Rhys Mainstone topped a fast group of open water swimmers to grab the 2013 Australian Open Water Swimming championships at Lake Macquarie. Mainstone from Western Australia has been on a rip recently winning 2013 BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series and $15,000 prize. The second spot went to Simon Huitenga also from western Australia. Bronze went to 2012 1500 free Olympian Jarrod Poort. Mainstone’s plan was to hit the race full tilt with confidence in his training he took the lead and left to the others to try and stay with his pace.
14 year old Chelsea Gubecka took the gold ahead of two time open water Olympian Melissa Gorman. It was Gubecka’s third competitive open water swimming race. It was an exciting sprint finish in the women’s race with Gubecka hitting the touchpad a mere 3.18 seconds ahead of Gorman. For much of the swim it was a three woman race but Danielle De Francesco was unable to hang with Gubecka and Gorman on the final lap, but she gained a respectable bronze medal.
With their top performances Gubecka, Gorman, Mainstone and Huitenga are now all qualified for nomination to the 2013 Australian Open Water championship team.
Full results are here.