NEW SOUTH WALES STATE OPEN C’SHIPS
- Thursday, March 18th – Sunday, March 21st
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center
- LCM (50m)
- Heats in evening (5 pm local)/Finals in morning (10 am local)
- Start List
- Day 1 Prelims
- Results – Meet Mobile
Last night we saw some major sparks across both the men’s and women’s events on day 1 of this 2021 New South Wales State Championships and the momentum continued into this morning’s session. As a reminder, the heats are taking place at night, with finals in the AM, replicating the timing set to take place t this summer’s Olympic Games.
Making a statement right off the bat this morning was St. Peters Western standout Elijah Winnington. Racing in the men’s 400m free final, Winnington fired off the 3rd fastest time of his career, posting a mark of 3:44.83. That beat out the next closest competitor, Olympic champion Mack Horton, who touched in a time of 3:50.70.
For Winnington, the man already owns a super speedy season-best of 3:43.90, a time he established at the Queensland Championships last December. That made him Australia’s 6th fastest performer all-time, with this morning’s outing less than a second behind.
Making waves in two events on the morning was 26-year-old Emma McKeon. The multi-Olympic medalist first topped the women’s 50m fly event, crushing a time of 25.97 as the only sub-26 second swimmer of the field. En route to climbing atop the podium, McKeon clocked the 2nd best time of her prolific career, sitting only second to the 25.87 she registered at this same meet last year.
Runner-up this morning was Emily Seebohm, also of Griffith, who followed her teammate with a swift 26.83.
Just a handful of events later, McKeon unleashed a 52.59 stunner to double up on gold with a victory in the women’s 100m free. Taking it out in 25.40 and bringing it home in 27.19, McKeon held off a charging Cate Campbell who settled for silver this time around in 52.83.
Of note, Marion speedster Madi Wilson rounded out the top 3 in a time of 53.47, a new lifetime best for her. Entering this meet, Wilson’s personal best was represented by the 53.50 she produced at this same meet a year ago.
The men’s 100m free saw Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers make it happen in style, clocking a time of 48.50 in his first individual event after having had shoulder surgery. Chalmers split 23.64/24.86 en route to posting the only sub-49 second time of the field. This was after he claimed the top seed last night in a prelims outing of 49.16.
Finally, the women’s 200m back saw national record holder Kaylee McKeown do her thing, smoking a big-time result of 2:05.66 to win by well over 3 seconds. The USC Spartan produced a first-half of 1:02.02 before registering 1:03.64 on the back half to check-in with the 4th fastest time of her career.
McKeown already owns the fastest time ever performed by an Aussie with the lifetime best of 2:04.49 she logged in November of last year. That outing rendered the 19-year-old as the world’s 4th fastest performer all-time.
Tonight’s performance checks-in as the 11th fastest women’s 2back time ever.
Additional Winners:
- Abbey Harkin led a foursome of 1:07-range swimmers in the women’s 100m breast, hitting the wall first in 1:07.37. Next in line was Bond’s Jenna Strauch who sneaked in just .04 later in 1:07.41. Jess Hansen and Georgia Bohl were also in the mix with times of 1:07.76 and 1:07.99, respectively.
- The men’s 50m breast saw Matt Wilson score the only sub-38 second time en route to victory, touching in 27.93.
- Hunter’s Meg Bailey got it done in the women’s 400m IM in 4:44.49.
Any thoughts on who will make up the men’s 4 x 100m free relay for the Aussies?
My guess is chalmers, Lewis, I think Cartwright can get back to form and put himself on there, then the final spot will be a battle between Graham and McEvoy
Temple could be in contention too.
It’s going to be very interesting. We seem to be limited on depth for the Olympics this time round. We are in a great position for the Women’s though! That is going to be hotly contended
Yup, I’m really excited for the women’s 4×100 and both 4×200.
Does anyone think the times are too fast for the top women with still 4 months to go to the Olympics? Or are they roughly equivalent to best performances from NCAAs or an equivalent meet if there was such a thing at the moment in Europe?
Australia has moved their swimming trials, similar to the US, right on the doorstep of the Olympics. Should’ve been done years ago.
Many medals lost due to ridiculous formats.
Correct me if I’m wrong
I think SwimSwam’s story yesterday said King Kyle was only swimming in the 100 free. But he qualified third-fastest in the 200m free heats (1-49.63) earlier tonight.
Yes, I just recapped, thanks. I only spotted him in 100 free, but let’s goooo
Emma in such great form and healthy i feel will be with Cate in the 100 free individual toyko i think bronte can hope for a individual swim in the 50 free . Madi looking great as a member of the free relay .
Bronte 50 free spot might not be safe from McKeon either but would she even want a larger program than she already has?
McKeon just went 24.17 in the 50 free.
This can’t be right. If it’s the fourth fastest time McKeown’s ever done, add in 2x Regan 2:03s and 2x Missy 2:04s already bumps it down to 8th.
Throw in a pair of supersuited 2:04s from Coventry and Feskikova, and we have six sub-2:05 times, not including McKeown’s own!
Meg was 4.40.9 . Good plan putting on morning finals & wow for the standouts .
Weird the article didn’t mention Chalmers new bionic arm has a propeller
Called AI.
McKeon goes 52.59 and no one really comments on it because that is what she does 😁
The swim by Emma was awesome.
It would not surprise me if she wins this event at Trials nor her PB having another “haircut” down a couple of tenths.
Do agree with you that she does slip under the radar somewhat but she has to be seen as a medal factor for two, maybe three, individual events. ISL1 demonstrated just what a key player she is in a team context and its fair to say that she’s probably the lynch-pin for the AUS women’s team; particularly their relays.
She has a big chance to win 4 medals (including a couple of golds) in the 4 relays, add her 3 individuals event, if she is winning the trial in the 100, she’s up there as one of favourites for the 100 gold.
She could leave Tokyo with 7 medals & some gold.
Problem with Emma is she hasn’t put together her quickest 100 free times in major finals, so she is often not seen as a medal factor in that event. She is still in the shadow of a few standout swimmers in her events but the versatility and quality she brings to the Aussie team is tremendous.
The only “majors” where she’s swam the 100free individual have been 2017 & 2019 Worlds. 2017 was sub-par, 4th in 2019 was not to be sneezed at. Managing her program and avoiding relay heat swims wherever possible is going to be pivotal.
She was only 0.08s off her best time for the year at 2017. So it’s not like she under performed relative to the rest of the year.
Emma normally never gets to swim this event in the 100 as she is normally behind the Cambell sisters & doesn’t get to compete in this race at major meets.
But she is improving the last couple of years & swam a good race at the 2019 World champs where she had some health issues as well.
Other women get the attention, but Australian Swimming should thank their lucky stars for her, because she is the most dependable female swimmer they have. She swims fastest when the big lights are on. Emma reminds me a lot of Alicia Coutts, who came home from London with 5 medals. She swims a lot of races, but she is reliable, and gets in there and gets the job done.