2019 AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, April 7th – Friday, April 12th
- SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre
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- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
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Night 4 of the 2019 Australian National Championships brought several first-time national title winners while best times were falling left to right throughout the session. As a reminder this meet is NOT a World Championships qualifying affair. The Australian World Championships Trials take place in June.
Women’s 200m Back – Final
- GOLD – Minna Atherton, 2:11.18
- SILVER – Calypso Sheridan, 2:11.23
- BRONZE – Mikkayla Sheridan, 2:12.60
Winning her first national title tonight was 18-year-old Minna Atherton. The Brisbane Grammar athlete topped the women’s 200m backstroke field tonight, just barely, squeaking out the win in a time of 2:11.18.
Right behind her was teammate and Northwestern University NCAA A finalist Calypso Sheridan, who continued her meet with another big swim here tonight. Sheridan touched just .05 behind Atherton to take silver in 2:11.23, 2 days after hitting a big-time personal best in the 400m IM for silver.
For Atherton, tonight’s effort was well off her personal best of 2:08.00 from 2016, but enough to take the gold. Sheridan’s time tonight replaces her previous personal best by a mile, with the 20-year-old not having swum this at a major meet since 2017. Her lifetime best was the 2:14.73 clocked in 2015, so she put up a solid swim tonight for a new PB.
USCS swimmer Sheridan rounded out the top 3 in 2:12.60.
Men’s 200m Free – Final
- GOLD – Kyle Chalmers, 1:46.30
- SILVER – Elijah Winnington, 1:46.91
- BRONZE – Clyde Lewis, 1:47.92
After firing off a warning shot to the world with his 47.48 personal best and 100m freestyle gold medal-winning time here at his home pool, #KingKyle Chalmers produced another top swim in the 200m free.
Punching the top time of the morning in 1:47.63, the 20-year-old 100m free Olympic champion from Rio dropped over a second to ultimately top the podium in a mark of 1:46.30. That held off 18-year-old Bond racer Elijah Winnington who produced a mark of 1:46.91 for runner-up, while Clyde Lewis did some damage with a 1:47.92 for bronze.
Chalmers split 51.95/54.35 to put together his 1:46.30 while Winnington’s splits entailed a quicker 51.58, but slightly slower back half of 55.33. Winnington already holds a season fastest of 1:46.13, the newly-minted World Junior Record in the event, which he logged at last December’s Queensland Championships. That keeps Winnington as the 5th fastest swimmer in the world.
Chalmers gets bumped up from 16th place in the world with his 1:47.45 from NSWs to now 7th in the world rankings. As a refresher, Chalmers took the 2018 Commonwealth Games title in a rapid 1:45.56.
2018-2019 LCM MEN 200 FREE
RAPSYS
1.44.38
| 2 | Clyde LEWIS | AUS | 1.44.90 | 07/22 |
| 3 | Duncan SCOTT | GBR | 1.44.91 | 07/26 |
| 4 | Sun YANG | CHN | 1.44.93 | 07/23 |
| 5 | Katsuhiro MATSUMOTO | JPN | 1.45.22 | 07/23 |
| 6 | Martin MALYUTIN | RUS | 1.45.46 | 04/12 |
| 7 | Fernando SCHEFFER | BRA | 1.45.51 | 12/21 |
| 8 | Mikhail DOVGALYUK | RUS | 1.45.56 | 07/26 |
| 9 | Dominik KOZMA | HUN | 1.45.57 | 07/26 |
| 10 | Filippo MEGLI | ITA | 1.45.67 | 07/23 |
St. Peters Western’s Lewis earned bronze tonight in 1:47.92, the 6th fastest time of the 21-year-old’s career. He took 7th place at last year’s Pan Pacs in a time of 1:46.94.
Way down the line was Cameron McEvoy who swam a time of 1:51.43 this morning for 20th, out of the final. He was the title winner in 2014, 2015 and 2016, with 2016’s time reprsented by a 1:45.63.
Men’s 400m IM – Final
- GOLD – Mitch Larkin, 4:14.62
- SILVER – Brendon Smith, 4:14.91
- BRONZE – Kieren Pollard, 4:21.31
Mitch Larkin produced a new personal best in this men’s 400m IM, hacking about a second off of his 4:15.68 title-winning mark from this same meet last year.
Tonight the 25-year-old Olympic medalist had to fight to the end, as 18-year-old Nunawading athlete Brendon Smith swam the race of his life to try to chase down Larkin. Smith ultimately touched in 4:14.91, a monster new personal best by over 4 seconds.
Larkin and Smith entered the final 100m with the former in the lead, but Smith slowly gained on the 2015 double World Champion, out splitting him on the final 100m 57.49 to Larkin’s 59.19, but the teen simply ran out of real estate to hit the wall first. Instead, Smith’s time tonight granted him the silver medal and would have split the American Foster brothers for silver at last year’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships where Smith finished in 4th.
