2014 Australian Nationals – Women’s 100 Butterfly – FINALS – Reported by Braden Keith
The women had to wait until the last non-Para race of the session to earn their first qualifiers, but they took advantage in a huge way with three women going under 58 seconds in the 100 fly final.
Alicia Coutts led the way in a 57.70 – which is not as fast as she was to win this title last year, but there was much, much more pressure on from the competition this year.
“It’s kind of like cool, it’s done, it’s like a weight off my shoulders,” Coutts said of her win and her first qualification, elaborating that she can now relax and look forward to the 50 fly on Thursday.
That pressure was coming in part from Ellen Gandy, who is swimming her first major qualification meet since switching her sporting citizenship from British to Australian. Gandy applied that pressure well, going out even with Coutts and coming back just behind her to take 2nd in 57.98. It also came from the young talented butterfly group that includes 3rd-place finisher Emma McKeon, who took a second off of her previous best time with a 57.99 for 3rd and a second summer qualification for her.
18-year old Madelin Groves took 4th in 58.40, and veteran Marieke D’Cruz (nee Guehrer) was 5th in 59.10.
18-year old Yolane Kukla, who has plateaued a bit the last 18 months after being an absolute barn-burner when she was younger, was 6th in 59.55.
Note that this race could have been even tighter, had 19-year old Brittany Elmslie not been DQ’ed in the semi-finals; she is capable of a sub-58 second swims as well.