2015 Georgina Hope Foundation Australian Age Swimming Championships
- Dates: Monday, April 13 – Monday, April 20, 2015
- Times: prelims 9 am, finals 6 pm
- Location: Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC), Sydney
- Live Results: Available
- Championship Central
Elijah Winnington of Palm Beach Currumbin picked up two more gold medals on Wednesday night, adding to the gold he had won in the 200 IM and the silver from the 100 fly. Winnington went 2:05.43 to take the boys’ 14 200 fly, an event he won in 2014 as well. Winnington sliced 3.3 seconds off his best time and won by just over 4 seconds. That moves him up to the sixth-fastest performance ever by an Australian 14-year-old. Joshua Knight of Kawana Waters edged Oskar Robinson of Cotton Tree for second, 2:09.53 to 2:09.95.
Winnington also won the boys’ 14 100 free. Having dropped nearly 2 seconds in prelims, Winnington took another half-second off his time to get the gold with 52.37, just under the winning time from last year, but 1.5 seconds off Kyle Chambers’ age group record. It is the third-fastest 100 free ever for an Australian 14-year-old. Aaron Mansfield of Kawana Waters was second in 53.16 and Carlile’s Leon Macalister, third, in 53.65.
Kaylee McKeown of Pelican Waters, whose older sister, Taylor McKeown is on the Australian Dolphins national team, is making a name for herself in Sydney this week. The younger McKeown won the girls’ 12-13 200 back in 2:13.41, missing the national age group record by a sliver, .30. McKeown’s time is now the second-fastest Australian performance of all-time for a 13-year-old girl. The silver medal went to went to Antonia Hurd of Helensvale in 2:22.58, while Tasmyn Askew of Miami picked up the bronze in 2:23.55.
McKeown also won gold in the girls’ 12-13 200 IM on Tuesday in 2:20.02 for the fifth-best Australian swim of all-time for 13-year-old girls, and earned a silver in Monday’s 200 free with 2:06.27.
Nick Jennens of Carlile won the boys’ 12-13 200 back in 2:07.68, missing the 13-year-old age group record by .68. His is the second-best performance of all time. The next-closest finisher was Oliver Nash of Melbourne Vicentre in 2:13.96. Se-bom Lee from Auburn was bronze medalist in 2:14.55.
Jennens later won the boys’ 12-13 800 free, although by a much narrower margin. Jennens came into the meet seeded first by 10 seconds over Nash and Lee. His winning time of 8:46.70 was a PB by just a tad, while Auburn’s Lee dropped 12 seconds to challenge throughout the race. Jennens got out to the early lead, up by over 2 seconds at the 200, but Lee had a stronger middle section and caught Jennens at the 650. The two traded stroke for stroke for the final 3 laps, when Jennens broke away over the last 50 meters. Lee was second with 8:48.10, a PB by 12.6.
All live results available here.
Other Noteworthy Day Three Results
- Ami Matsuo of Carlile, who participated in the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona as part of Australia’s 4×200 free relay, won the girls’ 18 200 free by two body lengths, finishing in 1:58.96. It was her second title of the meet, after having won the 50 free on Monday.
- Nathan Zhu (unattached) won a tight race in the boys’ 15 100 breast. Fourth on the start list with a seed time of 1:07.47, Zhu dropped .9 in prelims and another 1.5 in finals to win by just .19 over MLC Aquatic teammates David Schlicht (1:05.28) and Heath MacLeod (1:05.80).
- The top three finishers in the girls’ 13 800 free all came in under last year’s winning time: Jacinta Essam (Tuggeranong Vikings), 9:03.05; Skye Norris (Kawana Waters), 9:05.82, and Lauren Masters (Rackley), 9:06.71.
- It might not have been the fastest race of the night, but the boys’ 17-18 200 free was probably the most exciting. Samuel Young (East Brisbane) won a nailbiter over Damian Fyfe (West Coast) and Mitchell Davenport-Wright (Melbourne Vicentre); the trio came to the wall in 1:50.63, 1:50.65, and 1:50.72, respectively.
- Miami’s Jacob Vincent had a big win in the boys’ 16 400 IM. He dropped 4.2 seconds off his lifetime best and hit the wall in 4:25.90, just over 9 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Vincent now ranks fourth on the all-time list for 16-year-old boys.