Shayna Jack Posts Near-Lifetime Best In 50 Free At Queensland Championships

2021 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2021 Queensland Championships rolled on from Brisbane Aquatic Centre, this time with Olympian Mitch Larkin making some noise. After having been relatively quiet thus far in this competition, 28-year-old Larkin of Chandler put up a solid 200m back time of 1:55.97 to win gold on this day 4.

Larkin coasted in the morning heats with an AM swim of 2:00.53 before he cranked out splits of 56.69/59.28 to produce his 1:55.97 result. The next closest competitor was that of Joshua Edwards-Smith of Griffith who touched in 1:57.09 as runner-up.

Continuing her string of victories here was 17-year-old Olympic medalist Mollie O’Callaghan. Today the teen took on the women’s 50m free, reaping her age category’s top spot with a mark of 25.19. She owns a personal best of 24.80 from the Olympic Trials as a point of reference.

Taking the open category for the women’s 50m free was 23-year-old Shayna Jack, the woman who is competing for the first time since having served a two-year suspension to having tested positive for a banned substance in 2019.

Jack put up a time of 24.41 to beat the field, a result which stands as the 2nd fastest time of her career. The St. Peters Western athlete owns a PB of 24.38 from the 2019 Australian Championships, so tonight’s effort falls just .03 outside of that standard.

16-year-old Flynn Southam wreaked additional havoc on the record boards, clocking a time of 22.67 to win his age category’s 50m free title. Southam’s effort shaved .07 off of the Queensland All Comers Record previously held by New Zealand swimmer Michael Pickett at 22.74 from 2019.

Southam also topped the men’s 100m back for 16-year-olds tonight, producing a winning effort of 56.01, the 2nd best of this teen’s young career.

Capturing the 2nd fastest time of his career, 23-year-old Griffith swimmer Bowen Gough doubled up on his 100m fly victory from earlier in the meet with another gold in this 2fly tonight.

Posting a winning result of 1:56.71, Gowen split 55.19/1:01.52 to get it done for gold. That falls less than a second off of his personal best mark of 1:55.88 from this year’s Olympic Trials.

Additional Notes:

  • Somerset went 1-2 in the men’s open 50m free, with Thomas Nowakowski clocking n22.17 while teammate Grayson Bell was right behind in 22.21.
  • Newmarket’s 17-year-old fly ace Elizabeth Dekkers took the 200m distance tonight, stopping the clock in 2:08.12 to beat the field by 8 seconds.
  • The women’s 200m IM saw Abbey Harkin get to the wall first in 2:15.27.
  • Clyde Lewis earned a time of 1:58.92 to top the men’s 200m IM.
  • The women’s 800, free saw Ariarne Titmus log a result of 8:26.65 in her first competition since the Tokyo Olympics where she took 200m and 400m free double gold.
  • Rackley’s Olympian Tommy Neill was also a distance winner tonight, posting 15:21.47 in the 1500m free.

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Oceanian
2 years ago

Jamie Perkins doing well. Hopefully she might ditch the surf-lifesaving for the next few years.

Troyyy
Reply to  Oceanian
2 years ago

I’d imagine there’s less opportunity for SLS now she’s at St Peters. The coaching change seems to be working well for her.

M D E
2 years ago

Slipped under the radar on here, but Southam negative split the 100 bk. 28.2/27.7

Lots of good swimmers across the water in theat 100 bk, but Southam just absolutely smashed them underwater.

Troyyy
2 years ago

I think Josh Edwards-Smith’s effort was an age record and he was faster than Larkin over the water but Larkin killed him underwater off the start and each turn. It’s funny that it’s only 0.7s faster than his 16 year age record which was already faster than the 17 and 18 year age records. Great to see him progressing again.

Milla Jansen also further improved her 50 free PB by another 0.40 so she’s improved it by about a second over the last couple of months.

Last edited 2 years ago by Troyyy
Kat
2 years ago

Josh Edwards-Smith 1.57.09 is an Australian age record in 200 back. Tom Hauck did a 1.58.42 the night before also. Both are 18. Both PBs. Mitch Larkin had the record before this week of 1.57.90.

Kat
Reply to  Kat
2 years ago

That’s the top three times for 18 years

Oceanian
2 years ago

Since it was a fairly quiet night, was wondering what headline SwimSwam would be using for the wrap.

Yozhik
2 years ago

@ Breezeway:
That was exactly your mistake
You should be consistent 😀

Breezeway
2 years ago

Interesting, in joking I said the same thing but congratulated her for a great swim but my post was deleted. hmmm

Troyyy
Reply to  Breezeway
2 years ago

It’s showing now so must have got caught in the automod queue.

Yozhik
2 years ago

56.39 – 1:57.36 – 4:04.64 – 8:26.65
Well, what does it say us about Ariarne Titmus?
Nothing.
Everything is inline. No indication of something unexpected (good or bad) is going on. Approximately the 15th result of her historical performances in all these events.
Some training reference point to start with at the beginning of the season.

Awsi Dooger
Reply to  Yozhik
2 years ago

She still has a chance at a dominant result at 1500

Troyy
Reply to  Awsi Dooger
2 years ago

Her 800 was just okay so I wouldn’t expect too much in the 1500 an event she admits a strong dislike for.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just 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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