There were 12 open spots on the Australian Olympic Team up for grabs on Tuesday evening; nine athletes took advantage of their opportunity to be the ones to fill them.
The last two women to win the 100 freestyle at the World Championships will be heading to Rio as Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell went one-two in the women’s 100 freestyle. Cate won the event in a time of 52.38, just off her Australian record time of 52.33 while Bronte finished second in a time of 52.58 six one-hundredths of a second off her lifetime best of 52.52.
The two women are currently ranked first and second in the world and over the last four years no one has been faster.
The Campbells were followed by Emma McKeon (52.80), Brittany Elmslie (53.54), Alicia Coutts (54.09) and Kotuku Ngawati (54.10). All four women recorded times that will have them nominated to swim on the 4 x 100 freestyle relay, but Elmslie is the only one who has not already made the team in another event.
She will be competing at her second Olympics after swimming on the gold medal 4 x 100 freestyle relay team in London.
Mitch Larkin, who qualified for the team in the 100 backstroke earlier in the competition, added the 200 backstroke to his event list in Rio. Joshua Beaver finished second in a time of 1:56.19 under the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:57.12. Beaver also finished second to Larkin in the 100 backstroke, but hit the wall in a time 38 one-hundredths of a second slower than the Olympic qualifying time.
Taylor McKeown won the women’s 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:21.45 well under the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:23.06. McKeown had already earned a berth on the team in the 100 breaststroke where she finished second to Georgia Bohl. The two traded places in the 200 meter distance as Bohl picked up the silver, but she finished 89 one-hundredths of a second off of the Olympic qualifying standard.
The men’s 200 IM became extremely intriguing when Thomas Fraser-Holmes, who swam faster than the Olympic qualifying time in the semi-final, decided to bypass the final to give others a better opportunity to make the team. Fraser-Holmes has already qualified to swim the 200 freestyle and 400 IM as well as the 4 x 200 freestyle relay in Rio.
The fact that Fraser-Holmes was not in the race did not matter as no other man was able to swim faster than the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:58.54. Daniel Tranter won the event in a time of 1:58.72 followed by Justin James who posted a 1:59.12.