Oceania Round-up: Horton Pleased With 200 Free Experiment

2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Oceanian athletes rose to the occasion on the whole on night 2 of the 2017 FINA World Championships. Although Australian breaststrokers Taylor McKeown and Jess Hansen missed out on a final berth in the women’s 100m distance, 2016 Olympian Emma McKeon rocketed to a podium finish by winning silver in the 100m fly in Commonwealth Record-setting time.

Mitch LarkinEmily Seebohm and Holly Barratt all made it through to the finals of the men’s and women’s 100m backstroke, while New Zealand’s Corey Main also sneaked into the 8th spot in the men’s 100m backstroke race tomorrow night.

Olympic gold medalist Mack Horton was back in the water after his 400m freestyle silver medal performance last night, however, the 21-year-old didn’t fare as well this time, finishing 11th and out of the hotly-contested men’s 200m freestyle final. Marking the first time Horton is tackling this distance individually at an international championships meet, he clocked a new personal best time of 1:46.81 to validate the decision to tack this on to his freestyle portfolio.

“I’ve never really raced that event internationally, so that is a massive learning experience. I definitely want to swim more 200s at this level,” Horton said post-race. Horton’s 400m free nemesis, Sun Yang, advanced to the 200m final.

Additional soundbite:

  • Emma McKeon on her 100m fly silver medal: “That was so good, I’m just glad I could get faster each heat, semi and then final, and do a PB and nearly dip under that 56. You want to have tough people in your event because it lifts you and it makes you push harder and train harder, and you want to be up with them, so it’s a good thing I think.”

McKeon now accounts for 2 of the 3 silver medals for the nation of Australia with her individual 100m fly and 4x100m freestyle relay. Horton’s 400m free silver accounts for the 3rd medal.

PLACE COUNTRY GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
5 AUS 0 3 0 3

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Jack
7 years ago

Horton’s prime objective is to increase his social media follower by another 10k, his second objective is to compete.
So far he’s a bit far from reaching either objectives.

Jack
7 years ago

Sun Yang doesn’t even care who Horton is. Only Horton thinks he is as big as Sun Yang’s nemesis

TBone
7 years ago

Of all the highly touted swimmers from Australia is seems that McKeon is the one who delivers when it counts. Best Aussie at the Olympics and best so far at Worlds.

Aussie crawl
Reply to  TBone
7 years ago

King Kyle ??

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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