2018 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS
- Wednesday, February 28th – Saturday, March 3rd
- Optus Aquatic Centre, Marine Parade, Southport, Queensland
- Prelims at 11:00am local (8pm EST previous night)/Finals at 7:15pm local (4:15am EST)
- LCM
- Meet Central
- Selection Criteria (including QTs)
- Start Lists
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Live Stream (prelims only)
- Live Results
Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
Day 3 Prelims Recap/Day 3 Finals Recap
Qualification refresher:
At a high-level, roster spots will be given to the top 3 finishers in the A final of each individual Olympic event at the Trials, provided the swimmers meet or beat the listed qualifying time. As for relays, the top 2 swimmers in the A final of each non-free 100 may be considered for the medley, while the top 2 in the 100m free and 200m free will be considered for the 400m and 800m freestyle relays. 3rd through 8th place finishers in the freestyle events may be considered for selection as relay-only swimmers.
The non-Olympic events will see the top 3 finishers be considered for selection, as long as their A final performances meet or beat the qualifying times. These are considered the priority level 3. Priority level 4 includes swimmers who have met B standards, provided no swimmers met the A QTs.
WOMEN’S 50 BACK (PRELIMS)
- Australian National Record – 27.37, Emily Seebohm, 2017
- ‘A’ Cut – 27.60
- ‘B’ Cut – 28.52
- Top 8:
- Seebohm, 28.30
- Atherton, 28.57
- Barratt, 28.73
- Baker, 28.78
- Whittaker, 28.89
- O’Callaghan, 29.22
- Tonner, 29.37
- Williams, 29.41
Australia’s backstroking queen Emily Seebohm led the pack this morning with a solid 28.30 50m backstroke. Right behind was her Brisbane Grammar teammate, Minna Atherton, the reigning world junior champion in this event. This morning she clocked 28.57, while her WJR stands at the 27.49 earned back in 2016.
Rockingham’s 30-year-old veteran Holly Barratt is in the mix with her 28.73, while Hayley Baker, the 200m backstroke bronze medalist and 100m backstroke silver medalist here in Southport, settled for 4th in 28.78.
Of note, there’s a 13-year-old in the hunt represented by 6th seeded Molliee O’Callaghan. The Waterworx athlete notched 29.22 to score a slot in tonight’s final.
MEN’S 400 IM (PRELIMS)
- Australian National Record – 4:10.14, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, 2014
- ‘A’ Cut – 4:15.69
- ‘B’ Cut- 4:17.90
- Top 8:
- Mahoney, 4:23.71
- Gilliland, 4:23.97
- Larkin, 4:24.34
- Elliott, 4:24.35
- Sherington, 4:24.51
- Wang, 4:25.22
- Lee, 4:25.91
- Schlicht, 4:26.41
Olympic finalist Travis Mahoney paved the way this morning in the men’s 400m IM heats, taking the top seed in 4:23.71. At 27, the Marion swimmer is a seasoned racer and knows what he needs to do to get into the A cut territory come tonight’s final. In Rio, Mahoney ultimately finished in 7th place in 4:15.48, so he’ll need to race a near lifetime best to clear the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard.
One of Mahoney’s biggest rivals was missing from this morning’s heats, however, as top seeded Clyde Lewis wound up not racing. The 20-year-old St. Peters Western standout already raced her in Southport, finishing 5th in the 200m free, 7th in the 100 free, and topped the entire field with gold in the 200m IM.
Brisbane Grammar’s Jared Gilliland was less than .3 away from Mahoney, stopping the clock in 4:32.97, while new-to-the-IM-scene Mitch Larkin snared the 3rd seed in 4:24.34. Larkin earned silver last night in the 200m IM after taking gold in the 200m back. We’ll see if he has enough left in his tank to approach the B qualifying time at least tonight.
As with the women’s 50m back, there’s a teen among the final 8 in the form of 16-year-old Se-Bom Lee. He is positioned as the 7th fastest swimmer of the morning with his outing of 4:25.22.
