Youngsters in sizzling swims on final night in Adelaide

 

Swimming Australia, November 9, 2014:Two world class swims by emerging stars Jordan Harrison and Mitch Larkin and a fifth gold medal to Commonwealth Games golden girl Emma McKeon highlighted an exciting final night’s competition at the Australian Short Course Swimming Championships at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide tonight.

Miami’s emerging 1500m freestyler Harrison carved a massive 17 seconds off his personal best time to clock the fastest time in the world over the past two years to win the 1500m freestyle in 14:26.21 – making him the second fastest Australian 1500m short course swimmer in history.

The only Australian to have swum faster is dual Olympic champion and short course world record holder Grant Hackett, his current training partner, who set the world record of 14:10.10 in Perth in 2001.

Harrison’s time clipped 0.31secs off the great Kieren Perkins best short course time of 14:26.52 swum in Auckland back in 1993.

Coming into the meet Harrison, from the Denis Cotterell stable at Pizzey Park had clocked 14:43.26 in Perth last year.

Harrison went through the 400m in 3:47.85 and the 800m in 7:39.55 – four seconds under his own personal best and the fourth fastest time ever by an Australian – with only Hackett, Perkins and Daniel Kowalski, who was poolside to witness tonight’s swim, clocking a faster time.

Earlier in the evening Commonwealth Games gold medallist and London Olympic finalist Larkin (St Peters Western) produced a crowd-pleasing 200m backstroke time, setting a new Australian and Australian All-Comers record of 1:47.72 – the sixth fastest time in history.

Larkin, who had set the previous Australian record at 1:48.69 at the FINA World Cup in Beijing just last month,  went out after it again and was a touch under world record pace, splitting 52.33 at the 100m turn.

The world record of 1:46.11, set by Russia’s Arkady Vyatchanin was set in the body suit era in 2009. Larkin blitzed the field with silver going to defending champion Matson Lawson (Tigersharks, VIC) 1:54.03 with Travis Mahoney (Nunawading) third in 1:54.40.

Both Harrison and Larkin were named in the 20-strong Australian team for next month's FINA World Championships in Doha.

And with a total of five gold medals, from five events, rising star Emma McKeon, who was unavailable for Doha, collected a clean sweep over the five nights.

With the 50m butterfly, 100m and 400m freestyle titles to her name from earlier in the meet, McKeon added both the 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle to her tally tonight.

The four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist backed up after the 100m butterfly to set a new short course all comers record, previously held by Libby Trickett at 1:53.29, to hit the wall in a time of 1:52.59.

The silver medal went to world championship silver medallist in this event Kylie Palmer in 1:54.05 with Brittany Elmslie adding a bronze to her collection in 1:54.44.

McKeon’s gold in the 100m butterfly saw her stop the clock in 56.21 from Elmslie (57.06) and Marieke D’Cruz (57.49).

Meanwhile in the 100m freestyle, Palm Beach Currumbin’s Pan Pacific champion, London Olympian Cameron McEvoy jumped out of the blocks like a rocket, splitting 21.88 in a catch-me-if-you tactic and only just held on to take the title in 46.85.

He held off fellow Olympian Tommaso D’Orsogna (46.86) by the barest margin, 0.01 of a second. Commonwealth record holder and three-time winner Matt Abood was third in 47.14. All three will represent Australia in Doha.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Grant Irvine (St Peters Western, QLD), swam his way onto the Australian team when he became only the third Australian under 1:53.00 in the 200m butterfly.

Irvine clocked a new personal best of 1:52.37 to win the gold medal in an all-the-way victory.

The 2012 champion proved too fast for 200m freestyle star Thomas Fraser-Holmes (Miami, QLD) in a personal best of 1:53.53 with 100m butterfly winner David Morgan taking the bronze in 1:54.67.

Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships gold medallist Bronte Campbell took the sprint queen crown in the final of the women’s 50m freestyle with a speedy time of 23.88 – just under her previous personal best of 23.91 and sitting fourth on the Australian all-time top ten.

St Peters Western swimmer Brittany Elmslie was just behind, hitting the wall in 24.27 for silver ahead of Marieke D’Cruz (24.54) with the bronze.

In other events….

Men –

Multi-Class 50m backstroke: Menai (NSW) boys Mitchell Kilduff and Sean Russo claimed the quinella in the 50m backstroke final with Kilduff finally taking gold after two silvers this week. He scored 1028 points for his time of 29.81 while Russo amassed 987pts for his time of 27.42. Triple gold medallist from this meet, Grant Patterson (Cairns) won bronze with 940pts for his time of 58.86. 

Multi-Class 100m Butterfly

Menai swimmer Mitchell Kilduff returned to the top of the podium in the final event of the evening with a win in the men’s 100m butterfly Mutli Class final. Kilduff picked up 1163 FINA points for his time of 57.39 with Timothy Antalfy (1068) sneaking into the silver medal position in 55.80 and Joshua Alford (949) with the bronze in 1:01.42. 

100m individual medley: Lawnton’s Daniel Lester broke through to win his first National title, winning the 100m individual medley in 52.65. Lester, 23, led all the way to beat fellow Queenslanders Justin James (Mackay) 53.20 and Buster Sykes (Nudgee Brothers) 54.24.

