2023 Australian Swimming Championships
- April 17 – 20, 2023
- Marine Parade, Southport, Queensland
- Gold Coast Aquatic Centre
- Long Course Meters
- Meet Central
- Entry Sheets
The 2023 Australian Swimming Championships are set to begin on April 17, 2023, at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre. The meet is not the selection meet for Australia’s World Championships team this year as that meet will occur later this year, close to summer. That doesn’t mean we can’t expect high-caliber racing at this meet, however, as nearly the entirety of Australia’s current national team roster is featured on the entry list.
One of the biggest names in Australian swimming history will be present at the meet. Cate Campbell is entered in the 50 and 100 freestyle, making this her second meet since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics two years ago. Campbell recently returned to the pool at the 2023 Brisbane Senior Metro Championships. There, she swam a 53.52 to win the 100 freestyle.
Campbell has been swimming the 50 and 100 freestyles for over a decade and will be vying for a spot on the 2023 World Championships team later this year. Campbell will also be swimming next season and will be on the hunt for a spot on the Paris 2024 Olympic team, which would be her 5th appearance at the meet. Campbell’s sister Bronte who has been racing for Australia for over a decade as well is not going to be racing at the meet.
Emma McKeon has been racing alongside the Campbells for several years and she will be racing at the meet as well. McKeon is entered in the 100 free, 50 free, 200 butterfly, 50 butterfly, and 100 butterfly. Those 50s and 100s are regular races for the 7-time Tokyo 2020 medalist, but the 200 butterfly is not a part of her usual race lineup. While Campbell and McKeon have been at the forefront of the sprint game for many years, Meg Harris, Shayna Jack, Leah Neale, Mollie O’Callaghan, and Madi Wilson are consistently strong in the freestyles and will be present at this meet as well.
Like McKeon with her 200 butterfly decision, Kaylee McKeown is seemingly switching things up at this meet as well. As a backstroke world record-holder and a proven talent in the 200 IM, her entries in the 100 back and 200 IM make sense. McKeown also added the 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 200 freestyle to her lineup. As a strong IMer, she should be able to post solid times in all three of these events, but it will be interesting to see if she ends up adding any of them to her major competition lineup.
Ariarne Titmus is entered to race the 400 freestyle just days after Summer McIntosh broke her world record in the event from the 2022 Australian Championships. Titmus is the #2 woman in history with her 3:56.40 and is also the reigning Olympic champion in this event. She is also set to race the 200 freestyle, in which she took Olympic gold in Tokyo, and the 800 freestyle in which she won Olympic silver. Titmus didn’t race at the 2022 World Championships but did take gold in the 200, 400, and 800 freestyles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Many of Australia’s leading men will also be racing at the meet including Olympic champion and world record-holder Zac Stubblety-Cook. Stubblety-Cook holds the world record in the 200 breaststroke and won the event at Tokyo 2020 as well as the 2022 World Championships. He will race his signature events, in addition to the 50 and 100 breaststrokes.
Olympic 100 freestyle champion (2016) and silver medalist Kyle Chalmers is going to be a favorite to win several events including the 50 and 100 butterfly and the 100 and 200 freestyle. He will face competition, however, from a stacked field of Australian swimmers such as Zac Incerti, Mack Horton, Cam McEvoy, Cody Simpson, Thomas Neill, Alexander Graham, and more.
Other swimmers to look out for at this meet include Lani Pallister, Jenna Forrester, Brendon Smith, Abbey Harkin, and Se-Bom Lee. Check back in later this week to follow along with our full coverage of the 2023 Australian Swimming Championships.
Relatively unsurprising for the 100 free:
MOC
Jack
McKeon
Harris
Campbell
Wilson
Jansen
Throssel
McKeown
Perkins
19 year old Bentley with a 0.74 drop to hit 55.37 and finish 11th is good, but it looks like it will take a 54.50 to make the final at trials once you factor in Wunsch, Casey and DeLuitis.
Neale a little off for 12th, but seems to swim faster tapered.
Bitter sweet meet really i guess some swimmers will be fully tapered and some semi tapered with more of a eye on the world trials . Its high quality racing though which the swimmers need . Good to see Cate have another go when you consider we normally pick 6 for the 100 free relay she is in the mix
Sydney Open/Uni Nationals is back in May this year. Some may recall just how fast that meet was in 2021, and how SPW ended up not showing up.
Nearly a full strength line up- its gonna be fast!
Hope so!
And – hopefully some signs of progress in events where we need it/wouldn’t expect it, and ‘back up’ swimmers closing the gap on the leading contender (eg. in Kaylee’s main events).
The Men’s 100 FS is also one of those!
speaking of closing the gap to Kaylee – the event program for trials is out and it actually works out great for a fully tapered 100 back for Mollie with no schedule clashes and would be her first event of the meet
Mollie seems to be getting a bit quicker in season so I’m excited to see what she can do in the 100 free and back next week. She’ll be fresh for both.
Very excited about Mollie, people how young she is.
Should be a super fun meet, none of the stress that Trials can bring, really looking forward to some good racing.
Given it’s NOT the selection meet; I suspect we’ll see a mixed bag.
Some very fast (maybe a few world leading times) counterbalanced with those where the depth is poor/non-existant.
Having said that, there will be some who will be wanting to “send a message”; be it to those in their events, the selectors and/or their international competition. Will be very curious to see any developing pictures/storylines with regards to the various relays.
Considering that about a dozen world leading times were set in Sydney a month ago I’m hoping this will be a higher standard. But yeah I agree it’ll be a mixed bag.
A lot of the leading times are really tough now that some countries have had trials.
It’s in my city! I’ve got tickets to all four finals sessions.
Trying to put Kaylee’s WR from NSW out of my head because I don’t want unrealistic expectations haha
Enjoy Sub, happy for you!!!!
It’s outside so maybe no . And cold with the wind at night.
Cold!? This has been the hottest summer of my life. Although it has cooled a bit this week.
Rain and wind forecast for most of the meet. Not the best venue when the weather is not the best.
Yes until one week ago
Looking forward as a brit to seeing a great year for aussie swimmers.
Good to see the newbies coming on.
200 free from chalmers and mckeown are gonna be interesting
Kyle will probably be top 2 although depends on where he, Winnington and Neill are at probably.
Kaylee isn’t competitive in the 200 free, she just tends to swim it for her 2IM. Considering the depth of our relay and Kaylee’s big program, I don’t imagine she has any intention of trying to swim it internationally.