Australian backstroke sensation Emily Seebohm will not swim the 200 IM at the Hancock Prospecting Australian Championships next week, instead focusing on the three backstroking distances and the 100 freestyle.
The move seems relatively expected based on Seebohm’s event focuses for the past several years. The 23-year-old is an outstanding IMer and even holds the Australian record in short course, but is currently the best backstroker in the world and appears poised to challenge 2012 Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin for the 2016 golds after beating Franklin in both the 100 and 200 backs at last summer’s World Championships.
Seebohm won the 200 IM at the 2015 Australian Nationals and would have likely been in the hunt for the title again this year. The top seed is 28-year-old Alicia Coutts, who had a rough national meet last year and missed the Australian World Championships team.
With Coutts not on the roster and Seebohm not entering the event at Worlds, Australia didn’t advance any swimmer into the medal final.
Though Seebohm, who qualified for the 2013 World Championships 200 IM final but scratched out, would almost certainly improve Australia’s international standing in the IM race, she’s probably more valuable focusing on the backstrokes, where she’s looking to break through for individual Olympic gold this summer.
Seebohm has been nearly unbeatable over the past year and should be the major favorite for both 100 and 200 backstroke gold in Rio.
The full psych sheets for the Australian National Championships are here.