Shayna Jack Scorches 24.09 50 Free On Day 4 Of 2023 Queensland Championships

2023 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, December 9th – Friday, December 15th
• Brisbane Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• Swimming Australia 2024 World Championships Qualifying Criteria
• Meet Central
• Draft Entries
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
• Live Results

Day four of the 2023 Queensland Championships brought the heat as swimmers dove in as a last-chance opportunity to qualify for next year’s World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

We already reported that Maximillian Giuliani crushed a new personal best of 1:44.79 as lead-off on his Miami club’s men’s 4x200m free relay. That registered the 20-year-old’s first-ever foray under the 1:45 barrier, rendering the Richard Scarce-trained budding star as the #2 Aussie performer in history.

• Maximillian Giuliani Rips 1:44.79 200 Free to Approach Ian Thorpe’s Record

Then 22-year-old Kaylee McKeown won the women’s 200mm IM decisively, crushing a time of 2:07.54 to produce the 2nd-best result of her career. McKeown beat the field by 5 seconds en route to registering an in-season outing that would have taken the silver at this year’s World Championships.

• Kaylee McKeown Clocks 2:07.54 200 IM as the #2 Time of Her Career

But they weren’t the only racers to blow up some fireworks tonight at the Brisbane Aquatic Center.

25-year-old Shayna Jack announced her presence in the women’s 50m free, clocking a time of 24.09 for the gold. Her result represents the 3rd-best time of her career, sitting only behind the 24.01 and 24.02 registered at this year’s World Championships.

There in Fukuoka, Jack snagged the 50m free silver in 24.10 behind winner Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden who struck gold in 23.62.

Behind Jack this evening was Meg Harris who touched in 24.39 while Cate Campbell checked in with 24.41 for bronze. Mollie O’Callaghan touched in 24.99 for 4th place and Japan’s Rikako Ikee came in 5th in 25.18.

Jack already won the women’s 100m free at this competition, clocking a time of 52.76 as the sole swimmer under the 53-second barrier. That represented the 3rd-swiftest performance of the St. Peters Western athlete’s career.

Jack is now the #2 50m freestyle performer worldwide this season with Sjostrom still wearing the crown with the 23.95 scorched at the Berlin stop of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup. C1 is also in the rankings, having hit a time of 24.10 on the World Cup circuit.

The men’s 50m free saw world champion Cam McEvoy produce the only sub-22-second time of the field.

McEvoy notched 21.82 for the victory, leading Thomas Nowakowski and Isaac Cooper who rounded out the podium. Nowakowski logged 22.06 and Cooper right behind in 22.18.

McEvoy is the reigning World Championships gold medalist in this event, with the 29-year-old having hit a massive 21.06 Oceanic Record in Fukuoka.

His time this evening now checks McEvoy in at slot #4 in the season’s world rankings.

Of note, the boys’ 50m free for 14-year-olds saw a new Queensland Record established at the hands of Max Cunningham.

Cunningham of Churchie put up a winning effort of 23.86, a time which overwrote the old QLD mark of 23.91 Kaleb Welfare put on the books in 2016. Cunningham also nailed the 100m free victory in a time of 52.96.

21-year-old Tommy Neill of Rackley turned in the best time of his career en route to taking the men’s 200m IM.

Neill notched a result of 1:57.41 to beat the field by 2 seconds en route to gold, slicing .10 off his 1:57.51 PB scored in Fukuoka where he placed 10th. Se-Bom Lee scored silver tonight in 1:59.53 and William Petric rounded out the podium in 2:00.12.

Neill remains Australia’s #3 performer all-time in this 2IM event and slides into spot #4 in the season’s world rankings.

McKeown opted out of the women’s 200m back which left 16-year-old Jaclyn Barclay to steal the spotlight.

Barclay of St. Peters Western put up a blistering time of 2:08.76 to take the gold. The teen opened in 1:03.65 and closed in 1:05.11 to obliterate her previous fastest time of 2:11.50 put up at this year’s Australian Championships.

Tonight Barclay got the better of superstar O’Callaghan who touched in 2:10.39 for the silver.

For reference, McKeown owns the Australian Age Record for 16-year-olds in the 200m back at the 2:06.76 she notched in 2017.

Miss Consistency Elizabeth Dekkers proved again that she is Australia’s premier 200m butterflier.

The 19-year-old Chandler athlete produced a stellar 2:06.42 to top the podium, beating out Abbey Connor and Olympian Brianna Throssell in the process. Conner settled for silver in 2:08.56 and Throssell bagged bronze in 2:11.00.

As for Dekkers, her outing here represents the 3rd-best time of her career. She owns a PB of 2:05.26 from this year’s Australian World Trials and turned in a blistering 2:05.46 to earn silver at this year’s World Championships.

Connor also raced this event in Fukuoka, ultimately placing 14th in 2:10.35.

Dekkers is now the #2 swimmer in the world at the moment, sitting only behind China’s Zhang Yufei (2:05.57).

Additional Winners

• Bradley Woodward topped the men’s 200m back podium in a result of 1:56.33, the fastest of the field by nearly 2 seconds. Woodward already ranks as the #2 swimmer in the world right now, courtesy of the 1:55.56 logged at this month’s Japan Open.
• The men’s 200m fly saw Bowen Gough grab the gold in 1:56.74 as the 4th-best time of the Griffith University swimmer’s career.