Bronze tonight went to Kieren Pollard in 4:21.31, which represents a new personal best for the 19-year-old Breakers swimmer as well.
Larkin now ranks 7th in the world while Smith moves into slot #8 in the season’s rankings.
2018-2019 LCM MEN 400 IM
SETO
4.07.95
| 2 | Jay LITHERLAND | USA | 4.09.12 | 07/28 |
| 3 | Max LITCHFIELD | GBR | 4.10.94 | 04/18 |
| 4 | Charlie SWANSON | USA | 4.11.46 | 08/09 |
| 5 | David VERRASZTO | HUN | 4.11.90 | 06/22 |
Women’s 200m Breast – Final
- GOLD – Jenna Strauch, 2:24.88
- SILVER – Abbey Harkin, 2:25.12
- BRONZE – Zoe Deacon, 2:27.66
Keeping up with the personal best trend was 22-year-old Bond athlete Jenna Strauch. Strauch nailed her first Australian national title by way of winning teh women’s 200m breaststroke tonight in 2:24.88. That crushes her previous personal best mark of 2:26.47 from way back in 2013. Strauch sits just outside the top 10 performers in the world this season with her gold medal win this evening.
St. Peters Western’s Abbey Harkin took silver tonight in 2:25.12 while Nunawading teenager Zoe Duncan, 18, wound up with the bronze in 2:27.66. For Harkin, she slashed over 3 seconds off of her previous lifetime best of 2:28.89 from this same meet last year.
Women’s 50m Free – Final
- GOLD – Cate Campbell, 24.30
- SILVER – Shayna Jack, 24.38
- BRONZE – Bronte Campbell, 24.51
Cate Campbell busted out yet another impressive win here in South Australia, following up her 100m free victory with a 50m free gold tonight. Already punching a morning swim of 24.52, the 26-year-old Olympic medalist produced a winning 24.30 to top the podium in her best time of the season. C1’s effort now ranks her #2 in the world, sitting only behind Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and her world-leading 24.11 from just this week as well.
St. Peters Western’s Shayna Jack is swimming lights out at this meet, firing off another personal best with her 24.56 silver medal swim this evening to beat out Bronte Campbell. Jack’s previous season-best was 24.68 from Queensland Championships, while her lifetime quickest was the 24.47 thrown down at last year’s Pan Pacs.
Bronte took bronze in 24.51 this evening, her quickest of the season. C1 is now #2, Jack #4 and C2 is #6, all from one race.
2018-2019 LCM WOMEN 50 FREE
SarahSWE
SJOSTROM06/30
23.772 Cate
CAMPBELL AUS 24.00 04/28 3 Simone
MANUEL USA 24.05 07/28 4 Pernille
BLUME DEN 24.08 06/01 5 Bronte
CAMPBELL AUS 24.17 06/14
View Top 26»
2018-2019 LCM WOMEN 50 FREE
SJOSTROM
23.77
| 2 | Cate CAMPBELL | AUS | 24.00 | 04/28 |
| 3 | Simone MANUEL | USA | 24.05 | 07/28 |
| 4 | Pernille BLUME | DEN | 24.08 | 06/01 |
| 5 | Bronte CAMPBELL | AUS | 24.17 | 06/14 |
Women’s 4x200m Free Relay – Final
Gold went to St. Peters Western with the help of a big-time lead-off by Jack. The 20-year-old who took 50m free silver tonight just .08 behind C1 cranked out a monster lead-off of 1:56.77, obliterating her previous personal best in the event. The total team time was 7:53.07, a new Championship Record.
Entering this meet Jack’s PB was the 1:58.30 she clocked at the Queensland Championships last December, so in a span of just 4 months the World Championships medalist found a way to hack almost a second and a half from that mark to produce her 1:56.77 tonight.
Jack now ranks 8th in the world in the women’s 200m free this season. Ariarne Titmus, who wowed the world with her 1:54.30 200m free winning time from yesterday, clocked 1:56.80 as the anchor tonight.
2018-2019 LCM WOMEN 200 FREE
PELLEGRINI
1.54.22
| 2 | Ariarne Titmus | AUS | 1.54.27 | 07/25 |
| 3 | Emma McKEON | AUS | 1.54.55 | 06/11 |
| 4 | Sarah SJOSTROM | SWE | 1.54.78 | 07/24 |
| 5 | Siobhan HAUGHEY | HKG | 1.54.98 | 07/24 |
Men’s 4x200m Free Relay – Final
St. Peters Western also took gold in the men’s edition of the race, with the squad clocking 7:23.04 for the win. Max Carleton earned the fastest split as the 3rd swimmer, hitting 1:49.76.
