Matt Targett only showed up for the final day of the South Australian Championships, but he left a huge impact on the meet. In the finals of the 50 free, he swam a 21.98 to rank 2nd in the world behind Nathan Adrian.
That makes Targett the first Australian to break under the 22-second barrier in textile, and clears Matthew Abood’s mark of 22.02 as the fastest by an Australian outside of the 2008/2009 suit era. Incidentally, it’s a lifetime best (textile or not) for Targett. Abood also had a very strong finish in this race of 22.15 for 2nd. As compared to his 100 time, where he was only a 49.8, he has to feel very good about this 50. Without even having hit he major Olympic Trials meets yet, it’s clear that the sprint times world-wide are going to be way down from where they were last year.
In 3rd-place, James Magnussen also went a lifetime best with a 22.41. His 48.05 win in the 100 was an outstanding time, but this 50 swim may be even more significant for him in the long-term. If this indicates that he can go a tapered 50 in closer to a 22.2 or 22.1, that will mean big things for his 100 freestyle potential.
In 5th-place in the final, 13-year old Kyle Chalmers swam a 24.32. That breaks a three-year old 13 & under record in the event set by Maxwell Te Haumi in 2008 at 24.32. (Te Haumi is now breaking into the upper echelon as well – he’s broken the 14, 15, and 16-year old records since then). Chalmers would lead off the Norwood free relay in a 55.07.
Eamon Sullivan made only the B-Final, and then went a touch slower too at 23.18.
Targett also won the 50 fly and shaved a few hundreths off of his Australian All-Comers’ Record with a 23.74. 18-year old Jayden Handler, who’s had an outstanding meet, took 2nd in 24.10.
On the women’s side of the meet, everyone added a little bit of time in finals. Emily Seebohm, who was a 1:00.56 in prelims of the 100 back, added to a 1:00.74 in finals. This nearly opened the door for Sophie Edington to snatch the win, though instead she finished 2nd in 1:00.80. Local swimmer Whitney Ireland continued a tough meet with a 5th-place finish in 1:04.30.
In the 100, veteran Kelly Stubbins took the state title in 55.73. That was off of her prelims swim of 55.35. Despite being 27, which is pretty old for a female swimmer, Stubbins has been putting up some of the best times of her life in the last year.
Meanwhile, Blair Evans had another outstanding swim to win the women’s 200 IM in 2:12.20. That’s the 2nd-best time in the world this year (behind only countrymate Alicia Coutts by .02). For a swimmer who until Sunday had never been better than a 2:16 in the 200 IM. Now, Australia bumps into an interesting situation where Evans, Coutts, and defending Olympic champion will be vying for two spots in this 200 IM. The result means that it’s likely that one of the top 8 200 IM’ers in the world is going to be left out of this event.
