entries
- Final Entries
- SwimSwam Preview #1/SwimSwam Preview #2
- Day 1 Recap
- Results – Meet Mobile: 2022 Long Course Preparation Meet #1
Day two of the 2022 Queensland Long Course Preparation Meet was more about who didn’t swim than about who did, as several no-shows took place on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Lani Pallister, the reigning 1500m freestyle World Championships bronze medalist, was absent from both the 200m IM and 200m free, while Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown wound up not racing the women’s 200m free.
Additionally, Olympic bronze medalist Brendon Smith and Josh Edwards-Smith both opted out of the men’s 200m back.
Although he no-showed the men’s 200m free, Cody Simpson did race the 100m fly, topping the podium in a time of 53.62. Opening in 25.03 and closing in 28.59, 25-year-old Simpson was the top swimmer to the wall at this early-season meet.
Simpson’s time here was well-off the 51.96 he threw down this summer in order to qualify for the Commonwealth Games. However, it easily dips under the 56.75 QT needed for December’s Queensland Championships.
On the women’s 1fly side, it was Simpson’s girlfriend and the most decorated Aussie at a single Olympics Emma McKeon who took the decisive victory.
McKeon stopped the clock in a super solid effort of 58.51, beating the shallow field by over 7 seconds.
The women’s 1fly was one of eight events in which McKeon medaled this summer at the Commonwealth Games to become her nation’s winningest athlete.
It definitely feels like everyone was doing just enough to qualify state champs (did the swimmers who went to comm games even need to though?). Even for the age groupers, the vast majority of swimmers seemed well off their best times.
At least at the sharp end of the fields, its at least partly due to the “messed around” competition schedule of this year. Queensland States are usually the “first serious shots fired” with regards to LCM times but this is likely to be somewhat diluted with the partial crossover of dates with SC Worlds.
2023 calendar still seems somewhat incomplete with no details with regards to 2023 selection trials. We seem to have dates of June 13-18 from some sources but nothing from Swimming AUS other than Nationals on Gold Coast in April.