Chalmers Missing From South Aussie States; McKeown Lined Up

2021 SOUTH AUSTRALIA STATE OPEN & MC C’SHIPS

• Friday, January 22nd – Sunday, January 24th
• SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Oaklands Park, South Australia
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Site
• Entries/Live Results

The 2021 South Australia State Open & Multi-Class Swimming Championships kicks off on Friday, January 22nd, marking the first of three flagship events on the SA calendar.

Held at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre, more than 600 athletes are slated to take part in the 3-day affair, stemming from regional and metropolitan SA as well as from other states.

Of note, 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers is absent from the entries for this year’s event, still recovering from his shoulder surgery. Last November Chalmers told SwimSwam his shoulder procedure was a ‘cleanout to ease the pain’ and that he’d be back ‘really quickly.’

In his stead, a host of elite athletes remain on the docket to the tune of Kaylee McKeown, Madi Wilson, Travis Mahoney, Leiston Pickett, Jake Packard, Joshua Palmer, Mikkayla Sheridan, Matthew Temple and Kalani Ireland.

For McKeown’s part, the newly-minted sub-58 second 100m backstroker is set to take on a heavy schedule, expected to race the 50m/100m/200m trifecta of distances across both the breaststroke and backstroke. Most of the races take place back-to-back putting the 19-year-old’s fitness to the test.

McKeown has already been on a tear this season, however, owning the #1 time in the world across 4 events. The USC Spartan has logged world-leading efforts of 2:08.23 in the 200m IM, 4:32.73 in the 400m IM, 57.93 in the 100m back and 2:04.46 in the 200m back to set herself apart from the best on the planet through mid-January.

As for versatile Wilson, the backstroke specialist-turned-freestyle ace is entered in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle races. Additionally, the Marion swimmer is set to take on the 50m back, 50m fly and 200m IM to keep her busy over the 3 days.

2019 World Championships finalist Temple’s schedule includes the 100m/200m fly, as well as the 50m/100m/200m free. Temple is currently ranked as the 6th fastest 100m flyer in the world, courtesy of the 51.64 he produced at the Queensland Championships last month.