MEN’S 50 BACK (PRELIMS)
- Australian National Record – 24.54, Ben Treffers, 2014
- ‘A’ Cut – 24.84
- ‘B’ Cut – 25.29
- Top 8:
- Treffers, 25.05
- Incerti, 25.17
- Larkin, 25.27
- Stockwell, 25.30
- Graham, 25.60
- Beaver, 25.61 (tied)
- Woodward, 25.61 (tied)
- Sudartawa (INA), 25.67
- Yang, 25.67
Somehow Mitch Larkin got out of the pool after his 400m IM and essentially got right back into the water for the men’s 50m back immediately after. The 2015 double world champion secured a spot in tonight’s final in this splash n’ dash, earning a solid mark of 25.27 to clear the B cut.
Ben Trefers and Zac Incerti also cleared the B standard of 25.29 with their respective outings of 25.05 and 25.17. Treffers finished 3rd in the 100m back and is on the bubble to be considered for selection to the Commonwealth Games.
WOMEN’S 400M IM (PRELIMS)
- Australian National Record – 4:29.45, Stephanie Rice, 2008
- ‘A’ Cut – 4:37.14
- ‘B’ Cut – 4:43.06
- Top 8:
- Bailey, 4:43.58
- Sheridan, 4:44.18
- Evans, 4:45.43
- McMaster, 4:46.17
- Gilmour, 4:47.44
- McKeown, Kaylee, 4:47.63
- McKeown, Taylor, 4:48.44
- Zavadova (CZE), 4:50.10
The top 8 women played it safe this morning, doing just enough to get their names on the board to vie for the national title. Meg Bailey, who competes for Ohio State stateside, leads the charge with a casual 4:43.58, with Mikkayla Sheridan behind her in 4:44.18.
The 200m IM champion here, Blair Evans, is gunning for a double IM sweep, lurking as the 3rd seed in 4:45.43. Evans won the Western Australia title in January in 4:39.76, a mark which remains as the 6th fastest result in the world this season.
Don’t sleep on the McKeown sisters, however, as both Kaylee and Taylor McKeown have shown talent in this grueling event. Kaylee currently holds the 8th fastest time in the world with the 4:40.29 en route to taking the Queensland title.
MEN’S 50 FREE (PRELIMS)
- Australian National Record – 21.19, Ashley Callus, 2009
- ‘A’ Cut – 21.77
- ‘B’ Cut – 22.47
- Top 8:
- McEvoy, 21.87
- Roberts, 22.23
- Bell, 22.33
- Magnussen, 22.37 (tie)
- Carwright, 22.37 (tie)
- Jones, 22.46
- Abood, 22.49
- Graham, 22.69
The 100m and 200m freestyle champion here, Kyle Chalmers, was originally listed as the 4th seeded swimmer with his time of 22.23, but the 19-year-old opted out of racing this morning. Additionally, 50m fly medalist and a viable contender in this event, Brayden McCarthy, was disqualified, most likely for a false start.
Of the remaining competitors, the fastest 100m freestyler ever in a textile suit, Cameron McEvoy, topped the field in an impressive sub-22 effort of 21.87. That ties McEvoy with Japanese sprinter Katsumi Nakamura for the 2nd fastest time in the world this season. As fast as that was, it’s eye-opening that it still didn’t yet clear the stiff A standard of 21.77 set by Swimming Australia.
2017-2018 LCM MEN 50 FREE
PROUD
21.11
| 2 | Bruno FRATUS | BRA | 21.35 | 04/21 |
| 3 | Andrea VERGANI | ITA | 21.37 | 08/08 |
| 4 | Kristian GKOLOMEEV | GRE | 21.44 | 08/09 |
| 4 | Vladimir MOROZOV | RUS | 21.44 | 08/08 |
Veteran James Roberts, a member of the Australian men’s 4x100m freestyle relay in Budapest, is sitting pretty as the 2nd seed in 22.23, while 20-year-old Grayson Bell is ready to race in 3rd with 22.33.
James Magnussen and Jack Cartwright are also right in the mix seeded 4th and 5th in the exact same time, 22.37.
WOMEN’S 50 FREE (PRELIMS)
- Australian National Record – 23.84, Cate Campbell, 2016
- ‘A’ Cut – 24.59
- ‘B’ Cut – 25.18
- Top 8:
- Campbell, Cate, 24.19
- Jack, 24.76
- Campbell, Bronte, 24.86
- Elmslie, 25.23
- Ramsden, 25.37
- Barratt, 25.41
- Broadbridge, 25.53
- Horwood, 25.69
Half of the top 8 of the women’s 50m freestyle are teenagers, as Shayna Jack (19), Natasha Ramsden (17), Kara Broadbridge (15) and Jemima Horwood (16) will all be swimming lights out tonight in an attempt to dethrone the top seed, Cate Campbell.
