McKeon Siblings shine at Australian Short Course Championships

 

Swimming Australia, November 7, 2014: Swimming’s brother and sister act Emma and David McKeon added their own golden glow to the 2014 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide last night.

 

 

Triple Commonwealth Games gold medallist Emma started proceedings in the blue ribband 100m freestyle, then added the 50m butterfly before completing a rare treble in the 400m freestyle.

She demonstrated her dominance and showed off the experience gained on the recent FINA World Cup circuit, coming from behind to beat fastest qualifier Bronte Campbell in the 100m freestyle final.

A powerful final turn proved the deciding factor in McKeon’s win after Campbell had set the pace over the first three laps. 

Emma (Chandler, QLD) stopped the clock at 51.83 (just outside her PB of 51.69) ahead of Campbell (Commercial, QLD) 52.14 with Brittany Elmslie (St Peters Western, QLD) 52.66 taking the bronze.

The Glasgow golden girl was back in the water within 20 minutes to chalk up her second victory of the night, out-touching Elmslie and former long course World Champion Marieke D‘Cruz (SOPAC, NSW) to win the 50m butterfly. 

McKeon, fresh from competing with brother David on the FINA World Cup circuit clocked 25.78 with Elmslie stopping the clock at 25.87 and D’Cruz 25.95. 

Big brother David, who also relished the racing at the recent FINA World Cups took out an all-Queensland finish in the prestigious 400m freestyle final in a personal best time of 3:38.17.

But Emma then showed ‘anything you can do I can do too’ and she won a surprise gold in the corresponding women’s 400m freestyle, finishing in a personal best time of 4:00.63 – the fourth fastest time by an Australian behind Blair Evans and Beijing Olympic 4x200m freestyle relay gold medallists  Kylie Palmer and Bronte Barratt.

Emma, who is coached by Vince Raleigh out of Chandler, after graduating from her father Ron’s program in Wollongong, was out in 57.35 and split 1:58.02 at the 200m mark.

A noted 100 and 200m swimmer, admitted she has never enjoyed swimming the 400m, but maybe now she will reluctantly consider swimming it again. 

“I entered it here and thought I would give it a shot; I usually don’t race it to plan but tonight I did stick to the plan and put some effort into it from the start and it paid off,” McKeon said.

 “I looked up and saw my time 4.00.63 and although I was impressed; it would have been nice to go under four minutes; I guess I’ll have to do another one now which I know I won’t be too keen on.”

McKeon said the time she had put into her turns and skills for short course had given her enormous confidence and she would now go back to
Brisbane under coach Vince Raleigh to transfer what she had learned into her next long course preparation for next year’s Australian Championships and World Championship selection trials in Sydney (April 3-10, 2015).

She held on to win her third gold of the night from her Chandler club mate Jessica Ashwood (4:01.76) with Leah Neale (Indooroopilly) in 4:02.24 and both girls also clocking personal best times.

Madison Wilson (St Peters Western, QLD) held on for a last gasp win ahead of fastest-finishing dual Olympian Emily Seebohm to claim the 200m backstroke final in a personal best time of 2:01.75 – just 0.12 ahead of Seebohm (Nudgee) in 2:01.87 with her team mate Mikkayla Sheridan third in 2:04.65.

But Seebohm was on top of the podium later in the night when she showed off her versatility to win gold in the 100m individual medley in a time of 58.45 ahead of Kotuku Ngawati (Vicentre) in 1:00.06 and Hayley Baker (Vicentre) in 1:00.19.

Short Course Champions so far...
Men's 800m Freestyle: Matt Levings
Men's Multi Class 400m Freestyle: Rowan Crothers
Men's 200m Freestyle: Cameron McEvoy
Women's 200m Butterfly: Brianna Throssell
Men’s 50m Breaststroke Multi Class: Tim Disken
Women’s 50m Breaststroke Multi Class: Madeleine Scott 36.81
Men's 100m Backstroke: Mitch Larkin 49.25 CR/AR
Women's 100m Backstroke: Emily Seebohm 55.47 CR/AR
Men's 400m IM: Travis Mahoney
Women's 50m Breaststroke: Leiston Pickett
Women's 50m Butterfly Multi Class: Madeleine Scott
Men's 50m Butterfly Multi Class: Tim Antalfy
Men's 100m Breaststroke: Jake Packard
Men's 100m Butterfly: David Morgan
Women's 800m Freestyle: Brianna Throssell
Women's 200m IM Multi Class: Katherine Downie
Men's 200m IM Multi Class: Joshua Alford
Men's 200m Breaststroke: Jake Packard
Women's 100m Backstroke Multi Class: Taylor Corry
Men's 100m Backstroke Multi Class: Sean Russo
Women's 100m Freestyle: Emma McKeon
Men's 400m Freestyle: David McKeon
Women's 200m Backstroke: Madi Wilson
Men's 50m Freestyle: Matt Abood
Women's 50m Butterfly: Emma McKeon
Men's 200m IM: Thomas Fraser-Holmes
Women's 100m IM: Emily Seebohm
Women's 400m Freestyle: Emma McKeon
Men's 100m Freestyle Multi Class: Grant Patterson
Women's 100m Freestyle Multi Class: Taylor Corry

Coming up tomorrow:

Men’s 50m Backstroke semi-final
Gold medallist and Commonwealth short course record holder in the 100m backstroke Mitch Larkin will move through to the final of the men’s 50m backstroke as the fastest qualifier after posting a time of 23.40. Defending champion and Australian record holder in this event Bobby Hurley will be hot on his heels, progressing in a time of 23.66 with Ben Treffers third in 23.89.
 
Men’s 50m Butterfly semi-final
After taking the 100m butterfly title earlier in the meet, David Morgan will now go through to the final of the men’s 50m butterfly ranked first with a time of 23.22. Both Tommaso D’Orsgona and Jayden Hadler will be up in the mix for a medal after posting 22.25 and 22.26 respectively.
 
Women’s 100m Breaststroke semi-final
With just under 0.4 of a second separating the top three swimmers in the women’s 100m breaststroke, the title will be anyone’s for the taking. Leiston Pickett (1:05.47), Lorna Tonks (1:05.56) and Jessica Hansen (1:05.80) will all be fighting for first place tomorrow night after taking the top three times respectively.
 
The heats will continue tomorrow morning from 10:00am (SA Time) at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre with results and information available online at http://www.swimming.org.au.

Stay up to date online with information and results at http://www.swimming.org.au and with the hashtag #AUSSC

Issued on behalf of Swimming Australia by
Ian Hanson| Media Manager 2014 Australian Swim Team, World Short Course Championships, Doha

Deputy Media Manager 2016 Australian Olympic Team, Rio
Media Manager, Surf Sports, SLSA
Media Manager Triathlon Australia
Media Manager 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships
Media Manager, 2014 Australian Commonwealth Games Team