Campbell and McEvoy star for Aussies as Ledecky continues WR onslaught

 

Pan Pacs Swimming, August 25, 2014: The 2014 Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships have come to close with Australia coming away with a total of 26 medals – 10 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze with Cate Campbell and Cameron McEvoy cementing themselves as the stars of the Australian swim at a meet which saw another world record chapter in the amazing career of the USA’s teenaged superstar Katie Ledecky.

The 17-year-old continued her Pan Pacs dominance, collecting her fourth gold medal, by adding the 1500m in world record time and adding her second WR of the week after her new 400m freestyle world mark earlier in the week.

Ledecky started out strongly in the 1500m but produced a stellar second half of the race speeding up her pace including a final stunning lap of 28.99 seconds. New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle took silver in 15:55.69 and Brittany Maclean won bronze in 15:57.15.

The final day of competition on Sunday saw Pan Pacs, Commonwealth, Australian All-Comers and world records continue to tumble. Strong performances across the board for the Australian team and the 2016 Olympics in Rio approach.

After breaking the meet record for the 50m freestyle in the morning’s heats, Campbell lowered it again with an emphatic 23.96 to win gold in the one-lap-dash. Younger sister Bronte Campbell was second in 24.56 with Chantal Van Kandeghem of Canada taking the bronze in 24.69.

Cate then regrouped to swim the anchor leg of the 4 x 100m medley relay, picking up her fourth gold medal of the meet.

Emily Seebohm led the relay, clocking 59.44 in the backstroke leg giving Australia the early lead. Lorna Tonks faced a tough challenge up against the formidable Jessica Hardy who got the USA out in front by a second. A smooth transition saw butterfly swimmer Alicia Coutts in the water for Australia, going even faster than her great 100m individual swim to touch in 56.76. Coutts produced an outstanding second 50 metres to reel in the Americans, edging back into the top spot. With only 0.03 seconds separating the Australians from their US counterparts, it was up to Campbell to really bring it home for gold. She swam a blistering 51.85 to give Australia a resounding gold medal win.

“Alicia is one of the gutsiest performers out there and she really puts it all on the line for her country,” Campbell said. “And she did that tonight and put us in the position that allowed me to swim to the best of my ability and really allowed us to come away with the win.”

With four gold medals under her belt from a very successful campaign, Campbell then revealed that she would next week be having shoulder surgery which would see her out of competition for the rest of the year.

“It’s something that I have been able to manage really well,” Campbell said of the bone spur issue. “It hasn’t hugely affected my training but it was something that I needed to fix and now’s the time to do it – two years out from Rio.”

Cameron McEvoy also did the 50m/medley relay double, placing fourth in the dash and grabbing a bronze in the relay to bring his total to five this meet.

Mitch Larkin flew out of the blocks to start the relay, swimming the third fastest backstroke time of 53.46. Rookie Jake Packard then got his first taste of a top-notch international relay, bringing home the breaststroke leg in 1:00.02, an improvement on his individual final time. Tommaso D’Orsogna was in the water for the butterfly leg, taking on the great Michael Phelps and doing everything he could to hold on as the USA ran away with the lead with Japan and Brazil chasing hard. As D’Orsogna touched for McEvoy, the home crowd roared and the 20-year-old swam down Brazil to finish in 47.63 claiming the bronze for Australia.

The women’s 200 IM was another podium finish for Alicia Coutts, the 26-year-old unable to hold off a strong challenge from Maya Dirado of the United States on the final lap. Coutts has the faster splits on the first three legs but Dirado got her in the freestyle to win by just 0.32 of a second. Caitlin Leverenz of the USA took bronze in 2:10.67.

Here is a summary of the other events…

Women’s 200m Breaststroke

Teenager Taylor McKeown broke through for a bronze medal in the women’s 200m breaststroke, finishing in 2:22.89. After winning gold in the event at the recent Commonwealth Games, McKeown put together a great race to come in just behind the Japanese gold and silver medallists Kanako Watanabe (2:21.41) and Rie Kaneto (2:21.90). Sally Hunter was seventh in 2:25.25.

Women’s 1500m Freestyle

The USA’s teenaged superstar Katie Ledecky continued her Pan Pacs dominance, collecting her fourth gold medal, by winning the 1500m and annihilating her own world record by six seconds. Ledecky started out strong but produced a stellar second half of the race speeding up her pace including a final stunning lap of 28.99 seconds. New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle took silver in 15:55.69 and Brittany Maclean won bronze in 15:57.15.

Men’s 50m Freestyle

Brazil’s Bruno Fratus won gold in the crowd-pleasing men’s 50m freestyle, a chaotic lap of whitewater with the scoreboard the only way to tell who touched first. Fratus, who was fourth in the event at the London Olympics, edged out Anthony Ervin and Nathan Adrian of the USA to win the splash and dash in 21.44 - a new Pan Pacs record. Australia’s Cameron McEvoy was fourth in 22.07 whilst Matt Abood was sixth in 22.18.

Men’s 200m IM

A late surge in the final freestyle lap of the 200m IM was classic Michael Phelps but the champion swimmer just missed catching Japan’s Hagino Kosuke who won gold in 1:56.02. Phelps was only 0.02 seconds off the win with Daiya Seto of Japan taking bronze in 1:57.72. Travis Mahoney was sixth in 1:59.79.

Men’s 200m Breaststroke

With Kevin Cordes pulling out of the men’s 200m breaststroke to focus on the relay, the race came down to a battle between the in-form Nicolas Fink of the USA, his teammate Josh Penot and Japan’s pairing of Yasuhiro Koseki and Kazuki Kohinata. Koseki edged out Fink for the gold, winning in 2:08.57 ahead of the American’s 2:08.94. Kazuki Kohinata took bronze in 2:10.14.

Men’s 800m Freestyle

Australia’s Mack Horton and Jordan Harrison closed out their Pan Pacs meet by finishing second and fourth respectively the men’s 800m freestyle. Canadian Ryan Cochrane took out the non-Olympic event in a time of 7:45.39, with the 1500m champion Connor Jaeger claiming bronze. The silver medal was Horton’s third for the meet – great results for the 18-year-old.

Thanks to Alice Wheeler for this event-by-event coverage of the Pan Pacs

Ian Hanson| Media Manager Pan Pacs
Media Manager, 2014 Australian Commonwealth Games Team
Deputy Media Manager 2016 Australian Olympic Team
Media Manager 2014 Pan Pacs