2018 AUSTRALIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, October 25th – Saturday, October 27th
- Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre
- Heats at 10am local (9:30am Sat.)/Finals at 6:30pm local (4:30pm Sat.)
- SCM
- Qualifying meet for 2018 Short Course World Championships squad
- Aussie SC World C’ships Selection Criteria
- Entry List
- Live Results
Australia’s squad for the 2018 Short Course World Championships this December will be determined this week at the Aussie Short Course Championships. According to Australia’s selection procedures, a maximum squad number of 20 will travel to Hangzhou, with selection priority given to those 1st and 2nd placed eligible athletes in the A final of individual Olympic events at the Aussie SC Championships, as long as they have equaled or bettered the established Swimming Australia qualifying time.
20 swimmers also represented Australia at the 2016 edition of Short Course World Championships, which resulted in a modest 9th place finish in the overall medal table. The Aussies’ performance was marked by just 2 golds in the form of Mitch Larkin in the 100m back and Brittany Elmslie in the women’s 100m free.
This year’s championships field in Melbourne is lacking superstars Cate and Bronte Campbell, as well as Maddie Groves and the may-be-retiring James Magnussen. However, the aforementioned Larkin will indeed be contesting several events, as will Olympic gold medalists Mack Horton, Emma McKeon, Emily Seebohm and Kyle Chalmers.
Horton will be taking on the freestyle events, minus the 1500m, a race to which the Melbourne Vicentre athlete is saying good-bye more and more. His teen counterpart on the women, Ariarne Titmus is also turning her back in the 1500m, giving Kareena Lee, Kiah Melverton, Maddie Gough and Junior Pan Pacs Champion Lani Pallister their chance at gold in the event.
Thomas Fraser-Holmes will be looking to score his first elite international roster since coming back from suspension due to missed doping tests, while Cameron McEvoy will be making his 2nd appearance under new training home TSS Aquatics. Former Bond athlete McEvoy competed last month, but with subdued results.
Teen Youth Olympic Games champion Kaylee McKeown is set to race in the backstroke, but older sister Taylor McKeown is absent, still recovering from knee surgery.
Let’s see if they will have enough firepower to contend in the relays .. with only 20 swimmers competing and no Campbell girls
Depends on what countries send their A team to Hangzhou. USA usually doesn’t send all of their best athletes to SCM worlds, while Canada damned their results with their selection procedures. A Europeon country like the netherlands could end up winning the W4x100 free.