Of note, on the runner-up TSS Aquatics squad, Cameron McEvoy led-off in 1:50.08.
the 200 free this summer promises to be Epic + the Relays
I agree.
And I thought Shayna jack,s days of fast swimming were over. As a kid, she was swimming FAST then puberty hit her and suddenly she was fighting the water. Her weight to power ratio went haywire.
Good to see that she,s back.
New coach new squad
McEvoy has been training and training for nearly two years and still hasn’t produced a sub 48s in an actual competition (either domestically or internationally) .. unless he gets more race practice and swimming fast during actual races instead of training sets then I don’t really see the point of not giving it your best shot when competition is around
Guess the main swimming thread for the day is going to be the Russian Trials
Or to be more specific.. what Grinev will go in a couple of hours..
Interesting Piano unloading on Ms. Efimova’s lane today
Chikunova born on 2004 (14 or 15 now) 2:22:67… Amazing..
50m: 33.39 33.39
100m: 1:10.39 37.00
150m: 1:46.57 36.18
200m: 2:22.67 36.10
How much does it cost to ship that piano from US to Russia lol?
Whatever the price, it was worth it!
1:07.32/1:16.56 lol.
47.65 Today
Morozov 48:04
And the backstroker Rylov continues his freestyle success with 48.33 in the final. He also did a 200 back semi earlier in this session.
I’m wondering what will be the position of Ariarne Titmus in Australian 4×200 relay at WC. It looks natural to let her anchor the relay racing Ledecky and Ruck for the second time in a row. But today’s race may make Australian coaches to think twice about that. Despite her team had already 7sec advantage and there was no need for the risky start she practically DQed team efforts with 0.05sec reaction time.
In the final relay in Gwangju the situation at last exchange will be much more dramatic when an excellent take off can be a decisive factor for the win.
On the other hand it could be #3 who finished awkwardly today or she wasn’t much… Read more »
Just watch pan pacs last year
Do you have a link? Tnx.
They “front end loaded” their team by swimming their best legs first (Titmus then McKeon) hoping they would build up sufficient lead that their weaker legs had a viable chance of holding on. Whilst this has been employed in the past (or variations thereof with the top swimmers on legs 2/3); at Pan Pacs it worked with Schmitt “dying” and dropping in a 1.58 and the final 2 AUS legs both pulling 1.56 legs. IF Jack can back up this PB at Trials then this certainly gives much greater flexibility now having 3 strong legs. I do still think that they will go with Titmus as lead-off; placement of weakest leg still open to speculation
I would tell you that this way to run relay is a little bit unfair toward slow swimming swimmer. They may feel embraced and solely responsible for losing relay having big advantage at start. I remember Ida Marko-Vargo in Swedish team missing the podium after huge advantage made by Sjostrom and Coleman in 800 final relay in Kazan and the following mean sarcasm of one of Swedish fan that he knows now what word “anchor” means. And what about feelings of Alicia Coutts who had a big advantage at start anchoring unsuccessfully two great Australian relays in one meet (Barcelona). What she felt was easy to understand even by watching on tv.
https://staging.swimswam.com/watch-select-race-videos-us-only-from-1st-2-days-of-pan-pacs-video/
Thanks, I forgot how exciting it was.
She’s just equalled her Aussie record in the 400 with 3.59.66
Shayna Jack – breakout meet
Also PB Again on 200 free.. 1:56:77 on 1st relay leg
God the Australian women have two brilliant freestyle relays.
Nice 1.56 on the relay leadoff
So great to see Shayna Jack swim great this meeting, hopefully she has more to come at World Champs & then at Olympics next year, great addition to both relay teams.
Compared to previous evening sessions .. tonight does not seem as exciting times-wise
Positives for me would be the emergence of Brendon smith in the 400 IM and the continued improvements being made by Shayna Jack in the freestyle events
Smith’s 400IM certainly provides the possibility of this event being fiercely contested at Trials even if the times may not be of any real international consequence.
Whilst it was nice to see Atherton snag her first senior National title; McKeown’s DQ from heats rendered took a lot away from the quality plus the potential of a time somewhere near what will be required to qualify for Worlds.
McKeown Sr had an off year in 2018 and nothing we have seen this year indicates a return to anywhere near competitiveness. Strauch’s PB was pleasing but she is still needing a drop of a further second to qualify for Worlds.
Whilst its likely that C1 will lock down one of the 50fr… Read more »
Kaylee McKeown’s time was 2.07.01 before she was DQed for moving slightly at start of the race. That is a pretty awesome time for a 17 year old & also 4 secs faster then Atherton. She is one to watch.
the commentators mentioned that because mckeown was DQ’d, she was allowed to do a time trial but couldn’t use her time from it to progress to a final. Since a DQ normally doesn’t show the time in the results, I think her 2:07 is from the time trial and thus is legitimate