Mollie O’Callaghan Tops Stacked 200 Free Field At New South Wales Championships

2023 NEW SOUTH WALES STATE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, March 10th – Sunday, March 12th
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center (SOPAC)
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Preview
• Start List
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Results – Meet Mobile: 2023 NSW State Open Championships

The women’s 200m freestyle field put on a show to close out the 2023 New South Wales State Open Championships. The top 7 finishers all clocked times under the 2:00 barrier, led by 18-year-old Olympic medalist Mollie O’Callaghan.

O’Callaghan got to the wall first in a result of 1:55.27, producing the 4th fastest time of her young career in the process. She owns a lifetime best of 1:54.01 in this event, a time she posted en route to taking silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The gold medalist there in Birmingham, Ariarne Titmus, was tonight’s runner-up, hitting 1:55.53 for a solid in-season swim. Shayna Jack rounded out the top 3 in 1:57.29 for a time just about a second outside her own lifetime best.

Jack ripped an opening half of 55.19 before the field caught up with her, with 4th place finisher Brianna Throssell in hot pursuit. Throssell landed off the podium in 1:57.85 while Lani Pallister was also in the mix at 1:58.68.

O’Callaghan and Titmus now enter the list of top 5 performers in the world on the season, with O’Callaghan claiming the 3rd slot and Titmus now tying Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey in 4th.

Of note, Olympian Emma McKeon opted for the 200m fly instead of the 200m free at this meet. She produced a result of 2:07.79 to hit the 3rd fastest time of her prolific career. You can read more about McKeon’s 200m fly here.

On the heels of her decisive 200m IM win, of which you can read more about here, Kaylee McKeown clocked a time of 27.31 to win the women’s 50m back. That narrowly held off O’Callaghan who touched in 27.38.

While McKeown delivered the 2nd quickest time of her career, O’Callaghan’s time checks in as a new lifetime best, overtaking her previous PB of 27.46.

The pair now rank #1 and #2 in the world on the season.

Marion’s Matt Temple topped tonight’s 100m butterfly podium, earning the gold in a mark of 52.18. Shaun Champion was next in 52.89 while Cody Simpson also landed in the medal mix with bronze in 52.90.

Kyle Chalmers raced in the heats of the 100m fly, earning the 6th seed in 53.72 before dropping out of the final.

Chalmers was among the men’s 50m free field, however, putting up a mark of 22.37 for bronze.

Taking the top prize in the race was Somerville House Aquatics’ Cameron McEvoy, hovering over the 22-second barrier with a time of 22.08. Thomas Nowakowski snared silver in 22.19 while British ace Lewis Burras placed 4th in 22.41.

Additional Winners

• Se-Bom Lee grabbed another gold here, earning the 400m IM victory in a time of 4:17.79.
• World Championships medalist Isaac Cooper followed up his national record in the 50m back with a 100m back gold. Cooper posted a result of 54.49 to lead a quartet of sub-55-second swimmers. Joining him on the podium was William Yang in 54.70 followed by Josh Edwards-Smith in 54.79. Brad Woodward placed 4th in 54.97.
• 24-year-old St. Peters Western swimmer Abbey Harkin reached the wall first in the women’s 50m breast in 31.82.
• Visiting Japanese swimmer Shoma Sato doubled up on his 100m breast gold with a victory in the 200m distance. Sato clocked 2:11.11 to take the event by over two and a half seconds. Of note, former World Record holder Matt Wilson dove in for the 2breast prelims, logging a time of 2:21.95 for the 10th seed before he scratched the final race.