The 2012 Australian Olympic Trials and National Championships kicked off Thursday morning in Adelaide, South Australia at the brilliant new natatorium in Adelaide, Australia. Many of the country’s big stars were in action on the first day of action, including Stephanie Rice, Alicia Coutts, and Brenton Rickard.
There were no major misses on day 1 of the Trials, though there was at least one very pleasant surprise. The fastest prelim was the women’s 100 fly where Jessicah Schipper put up a very fast morning mark of 58.35 to take the top overall seed. That’s already the 7th-best time in the world this year, despite what seemed to be a very casual swim.
Marieke Guehrer took the 2nd seed in 59.03, and defending World’s silver-medalist Alicia Coutts scored 3rd in 59.21, though reasonably none seemed to be expending much energy.
A new face in the crowd was 17-year old Brittany Elmslie from the Nudgee Brothers club in 59.32 for the 4th seed. That’s a lifetime best by over a second. The competition may be a touch steep this year, but look for her in 2013 and beyond. Comeback queen Libby Trickett took the 5th seed in 59.90. She’s peaking at the right time, as that’s seven-tenths faster than she’s been since her comeback.
The other highlight prelim of the night was the women’s 400 IM, where Blair Evans took the top seed in 4:42.54. She may have gotten caught up a little bit in the race with Samantha Hamill, as Evans closed the race pretty hard to pass her for the top seed in the final 50 meters. Aside from that, though, this was a very easy race for her. Hamill was 2nd in 4:44.11.
Early returns on Stephanie Rice and her surgically-repaired shoulder were inconclusive. She took the 5th seed in 4:45.70 for Thursday night’s finals race.
If there were a surprise on this first day, it was Katie Goldman, who missed the final with a 9th-place finish in 4:50.74. Her focus will be the 800 freestyle, but this swim wasn’t an ideal start to her meet.
Christian Sprenger put a little speed into the men’s 100 breaststroke to take the top seed for semifinals in 1:00.89, though he cruised through the last 20 meters of the swim. He was the only swimmer in that race who went after a good time (the cut line for top 16 was only a 1:04), including National Record holder Brenton Rickard as the 2nd seed in 1:02.09.
In the men’s 400 IM, Travis Nederfelt swam a lifetime best of 4:20.57 to take the top seed ahead of race-favorite Thomas Fraser-Holmes (2nd – 4:20.73). Stephen Parkes stepped up big-time with a 10-second drop to touch 3rd in 4:22.62. Number five seed Travis Mahoney was DQ’ed.
And in the only other Olympic prelim, David McKeon safely navigated to finals in 3:48.96. That’s slower than he was in New South Wales in February, but is not a bad marks for only prelims. Last season, he had a huge drop from the same NSW State Championships to Nationals (8 seconds), so he should be able to run easily under the Olympic A time in the finals.
In the non-Olympic finals, Emily Seebohm was the top seed in the 50 back in 28.02, and Geoff Huegill topped the men’s 50 fly in 23.74. Neither swimmer has another race until at least the third day of the meet, so there wasn’t much risk to warm up with a few 50’s.
Full, live results available here. If you can’t see the results, try using a different browser. Finals start Thursday at 7:00 PM local time (8:30 AM London time, 4:30 AM New York time, 1:30 AM Los Angeles time)