2017 NSW C’ships Day 2 Finals: Campbell Sisters Throw Down The Heat

2017 NSW STATE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, March 3rd – Sunday, March 6th
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center (SOPAC)
• Prelims at 9am local (5pm Eastern night before)/Finals at 6pm local Thurs/Fri (2am Eastern), 5:30pm local Sat (1:30am Eastern)
• Meet Central
• Entry Lists
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap/Day 2 Prelims Recap
• Live Results

The 2nd night of finals kicked off with a world rankings-rattling times in the 400m freestyle by 2016 Olympian Jess Ashwood and 2017 Australian National 5k Open Water Champion Kiah Melverton. The dynamic duo battled throughout the race with Ashwood holding less than a half second lead over Melverton until the final 50. TSS Aquatics’ Melverton turned on the heat to slam down a 29.45 final split to Ashwood’s 29.93, making the race go down to the wall with the women ultimately separated by just .01 of a second. Ashwood took the gold in 4:08.06 to Melverton’s 4:08.07 (a personal best by well over a second), with the two now ranked 2nd and 3rd in the world.

Another Olympian, Emma McKeon, led the charge of 5 sub-minute 100m butterfly swimmers tonight, taking the gold in 58.02. The St. Peters Western Olympic bronze medalist was able to hold off Korean Sehyeon An, who fired off an opening split of 27.17. McKeon rocked the only 29-point split of the field coming home (29.78) to ultimately win by .09 over An’s 58.11. Christina Licciardi (59.84), Emily Washer (59.86) and Jemma Schlicht (59.99) were the other finalists under a minute in the field.

Seebohm doubled up on her 200m backstroke win from last night with another gold in the sprint 100m distance. The Brisbane Grammar athlete was the only sub-minute swimmer of the pack, touching in 59.28. Right behind was her Rio teammate Madison Wilson, who earned silver in 1:00.02 followed by 15-year-old Kaylee McKeown in 1:00.60. For McKeown, the rising star just threw down a personal best, having cut .04 off of her previous career record from April of last year. The 15-year-old is targeting Minna Atherton’s 15-year-old age group record, which sits at a swift 59.37.

18-year-old Matthew Wilson is inching ever closer to the minute mark in the men’s 100m breaststroke, stopping the clock tonight in another best time of 1:00.23. Entering this meet, Wilson’s personal best was the 1:00.54 he notched at Australia’s Olympic Trials last year, but he hacked .31 off that time, splitting 28.28/31.95 to win the event by over a second tonight.

After nabbing the victory in the 100m breaststroke on night 1, Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova is now 2 for 2 by winning the 200m event tonight in 2:23.17. She sawed off over 4 seconds from her 2:28.80 prelims outing to crush a mark of 2:23.17, a time which now stands as the world’s 2nd fastest thus far this season.

It was a super tight battle in the men’s 200m freestyle, with Bond swimmer Cameron McEvoy doubling up on his earlier 100m freestyle win to take this event as well in 1:48.36. The top 5 men were all separated by just .45 of a second, with a Bond sweep of the top 3 spots. St. Peters Western athletes Daniel Smith and Clyde Lewis stepped up to close out the top 5, with times listed below.

Camern McEvoy, Bond – 1:48.36
Alexander Graham, Bond – 1:48.62
Matthew Stanley, Bond – 1:48.76
Daniel Smith, St. Peters Western – 1:48.80
Clyde Lewis, St. Peters Western – 1:48.81

While there was only one swimmer in Indianapolis last night who scored sub-25 in the women’s 50m freestyle, the Campbell sisters made it two for the Aussie final in Sydney. Cate led the way with a quick 24.47, while Bronte finished just over a tenth later in 24.60. Both women are battling back from injuries with Cate reportedly back in the pool just part-time, so the fact that the two scored the world’s 2nd and 4th fastest marks in this event is a testament to their pure talent.

Additional Winners Tonight:

• Japanese speedster Junya Koga followed up his 50m backstroke All Comers Record with a win in the 50m butterfly, clocking 24.11 for gold.
• Nunawading’s Josh Beaver claimed the 200m backstroke win in 1:59.13, the only sub-2-minute mark of the field.
• Japan’s Hiromasa Fujimori comfortably won the men’s 200m IM, earning a mark of 2:00.47.