2019 Aussie World Trials Day 5 Finals: Women’s 100 Free Straight Fire

2019 AUSTRALIAN WORLD SWIMMING TRIALS

• Sunday, June 9th – Friday, June 14th
• Brisbane Aquatic Centre
• LCM
• Meet Site
• Swimming Australia 2019 World Championships – Selection Policy
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap/Day 3 Finals Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Recap/Day 4 Finals Recap
• Day 5 Prelims Recap
• Live Results
• Live Stream

WOMEN’S 100 FREE – FINAL

• GOLD – Cate Campbell, 52.12 *Worlds QT
• SILVER – Emma McKeon, 52.41 * Worlds QT
• BRONZE – Bronte Campbell, 52.84 *Worlds QT

The women’s 100m free tonight simply looked like an Olympic final, hands down, with the top 3 swimmers all hitting sub-53 second markers.

Cate Campbell led the field with a menacing 52.12, laying waste to the stiff Aussie-mandated Worlds QT of 53.20 and crushing her previous season-best of 52.35 from Aussie Nationals in April.

C1’s time tonight, which was composed of splits of 25.44/26.68, represents the 6th fastest 100m freestyle performance in history. The Simon Cusack-trained star already is on the all-time performances list with her 52.03 from Pan Pacs last year and 52.06 stunner from the 2016 pre-Olympic Grand Prix.

Hitting the wall .29 later was on-fire Emma McKeon, who just produced her 2nd lifetime best of these World Trials. After already snagging the 200m free and 100m fly World Championships qualification, with a PB of 1:54.55 in the former, the Griffith University Olympic medalist cranked out a huge 52.41 in this women’s freestyle tonight to take silver.

So far this season McKeon has been as quick as 52.84, the time that gave her silver behind C1 at Aussie Nationals. That itself was just .04 off of her lifetime swiftest of 52.80 hit at the Aussie Olympic Trials in 2016, so McKeon entered new territory tonight to hack almost .4 off of that PB to take silver and put her name in the mix for an individual medal in Gwangju.

McKeon’s outing tonight is among the top 20 performances of all-time and the 25-year-old has just become the 6th fastest performer ever in the event.

Bronte Campbell may have finished 3rd and out of individual qualification in this 100m free, but her time of 52.84 is her first sub-53 second outing since last year’s Commonwealth Games.

After battling injuries and taking some time off, C2’s time here tonight is tremendous, inserting her among the top 8 performers in the world this year.

St. Peters Western star Shayna Jack also reaped her 2nd lifetime best of these Trials for 4th tonight.  This morning she threw down a solid 53.21 for the 3rd seed, only .01 off of the time she clocked at Aussie Nationals that marked a PB.

Behind the Campbell sisters and McKeon, Jack held her own, flying to the wall in 53.18 to get nearer to that 53-second barrier and add her name to the women’s 4x100m free relay.

Marion’s Madi Wilson finished 5th in 53.60, but is continuing to look dynamite her in terms of personal victories. She already logged a new PB this morning of 53.88 and the 25-year-old hacked that down to 53.60, most likely enough to get a nod on the relay as a prelims swimmer in Gwangju.

Look for a more in-depth article on this historic women’s 100m free after today’s session.

MEN’S 200 BACK – FINAL

• GOLD – Mitch Larkin, 1:55.03 *Worlds QT
• SILVER – Bradley Woodward, 1:57.66
• BRONZE – Jorden Merrilees, 1:58.11

The men’s 200m back top 3 remained the same from prelims to finals, but the 2nd and 3rd place finishers swapped places. Leading the pack as expected was Mitch Larkin, the newly-minted sub-1:56 200m IM Aussie National Record holder who already snagged World Championships qualification in that event, as well as via his 52.38 stunner in the 1back.

Tonight, after hitting a smooth 1:58.11 prelims time, Larkin threw down a big-time 1:55.03 to obliterate the 1:56.11 QT needed for Gwangju, and beat the field by over 2 seconds. Splitting 56.07/58.96, Larkin’s 1:55.03 marks the 25-year-old’s fastest time since 2016 and would have finished 4th in the Olympic final where he took silver in 1:53.96.