50m breaststroke: Visiting Polish swimmer Michal Zawadka finally got the chance to swim in a final here (visiting swimmers can’t qualify for 100 and 200m finals at a selection meet) and made the most of the opportunity, grabbing the gold in 26.92 from local lad Joshua Palmer (Marion, SA) 26.96 with Tommy Sucipto (Leisurepark Lazers, WA) and Jake Packard (Indooroopilly, QLD) deadheating for third in 26.97.

Women’s -  

50m Backstroke Multi Class
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Maddison Elliott won the first gold medal on offer tonight with an S8 world record breaking swim of 36.40 in the women’s 50m backstroke Multi Class for a total of 1019 points. The silver medal went to Teneale Houghton in 32.65 (864pts) and West Australian Katherine Downie was awarded the bronze for her 840 point swim of 32.32.

50m Backstroke
Backstroke and medley champion Emily Seebohm capped off an impressive week with a win in the women’s 50m backstroke to take home her fourth title for the meet in a time of 26.39. Seebohm was too strong for Madison Wilson who secured the silver in 26.74 with Melbourne Vicentre’s Hayley Baker bagging the bronze in 27.40.

200m Breaststroke
Swimming in front of a home crowd at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide, Sally Hunter successfully defended her title in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:20.05. Hunter’s time was too quick for her Commonwealth Games teammate Tessa Wallace who secured the silver, just over three seconds behind in 2:23.38 with Jessica Hansen collecting the bronze in 2:23.71.

100m Butterfly Multi Class
Commonwealth Games representative Madeleine Scott added a third gold medal to her haul with a win in the women’s 100m butterfly Multi Class for a FINA point score of 901. Back on the podium for the second time tonight, Maddison Elliott secured silver in a time of 1:16.45 for a total of 844 points while Amy Cook collected the bronze in 1:13.95 (828pts).

Rookies join Glasgow gold medallists for World Short Course

Three rookies will join 11 members of Australia’s successful Commonwealth Games team and seven Olympians in a 20-strong Australian Swim Team named tonight for next month’s FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Doha (December 3-7).

The team was announced tonight after a record-breaking five days of competition at the 2014 Australian Short Course Championships at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide.

Australian short course record holders Mitch Larkin and Emily Seebohm will headline the team and be joined by nine of their Commonwealth Games teammates Cameron McEvoy, Bronte Campbell, Matt Abood, Leiston Pickett, Madison Wilson, Travis Mahoney, Sally Hunter, Jordan Harrison and Grant Irvine.

Larkin set the pool alight again tonight, breaking his own Australian record in the 200m backstroke.

Queenslanders David Morgan (TSS Aquatics), Daniel Smith (Miami) and Leah Neale (Indooroopilly) will make their Australian senior team debut while Neale’s training partner, dual Olympian Kylie Palmer will head to her fourth World Short Course Championships after first making the team in 2006.

At 29, Olympian Sally Hunter is the oldest and one of the more experienced swimmers on the team with 18-year-old Brianna Throssell the youngest.

The team will be looking to cap off a successful year in the pool in Doha, following on from their recent performance at the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast and their record gold medal haul at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Harrison, who served notice on the world tonight with his world number one ranking performance of 14:26.21 in the 1500m freestyle is one of seven survivors of the 2012 World Short Course Team that also included Hunter, Mahoney, Ellen Fullerton, Brianna Throssell, Irvine and D’Orsogna.

Seebohm is one of seven Olympians including 100m freestyle gold medallist from tonight, McEvoy, Larkin, Hunter, Campbell, D’Orsogna and Palmer.

Queensland swimmers dominate the team with 16 with one each from NSW, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria

Please see below for the swimmers selected to represent Australia at the FINA World Short Course Team to compete in Doha this December:

Athlete		Club	State
Matthew	Abood	Sydney University	NSW
Bronte	Campbell	Commercial	QLD
Tommaso	D'Orsogna	Commercial	QLD
Ellen	Fullerton	Nudgee Brothers	QLD
Katie	Goldman	St Peters Western	QLD
Jordan	Harrison	Miami	QLD
Sally	Hunter	Marion	SA
Grant	Irvine	St Peters Western	QLD
Mitchell	Larkin	St Peters Western	QLD
Travis	Mahoney	Nunawading	VIC
Cameron	McEvoy	Palm Beach Currumbin	QLD
David	Morgan	TSS	QLD
Leah	Neale	Indooroopilly	QLD
Jake	Packard	Indooroopilly	QLD
Kylie	Palmer	Indooroopilly	QLD
Lesiton	Pickett	Southport Olympic	QLD
Emily	Seebohm	Nudgee Brothers	QLD
Daniel	Smith	Miami	QLD
Brianna	Throssell	Perth City	WA
Madison	Wilson	St Peters Western	QLD
Wayne	Lomas	Team Leader
Jacco	Verhaeren	Head Coach
Matt	Brown	Nudgee Brothers	QLD
Michael	Bohl	St Peters Western	QLD
Richard	Scarce	Palm Beach Currumbin	QLD
Glenn	Baker	Southport Olympic	QLD
Peter	Bishop	Marion	SA

 

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