McKeown Closes Out Vic Open With 200 Free Gold

2023 VICTORIAN OPEN LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2023 Vic Open concluded today from Melbourne Sports Centre with the likes of Kaylee McKeown, Isaac Cooper and Olivia Wunsch back in the water.

After smashing a time of 57.93 in the women’s 100m backstroke last night, 21-year-old McKeown took on the 200m freestyle to wrap up her meet.

McKeown stopped the clock in a time of 1:58.21 to get to the wall first, splitting 58.11/1:00.10 in the process. McKeown’s effort represented the 3rd fastest time of her career, one which boasts a lifetime best of 1:57.76 from the 2021 Australian Championships.

As for Cooper, the Short Course World Championships silver medalist raced the men’s 100m back where he took the top seed out of the morning heats with a mark of 55.21. He dropped that down to 55.10 in the final, but that fell short of the podium in 4th place.

Taking the men’s 1back was Bradley Woodward, who touched in 54.94 as the only sub-55 second swimmer of the final.

Cooper had earlier contested the 50m free, where he found himself just .03 outside of first place. Cooper hit a result of 22.51 while it was Jezze Gorman who grabbed gold in 22.48.

Although McKeown took the top seed of the women’s 200m IM of the morning in 2:15.43, she dropped the final which opened the door for Wunsch.

16-year-old Wunsch produced a winning effort of 2:18.48 for the top prize. That checked in as the teen’s 2nd best performance ever, resting only behind the 2:17.90 she earned at last year’s NSW Championships.

Additional Winners

  • Tamsin Cook posted a mark of 2:16.16 to win the women’s 200m butterfly while Jack Carr got it done for the men’s 100m fly in 53.40.
  • UWSC’s Joshua Yong doubled up on his 100m breast victory from last night with a gold in the 200m distance this evening. Yong touched in 2:14.46 for the win.
  • 17-year-old Iona Anderson touched in 28.70 for 50m back gold.
  • Olympian Se-Bom Lee topped the men’s 400m IM podium in a mark of 4:21.93, narrowly out-touching runner-up William Petric who clocked 4:22.02 for silver.
  • The women’s 1500m free saw Maddy Gough top the podium in 16:21.03.

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About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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