Behind Bradley Woodward, who touched in 1:57.66 and Jordan Merilees, who hit 1:58.11 for bronze, 16-year-old All Saints age group standout Thomas Hauck got under 2:00 for the first time in his young career. The teen touched in 1:59.30 for 4th in this big boy final tonight.

Going back to Larkin, the Dean Boxall-trained athlete now sits as the 2nd fastest swimmer in the world this season.

WOMEN’S 200 BREAST – FINAL

• GOLD – Taylor McKeown, 2:24.95
• SILVER – Tessa Wallace, 2:25.15
• BRONZE – Jenna Strauch, 2:26.34

The women’s 200m breast couldn’t continue the World Championships qualifying momentum, as winner Taylor McKeown‘s gold medal-slaying mark of 2:24.95 was far from the 2:23.81 QT. She laid waste to her previous season-best of 2:27.65 from the Sydney Open last month, while she also now checks in among the top 25 performers in the world this season.

Tessa Wallace put up a time that falls in her own top 10 performances ever, with 25-year-old Pelican Waters swimmer nailing silver in 2:25.15, while Jenna Strauch hit the wall in 2:26.34 to round out the top 3.

22-year-old Strauch of Bond produced a new lifetime best in this event en route to winning her first senior national title in a time of 2:24.88, a time just over a second from the 2:23.74 QT. She couldn’t replicate that kind of time tonight, however.

MEN’S 200 BREAST – FINAL

• GOLD – Matthew Wilson, 2:07.79 *Worlds QT
• SILVER – Zac Stubblety-Cook, 2:08.54 *Worlds QT
• BRONZE – Daniel Cave, 2:10.17

The crowd was on its feet here in Brisbane, as 20-year-old Matthew Wilson was under World Record pace in this men’s 200m breast until the final 35m+. Hitting splits of 28.94/32.13 (1:01.07) and 32.92/33.80 (1:06.72), Wilson ultimately logged a winning time of 2:07.79 to put his name on the list of qualifiers for Gwangju.

2:07.16 is the monster effort Wilson put up in April at Aussie Nationals for a new Australian and Commonwealth Record. That time took over the previous Aussie standard held by Christian Sprenger from 2009 and checked Wilson in as the 4th fastest performer ever across the world in this 200m breast event.

He’s obviously gunning to improve that time and will get the opportunity to do so in Gwangju.

Also getting a shot to race in Gwangju is runner-up Zac Stubblety-Cook of WBAC. The 20-year-old snagged silver tonight in 2:08.54, enough to slide under the 2:08.80 Aussie-mandated QT for Worlds and put his name in the hat of possible minor medal contenders.

Stubblety-Cook owns a personal best time of 2:07.89 that he earned last year in Tokyo at the Pan Pacific Championships. That time gave the WBAC swimmer the silver ahead of Wilson in Tokyo.

MEN’S 1500 FREE – FINAL

• GOLD – Jack McLoughlin, 14.52.83 *Worlds QT
• SILVER – Nick Sloman, 15:11.12
• BRONZE – Ben Roberts, 15:22.72

24-year-old Chandler star Jack McLoughlin just wrangled up his 3rd individual event qualification time for next month’s World Championships. After hitting the 400m and 800m freestyle markers, the Olympian busted out a 14:52.83 in this 1500m free tonight to clear the 14:59.32 QT set by Swimming Australia.

McLoughlin represented the only swimmer of tonight’s field to delve under 15:00 territory, with Australian Open Water National Champion Nick Sloman finishing in 15:11.12 and Ben Roberts behind him in 15:22.72.

McLoughlin now ranks 6th in the world this season, with tonight’s performance ranking as the 3rd fastest of his career. His performance tonight was quicker than the 14:55.92 he produced in Tokyo for Pan Pacs bronze and within striking distance of his PB of 14:47.09 he threw down on the Gold Coast for the 2018 Commonwealth Games title.