Joshua Yong Hits Lifetime Best 59.83 100 Breast Before June’s Aussie Trials

2024 SWIMMING WA SEASON OPENER (AUS)

• Saturday, May 18th – Sunday, May 19th
• HBF Stadium, Western Australia
• LCM (50m)
• Results: Meet Mobile – 2024 Swimming WA Winter Season Opener (LC)

With the 2024 Swimming Australia Olympic Trials on the horizon for next month, several swimmers dove in for final tune-ups at the Swimming Western Australia Season Opener which began today.

We reported how World Championships multi-medalist Iona Anderson ripped a new lifetime best of 58.53 in the opening 100m of the women’s 200m back.

But 22-year-old Joshua Yong also made some noise in a time trial of the men’s 100m breaststroke.

Racing alone in the HBF Stadium pool, West Coast Swimming Club’s Yong fired off a time of 59.83 to produce the fastest time of his career.

Yong opened in 28.51 and closed in 31.32 to shave .16 off his previous PB of 59.99 clocked at the 2022 Commonwealth Games to become the 7th-best Aussie performer in history, tied with Daniel Cave. His performance tonight now gives him the slot outright.

Top 10 Aussie Men’s LCM 100 Breaststroke Performers All-Time

1. Brenton Rickard – 58.58, 2009
2. Christian Sprenger – 58.79, 2013
3. Matt Wilson – 59.17, 2019
4. Jake Packard – 59.20, 2018
5. Sam Williamson – 59.21, 2024
6. Zac Stubblety-Cook – 59.51, 2022
7. Joshua Yong – 59.83, 2024
8. Daniel Cave – 59.99, 2021
9. Haig Buckingham – 1:00.09, 2023
10. Cooper Van der Laan, 2021

There is no shoo-in for Olympic qualification in this men’s 100m breaststroke, with the Swimming Australia-mandated Olympic Qualification Time resting at a stiff 59.49, a threshold under which just 5 Aussie swimmers have ever delved.

Among them is reigning 50m breast world champion Sam Williamson, the rising star who owns a lifetime best of 59.21 from placing 4th in the event in Doha.

Former 200m breast world record holder Matt Wilson is the other active swimmer who has been under 59.49, although his PB of 59.17 was logged nearly 5 years ago. Since then Wilson’s best result sits at the 59.95 put up in December 2020.

Zac Stubblety-Cook is another viable 100m breast qualification candidate, with the reigning 200m breast Olympic champion owning a PB of 59.51 from 2022. He won the 1breast at last month’s Aussie Open Championships in a time of 59.85, with Yong the next-closest in 1:00.16 for silver.