On the final day of swimming in New South Wales, the Australians and their guests assaulted the World Rankings lists.
But for me, a 5th-place finish topped them all.
Michael Klim, who this year came out of a retirement forced by shoulder pain, took 5th-place in the men’s 100 fly in 53.53. That puts him a spot ahead of reigning Australian Champion Geoff Huegill, who was 6th in 53.57. At the very least, this 100 fly is a show of the health of Klim’s shoulder, and means that he is feeling well enough to train hard all the way through London, should he earn a spot.
As Klim’s spirits climbed higher in this race, the challenge in the 100 fly also got bigger. Christopher Wright won the race in 52.60, pushing to 4th in the World, and right behind him in 53.09 was 18-year old Jayden Hadler. For Wright, that’s close to a lifetime best.
By this point of the meet, many of the top-name swimmers went home. That includes Leisel Jones, and Brenton Rickard. But they missed quite a show on the final day of the meet.
In the women’s 200 fly, British swimmer Ellen Gandy (who trains in Australia) moved to the head of the World Rankings in the 200 fly with a 2:05.95. That’s within three-tenths of what she went at last year’s Worlds, and like the rest of the British Team she is ramping up for her final Trials taper. It came very close to knocking off the New South Wales All-Comers record that is held by the Madame Butterfly Susie O’Neill. She also had a great swim in the 100 fly earlier in this meet, though that swim was answered back home by Fran Halsall. Jemma Lowe is swimming very well, and it will be great to see if she comes to trials with an answer for this 200 fly and the likely 2:04 that Gandy seems on-line for.
After a slow start to this meet, Emily Seebohm has come-on like a freight train the last two days. That includes a 2:11.55 in the 200 IM that rockets her to the top of the World Rankings, and is much better than she was last year. Australians now occupy the top three spots in the world (Coutts is 2, Blair Evans is 3), and that doesn’t even include defending Olympic Champion Stephanie Rice (whose 2:13.8 from this meet places her only 10th). Rice was a pleasant surprise in this race after saying she might just swim the 400 IM and then head back home. That might mean that some of the discomfort she felt in her shoulder earlier in the week had subsided.
Seebohm would also add a win in the 50 back in 27.90.
In the women’s 200 free, which is a race where the Australians looked so good in the run-up to last year’s World Championships, they are again coming on hard. Bronte Barratt moved into the world’ top-5 with a win in 1:56.92 in this race. In 2nd was Melanie Schlanger in 1:57.32, which blows away her best swim from last season.
The shocking finish in this race was Yolane Kukla in 4th in 1:58.76. She’s made her living as purely a sprinter, who seemed to stretch to even go to a 100. But this 200 free mark is almost three-seconds ahead of her best time. That’s a great coaching move on the part of her coach Michael Bohl who recognized that she had hit a bit of a plateau in the short-races.
Even at 14, she was going very fast 2:01’s in this 200 free, despite having gotten away from them of late (she didn’t swim a single 200 in 2011 until November). With her size (5’6) not lending itself particularly well to sprinting, it will be intriguing how far she pushes this transformation towards a middle-distance swimmer over the next 5 years-plus.
In the men’s 1500, Tae Hwan Park flashed his distance muscle with a world-topping 14:47.38 that is 19 seconds faster than anybody else in the world has been this year. He has never before been even close to that time, and this crushes by 8 seconds his own National Record. As a younger swimmer, he frequently raced the 200-400-1500 triple, including at the 2008 Olympics where he was only 16th. Last year, though, he really backed off of this longer race. With this win (and knowing that he’s not even close to at-his-best), it seems a no-brainer that he would gun for this race again in London. There’s virtually no risk, as the event doesn’t start until well after he’s done with his primary 200-400. A medal stand seems as though it’s easily in reach, but questions will abound if he can come close to pushing Sun Yang.
And Japan has another young swimmer coming to the forefront after this meet. 18-year old Daiya Seto swam a 4:13.09 in the men’s 400 IM. That’s his best time ever, and makes him 3rd on the all-time Japanese list.
http://www.tulsahurricane.com/livestats/m-tennis/TulsaTennis.html
Park closed his 1500 in 25.92, and placed third in the 50 with a 22.7. Now I’m not so sure who’ll come out on top in London in the 400. Phelps and co. better watch out in the 200 as well.
Stephanie did actually swam the 200 IM. She was second in a time of 2.13. Pretty good considering her shoulder issues the past weeks!