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
- Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap
The final day of action at the 2024 Sydney Open & Unisport Nationals wrapped up from Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. The non-Olympic selection meet was a pit stop after last month’s Australian Open Championships and the Trials slated for June.
The highlight of the evening came in the men’s 400m IM with 24-year-old New Zealand world champion Lewis Clareburt putting up a monster 4:08.71 for the gold. That time beat the 4:09.72 which garnered him gold in Doha and landed him atop the season’s world rankings.
18-year-old Flynn Southam topped the men’s 200m free podium, producing a result of 1:48.57 as the sole sub-1:49 swimmer of the field.
Harrison Turner was next to the wall while Wesley Roberts rounded out the podium in 1:49.26.
Southam logged a new lifetime best of 1:46.11 to take the 200m free title at last month’s Australian Open Championships. He’ll be chasing the 1:45.97 Swimming Australia-mandated Olympic Qualification Time at the Trials.
Bond’s talented Southam already nailed the 400m free gold (3:53.21) and 100m free silver (48.97) in this competition. Later in the session tonight he led off his club’s men’s 4x100m free relay in 49.06 to cap off his successful campaign.
Another teenager made some noise in the women’s 100m free as 17-year-old Olivia Wunsch of Carlile popped a mark of 53.93 to grab the gold.
Opening in 26.52 and closing in 27.41, Wunsch earned a healthy advantage over 17-year-old Milla Jansen who snagged silver in 54.35. Brittany Castelluzzo wrangled up bronze in 55.28 while Bond’s Hannah Casey was 4th in 55.65.
World Junior champion Wunsch bypassed the senior nationals in favor of the Age Championships. There at the Gold Coast Aquatic Center, she captured gold in 53.99 so tonight’s result shaved .06 off that previous season-best.
As for Jansen, the World Junior Championships silver medalist behind Wunsch last year, the teen’s result this evening was within range of her lifetime best of 54.03.
Visiting Japanese Olympian Rikako Ikee ripped a winning time of 57.63 to take the women’s 100m fly.
That beat out the 200m fly victor here, Elizabeth Dekkers, who settled for silver in 58.26. Bella Grant bagged bronze in 58.46 and Olympic silver medalist Maddie Groves wound up 5th in 59.48.
Ikee qualified for this year’s Olympic Games in this 100m fly, posting a time of 57.30 at Japan’s Trials this past March.
Cameron McEvoy checked with a mark of 23.80 to earn a narrow victory in the men’s 50m fly.
He touched .05 ahead of 24-year-old Shaun Champion who notched 23.85. Bond’s Ben Armbruster scored 23.93 for bronze and Matt Temple of Marion represented the only other sub-24-second swimmer in 23.95.
Continuing her improvements since coming back from giving birth to her first child, 31-year-old Emily Seebohm got it done for gold in the 200m back.
The Olympian touched in 2:11.42 (1:04.85/1:06.57) in a two-woman race against SCM 100 back world record holder Minna Atherton. 23-year-old Atherton produced 2:11.74 for silver with the pair beating the rest of the field by nearly 6 seconds.
Finally, Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook proved his consistency once again in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
The 25-year-old Griffith ace punched a time of 2:07.89 to get to the wall over 3 seconds ahead of his peers.
ZSC opened in 1:02.56 and brought it home in 1:05.33 to come within striking distance of his season-best 2:07.50. That former performance was turned in at the Aussie Open Championships to rank 6th in the world on the season.
ZSC won the 100m breast earlier in this competition, hitting 1:00.21. He’s been as quick as 59.85 this season from last month’s Aussie Open Championships.
Additional Winners
- Tilly King topped the women’s 50m breast podium in 31.94.
- The men’s 200m backstroke winner here, Kane Follows of New Zealand, won the 100m back in 54.52. Aussie Bradley Woodward made the final but scratched the event.
- The women’s 800m free saw 22-year-old Jacinta Essan get it done for gold in 8:48.88 while the men’s 1500m free saw Matthew Galea clock 15:32.80 as the gold medalist. Galea beat his competition by nearly 40 seconds.
