Aussie Emma McKeon Logs 50 Fly Personal Best Plus 53.00 100 Free Post-Injury

2024 VICTORIAN OPEN LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, February 23rd – Sunday, February 25th
• Melbourne Sports Centres Outdoor Pool (MSAC)
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview
• Live Results
• Livestream

We saw day one of the 2024 Victorian Open Long Course Championships unfold with the likes of Olympians Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Rikako Ikee in the water.

The three-day competition taking place at the Melbourne Sports Centres Outdoor Pool (MSAC) represents one of the major opportunities for Olympic hopefuls to hone their craft ahead of the Australian National Championships in April, as well as the all-important Aussie Olympic Trials in June.

Having trained at Griffith under Michael Bohl since last October, 23-year-old Ikee of Japan looked solid in both the women’s 50m fly and 100m free events this evening.

In the former, Ikee, clocked a time of 25.84 to get to the wall first, out-touching teammate McKeon who settled for silver just .02 behind in 25.86. The pair represented the only racers to get under 26 seconds, with Hazel Ouwehand rounding out the podium in 26.29.

Ikee’s performance was just off the 25.76 notched at the Queensland Championships in December while 29-year-old McKeon’s outing now ranks her just behind Ikee as 11th in the world. In fact, it’s a new PB for Australia’s most decorated Olympian of all time, outperforming her previous career-quickest of 25.87 from 2020.

McKeon got the upper hand in the 100m freestyle later on in tonight’s session, firing off a swift 53.00 to beat the field by over a second.

As we reported, Kaylee McKeown snared silver in 54.35 after her 1:07.01 100m breaststroke gold. Then it was 21-year-old Lani Pallister who was next to touch, hitting 55.07 before Ikee’s 4th-place-worthy 55.45.

Just like that, McKeon now ranks 4th in the world in the 1free. This is a key sign McKeon is back to form after having torn a muscle in her armpit which rendered the 29-year-old withdrawn from December’s Queensland Championships.

As a refresher for Ikee, the 23-year-old will be returning to her native Japan for the nation’s Olympic Trials taking place next month. She’ll need to drop some hefty time to get under the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF)-mandated Olympic Qualification Time of 53.12 needed for Paris.

William Yang is also competing off an injury, undergoing back surgery last year. He raced in the men’s 100m free today, producing a time of 48.53 in the heats and a slightly faster 48.52 in the final.

Yang’s personal best sits at the 48.38 registered at the 2022 Commonwealth Games so the fact he’s within .14 of that mark here is a tremendous indication that he’ll be ready to vie for an Olympic berth come June.

Cody Simpson was next to the wall, although well behind in 49.31 while Carter Swift earned bronze in 49.54.

Additional Day 1 Winners

• Olympian Tamsin Cook topped the women’s 800m free podium in a time of 8:44.68, the sole swim of the field under 9:00. Her PB rests at the 8:43.00 turned in at last year’s Australian National Championships.
• MLC Aquatic athlete Noah Millard scored 400m free gold in 3:52.33, surpassing his previous PB of 3:53.75 from the 2023 World Trials.
• The men’s 200m fly saw Griffith’s Bowen Gough get it done for gold in 1:58.01.
• Former 200m breast world record holder Matt Wilson touched in 27.69 to take the men’s 50m breast.
• Tara Kinder took the women’s 400m IM in 4:46.95.
• Olivia Lefoe was the fastest women’s 200m backstroker in 2:14.89.
• St. Andrew’s Lewis Blackburn reaped 50m back gold in 25.55 this evening.