William Yang Continues Consistent Season With 48.42 100 Free Prelim Swim In Sydney

2024 SYDNEY OPEN & UNISPORT NATIONALS

• Thursday, May 9th – Saturday, May 11th
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Start List
• Heats Program
• Live Results on Meet Mobile: “2024 Sydney Open Meet”
• Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap

The second of three preliminary sessions at the 2024 Sydney Open & Unisport Nationals took place this morning in Australia. A host of significant talent is descending upon the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre over the course of this 3-day meet, giving us a glimpse into athletes’ preparation for next month’s Olympic Trials.

Day 2 Event Schedule: 

• Women’s 400 IM
• Men’s 50 Backstroke
• Women’s 200 Freestyle
• Men’s 100 Freestyle
• Women’s 100 Breaststroke
• Men’s 50 Breaststroke
• Women’s 100 Backstroke
• Men’s 200 Butterfly
• Women’s 50 Butterfly

The men’s 100 free saw Adam Kable-trained William Yang steal the top spot. He punched a prelim result of 48.42 to come within 0.22 off his fastest-ever time. At last month’s Australian Open, he produced his personal best time of 48.20, which undercut his previous PB of 48.38 put up at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. His swim last month made him the 12th-quickest Australian man in history.

Yang underwent back surgery before championship season in 2023, but has been on fire so far in 2024. He’s posted several swims in the 48-range throughout the year, and looks to be a clear top four threat for next month’s Olympic Trials:

• February’s Victorian Championships: He clocked times of 48.52 & 48.53
• March’s New South Wales Championships: He clocked times of 48.48 & 48.62
• April’s Australian Open Championships: He clocked times of 48.20 (PB) & 48.49

Thursday’s 400 free winner, Flynn Southam, was 2nd fastest in 49.67 while New Zealand’s Carter Swift (49.70) rounded out the top three qualifiers. Southam has been sub-48 in his career, courtesy of his 47.77 best time from last June’s Australian Olympic Trials. He’s posted quite a few sub-49 swims so far this season, so look for him to drop a significant chunk from his prelims swim tonight.

17-year-old Olivia Wunsch of Carlile secured the fastest morning time in the 200 freestyle, as she hit the wall in a near best time of 1:59.84. The sprint specialist showcased consistent splits of 28.53, 30.62, 30.25, and 30.44 en route to winning the 3rd heat. She narrowly missed her best of 1:59.54, which she put on the books at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. During last night’s 50 free final, she fired off a 24.78 to come within .19 of her 24.59 lifetime best. She won the World Junior titles in both the 50 and 100 frees back in September.

Chandler’s Ella Ramsay, 19, was the only swimmer under 1:10 during the women’s 100 breast heats. She glided into the wall at 1:07.87 to nearly clip her best time of 1:07.64. She won the 400 free last night in a massive best time of 4:11.49. So far this season, Ramsay has produced best times in her main four events, which makes her a multi-event threat at next month’s Olympic Trials. In addition to the aforementioned 1:07.64 100 breast, she’s been as quick as 2:24.28 in the 200 breast, 2:10.71 in the 200 IM, and 4:36.94 in the 400 IM within the last few months.

31-year-old Emily Seebohm outpaced Norway’s Ingeborg Loeyning in the women’s 100 back prelims. Seebohm put her hand on the wall in 1:01.98 to Loyening’s 1:02.00 effort, so a fun battle is shaping up for tonight’s final. Loeyning won last night’s 50 back sprint in 28.44, which was slightly off her own national record of 28.05. Seebohm didn’t swim the 50 back, but she did pop a 1:01.21 in this 100m distance at last month’s Australian Open. Seebohm’s best time rests at 58.23 from the heats of the London 2012 Olympics, while Loeyning’s personal best of 1:00.00 comes from the 2021 Setti Colli meet.

23-year-old Minna Atherton, who holds the short course world record in this event, was 4th swiftest this morning at 1:02.26. She won silver in this event at the 2019 World Championships and has since moved to train under the tutelage of Chris Mooney at Bond. She’s the 4th fastest Australian of all-time with her career-best 58.60 from 2019.

The men’s 200 fly heats saw three swimmers dip under 2 minutes, with Japan’s Daiya Seto leading the way in 1:58.79. New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt (1:59.08) and Australia’s own Harrison Turner (1:59.27) advanced in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Seto and Clareburt went head-to-head in the 200 IM last night, where Seto threw down an impressive 1:56.99 for the gold.

Ireland’s Darragh Greene led a tight men’s 50 breast field. He finished in 28.03 with Haig Buckingham (28.34), Joshua Collett (28.36), and Bailey Lello (28.40) all posting swims less than four tenths behind. In last night’s 100 breast final, Lello (1:00.66) and Greene (1:00.84) featured in the top three.

Additional Qualifiers:

• Japan’s Rikako Ikee swam to a 25.80 in the women’s 50 fly heats, the fastest mark of the morning by 0.82. Ikee posted a winning effort of 25.33 at last month’s Australian Open Championships. 2016 Olympic medalist in the 200 fly, Madeline Groves, was 3rd in 27.03. After qualifying 1st in the 200 free, Olivia Wunsch popped a 27.13 to advance in 4th. 200 fly specialist Elizabeth Dekkers touched in 27.16 to eclipse her previous career best of 27.37.
• Mark Nikolaev (25.40) touched marginally ahead of Ben Armbruster (25.48) to qualify 1st in the men’s 50 back. They were the only two representatives to swim under 26 seconds.
• 17-year-old Arabella Bahr was the quickest 400 IM swimmer in the water. She stopped the clock in 5:03.62 to clear the field by over four seconds. She entered the event with a time of 4:57.53, so that mark may be in her sites for tonight’s final.