I was looking to see if they referred to him as “Worlds Semifinalist in the 100m breast Zac Stubbly Cook” just to take a p iss at the Aussies….
ZSC may not have a higher ceiling in this event than Qin and possibly Marchand but he has the highest floor out of all the contenders making him dangerous this summer
It’s crazy how he regularly churns out 2:07 like nothing.
A take with which I can readily agree.
I’m not so sure his ceiling is lower than Marchand. He’s been faster than Marchand’s PB 5 times.
You are right about the consistency though. ZSC has been faster than Marchand’s second best time 19 times.
I cheer for this dude just on his name alone. How cool is “Stubblety-Cook” ?!
Well done ZSC! The battle will be between him and Qin for sure.
I think at the Australian Championships he was coming off high altitude training in Flagstaff.
I’m looking at Watanabe to put up a fight.
IF Qin is at 2023 level, its his.
Marchand could be an X factor …. should he swim it.
Should neither of these factors eventuate, it looks a very open race. ZSC post his WR has not exactly stamped any real dominance on the event. He, and especially his last 50, definitely have to be respected but he’s going to need to drop well into the 2.06s given the number of 2.07s around (especially from JAP).
The 200 breast finals could be like the 2004 Olympics 200 free where ZSC is PVH, the defending Olympic champ, Qin is Thorpe, the world record holder, and Marchand is Phelps the multi-event kid
I don’t think anyone thinks of the 200breast as the race of the century
Women 400free & 200m IM could be race of the century
W400mFree
-Mcntosh
-Titmus
-Ledecky
Women 200m IM
-Mckeown
-Mntosh
-Walsh
Im really curious weather Qin’s wr was a fluke swim or not. I mean bros never gone a 2:06, and a lot of ppl in the past have popped insane times in the mens 200 br(LCM) and basically disapeared. I think its an event where once in a while someones body will just stop producing as much lactic acid as usual and they go crazy out of nowhere. Even at age group level this seems to happen. ZSC is way more consistent with close to wr times.
Qin is a drug cheat and won’t be at Paris
He isn’t “legally” a drug cheat though, so he will be there (unfortunately or not…)
how poor you are
Now there’s a Tilly King too?
I know! Almost instinctively typo’d that!
“Tilly King topped the women’s 50m breast podium in 31.94.”
Tilly, who happened to look suspiciously like Lilly King with a wig on, declined to comment on her win.
lmaoo
Seebohm wow. Don’t count her out
Go EM!!!!!
She’ll make the finals at Trials ? Yes for both events
Potentially break the minute and crack WA A mark for 100 and hit WA A for 200 ? Very plausible
Both in themselves are incredibly laudable given the timeframe of this comeback and these would, indeed, most likely see her make selection for almost any country in the world other than AUS/USA/CAN for at least one event.
However the reality is that:
- McKeown is short odds to swim at least 57mid
- MOC, whilst highly unlikely to swim this in Paris, will probably swim this and is likely to be 58low at minimum and could potentially join the sub58 club
- Even with MOC out of the way, the AUS
… Read more »Whilst I don’t disagree you count out people of this caliber at your own risk. The youngsters make a mistake she’ll pounce she is far too experienced. It’s also announced she’s swimming on for World Cup circuits and short course worlds.
I DID state that it was “clearly not impossible”.
Where I do take some issue is that you seemingly imply that she is somehow in the position of “next in line” as catcher should someone falter,
The reality is:
Your point about youngsters making a mess of Trials is a valid one but your scenario of her making… Read more »
Hasn’t Forrester also cleared 2 cut? I remember she finaled in the event at worlds last year with a 2.09 or something.
Wow I didn’t realise Zac had left Chandler.
I think it’s a good change for him, but damn that’s late in the prep to be switching things up.
He hasn’t. I think he’s a Griffith University Student or Graduate – double degree in Psychological Science and Business. Still trains at Chandler with Vince Raleigh.
That makes way more sense!
Obviously Vince has done a great job with him, wasn’t trying to imply otherwise, but Bohl is Bohl.
He didn’t. Because this meet is technically a university meet the swimmers represent their uni.
Ahh ok, thanks. I didn’t realise.