2023 AUSTRALIAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS
- Tuesday, June 13th – Sunday, June 18th
- Prelims at 10 a.m. local (8 p.m. previous day EDT)/Finals at 7 p.m. local (5 a.m. EDT)
- Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Center
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Selection Criteria
- Meet Central
- Final Start List
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap / Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap / Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap / Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap/ Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Live Results
- Livestream (9now)
While competing on night four of the 2023 Australian World Championship Trials, Olympian Tommy Neill broke new ground in the men’s 200m IM.
Entering this competition, 21-year-old Neill’s lifetime best in the 2IM rested at the 1:58.99 he produced last April to take the title at the non-selection Australian National Championships.
Flash forward to today, however, and the Rackley star fired off a head-turning time of 1:57.74 to hack off over one second en route to qualifying for next month’s World Championships.
Neill led a trio of sub-2:00 swimmers this evening, with 400m IM Olympic bronze medalist Brendon Smith scoring silver in 1:58.84 while William Petric put up 1:59.29 for bronze. Only Neill, nabbed a Fukuoka-worthy time, however, matching the Swimming Australia-mandated QT of 1:57.74 exactly.
Neill now becomes Australia’s 4th-swiftest performer in history in this 2IM event.
Top 5 Australian Men’s LCM 200 IM Performers
- Mitch Larkin – 1:55.72 2019
- Leith Brodie – 1:56.69 2009
- Daniel Tranter – 1:57.55 2013
- Tommy Neill – 1:57.74 2023
- Thomas Fraser-Holmes – 1:57.88 2014
Splits for Neill’s performance included 25.07/29.22 (54.29)/34.90/28.55. He led the race wire-to-wire, however, his breaststroke split ranked as the 5th slowest of the field.
Post-race, Neill said, “I’m pretty stoked with that PB. Was trying to be like a little frog there in the breaststroke. 3 out of the 4 legs are pretty good at the moment but I’ll work on the breaststroke. I can’t complain about representing an Australian team.”
Although Neill has dabbled in this 2IM in the past, he’s historically had more success in the freestyle events. At the 2020 Olympic Games, he placed 9th in the 200m free (1:45.74) and 16th in the 1500m free (15:04.65).
Last year at the Short Course World Championships Neill secured silver in the 400m free while also contributing to silvers in the men’s 4x100m and 4x200m free relays.
Tonight marks just the 3rd occasion in which Neill has been under 2:00 in this 2IM and it’s coming just at the right time. Past top 200m IM Aussie performer Mitch Larkin is not competing at these Trials, Thomas Fraser-Holmes has essentially retired and Clyde Lewis is missing in action.
Neill still has some ground to make up to compete with the likes of Duncan Scott of Great Britain, Leon Marchand of France and Daiya Seto of Japan, all of whom are characteristically in the 1:55/1:56 territory. However, the fact Neill has already entered new 1:57 territory with Fukuoka just weeks away bodes well for Australia.