C1 scorched the pool with a head-turning 24.19, just .06 ff of her season best set at the Queensland Championships. Her Chandler teammate and World Championships standout, Jack, was the next sub-25-second swimmer in 24.76, while sister Bronte Campbell was also in the 24-club in 24.86.
The Campbell sisters already finished 1-2 in the 100m free, with Bronte dipping under the 53-second threshold in that race for the first time in several years. With this being their last event, look for an absolute insane race tonight.
MEN’S 1500 FREE (SLOWEST HEATS)
- Australian National Record – 14:34.56, Grant Hackett, 2001
- ‘A’ Cut – 14:59.32
- ‘B’ Cut – 15:12.79
The men’s 1500 freestyle results will be included in our finals recap once the fastest heat concludes.
What’s wrong with my boy cam McEvoy 🙁
Bought into his own hype too much. Magnussen gets a lot of flack for being cocky but at least he was a two time world champion and was 0.01s off the Olympic gold. McEvoy hasn’t really achieved anything of note
McEvoy is a perennial under achiever… King Kyle will smash him!!
Is he actually full of himself or are you just speculating?
I genuinely don’t know so I would love some insight from an Australian or someone who’s been around him.
Don’t know why anybody would have the impression that Cam is anything but respectful; He has never bought into talking himself up… Most interviews with him result in physics lessons haha
Most of them been caught out by the trials being only 5 weeks before the games have not fully tapered . I would expect most will swim faster at the games especially Cam with a full taper ….
Have much does a taper help though? I remember not too long ago Cam was going 48flat all over the Australian circuit in December/Jan… Didn’t he go under 48 untapered the season he went 47.0? I just don’t see him going under 48 this hear. Hope I am wrong.
Depends on the swimmers Dee.
I suspect McKeon is more likely to drop an appreciable amount of time than C1.
C1 just swam 23.79 in the 50m free! Exciting battles with sjostrom ahead. Larkin has a massive program (50,100,200m back, 200/400 medley, medley relay) but none of his times were particularly impressive. Overall the trials have been disappointing, other than C1 and Ariadne Titmus, I don’t think the rest of the world will be caring
Shocker of a time from Mack in the 1500m as well.
Gregorio paltrinieri (who has been training with him since September) was commentating during the race and he said that Horton hadn’t tapered for the trials and was still training with him
I guess that also explains his very slow 400m time
Emma McKeon was solid. Ultimately for the established swimmers the verdict won’t come until the CGs. I’d back her to be quicker. More than two swimmers can swim events so there is less risk for a swimmer like her to not go hard on the throttle now if you are swimming with flexible margins in domestic waters…which she has. Particularly given that Australia is trialing having the qualification meet so close to a target meet. So that approach would make sense for a swimmer like Emma.
Swimmers like Larkin and McEvoy, I’d be more concerned about since they’ve had issues recently recapturing their form and/or managing to be at their best when it matters. But again, the CGs will be… Read more »
Mitch has had a loooong programme at this meet. Hopefully he can freshen up for the backs at the CG though
All QT are a joke. Total embarrassment to AUS
Swimming. Give the power of winning back to the swimmers and not the blazer wearing bunch.
Let’s celebrate winning a national title. Were taking them anyway!
Agree 100% only 12 swimmers swam the” A “times yet 51 swimmers were picked for the able body team. Had swimmers winning national titles but feeling empty because did not swim A times but then got picked anyway..
Don’t think that the QT issue is as “open and shut” as you make out. Rather its a case of WHEN they need to be stringent and WHEN/WHERE they can be less so.
For Olympics and World Championships, they should be tough (but defensibly so). For meets such as CG/PP where there is a wider scope for giving major meet experience to younger/less experienced; then certainly be more generous.
SAL certainly have been unrealistic with their times and DO look rather silly by then handing out “tickets to the show” to all and sundry but they, like swimmers and coaches, are having to reacquaint themselves to the realities of change.
Whilst I agree SAL has some egg on their faces… Read more »
That men’s 50 Free A Cut is faster than the winning time at the previous Comm. Games.