Zac Stubblety-Cook Puts Up 2:07.62 Marker In 200 Breast At Sydney Open

2023 SYDNEY OPEN & UNISPORT NATIONALS

• Friday, May 12th – Sunday, May 14th
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center (SOPAC)
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Site
• Start Lists
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Finals Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Live Results

The 2023 Sydney Open concluded today with the meet representing a final tune-up racing opportunity ahead of next month’s Australian World Championships Trials.

We reported how 21-year-old Kaylee McKeown concluded her stellar meet with another head-turning performance, this time in the 200m back.

The Olympic multi-medalist scorched a time of 2:04.18 to take the event by over 10 seconds, logging the 2nd swiftest time of her career in the process. The time checks in as the 5th best performance in history.

• World Record Holder McKeown Scorches 2:04.18 200 Back as 5th Fastest Performance

Olympian Cameron McEvoy led the men’s 50m fly field out of the heats with a morning swim of 23.67, the 28-year-old’s quickest time in 7 years.

Come tonight’s final, however, it was 21-year-old Ben Armbruster who got to the wall first, claiming gold in 23.35. That was .3 off of the 23.05 he produced at last month’s Australian National Championships to rank 6th in the world this season.

Behind Armbruster was 19-year-old Cameron Gray who logged 23.67 as the silver medalist while McEvoy added slightly to check-in with 23.70 as the bronze medalist.

17-year-old Flynn Southam already snagged silver here behind Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers in the 100m free, but the Bond athlete upgraded himself to gold in the 200m distance.

Southam put up a time of 1:46.36 to crush the field, with the next-closest swimmer represented by Edward Somerville who touched in 1:49.82.

Southam opened in 51.70 and closed in 54.66 to fall just .12 shy of the 1:46.34 he posted at last month’s Championships. That prior effort ranks the teen 16th in the world on the season.

The women’s 100m free saw 16-year-old Milla Jansen get to the wall first in a big-time result of 54.83.

Splitting 26.88/27.95, Jansen of Bond represented the sole swimmer of the field to delve under the 55-second barrier this evening.

Her time here checks in as the 5th best of her young career, one which boasts a lifetime best of 54.36 from when she took silver in the event at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

World Record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook was in the water tonight as well, racing his bread-and-butter 200m breaststroke event.

The 24-year-old Chandler ace registered a time of 2:07.62 as the only racer to get under 2:11 tonight.

Splits for ZSC included 1:02.69/1:04.93 en route to the Olympic champion erasing his previous season-best and hitting the 10th quickest time of his career.

Entering this meet, ZSC ranked as the 7th fastest swimmer with a mark of 2:09.03 at the Aussie National Championships but his 2:07.62 this evening rockets him up to now rank 3rd in the world on the season.

Short Course World Championships multi-medalist Lani Pallister produced a time of 8:22.93 in the women’s 800m free. That beat out the 200m free winner here, Erika Fairweather of New Zealand who settled for silver in 8:30.70 while Aussie Maddy Gough rounded out the top 3 in 8:34.05.

Pallister’s time here improved upon the 8:24.72 she registered at the Australian National Championships last month, moving her up the rankings to now be positioned 8th in the world this season.

Of note, the entire Marion Swimming Club, including Chalmers, Madi Wilson and Matt Temple, scratched today’s events.

Additional Winners

• Olympic bronze medalist Brendon Smith topped the men’s 400m IM podium in a mark of 4:17.51, beating the field by over 13 seconds en route to gold. He was 4:16.37 at last month’s Australian National Championships.
• 19-year-old Elizabeth (Lizzie) Dekkers took the women’s 100m fly in a time of 59.49. She already won the 200m fly earlier in this competition with a result of 2:08.33.
• The women’s 50m breast saw Talara-Jade Dixon grab gold in a mark of 31.72 while Mia O’Leary was also under 32 seconds in 31.94 for silver.
• Joshua Edwards-Smith produced a time of 54.75 to get the edge over Bradley Woodward‘s time of 54.84 in the men’s 100m back.
• The men’s 1500m free was won by Lachlan Sheehy in a mark of 16:28.02.