Grant Hackett and Mack Horton in a battle of the ages

 

   

Swimming Australia, May 16, 2015: It was a classic case of the master and the apprentice – Grant Hackett v Mack Horton – but it wasn’t your usual swimming race when the pair went stroke for stroke at today’s third session of the Swimming Australia Grand Prix at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Aquatic Centre in Canberra.

In a unique format, the pair locked horns over a broken 900 metre swim - 3x300s on 4 minutes 30 seconds – with Horton only just edging Hackett out in an enthralling training set of the ages.

 Horton, 19, the reigning Australian 1500m freestyle champion and very much the heir apparent against 35-year-old Hackett – the two time Olympic champion, former world record holder and 11-time winner of the Australian 1500m title.

Hackett, greying beard and doubled over in pain after pushing the clean shaven Horton all the way to the wall, can stand tall as the perfect man to push the youngster in his quest for his own slice of Olympic glory.

It was the kind of thing reality TV could well have drooled over.

After 15 minutes of pain and torture just two and half seconds separated the man from the boy who has his sights set on this year’s FINA World Championships in Kazan – hoping to follow in Hackett’s wake en-route to his debut Olympics in Rio next year.

For the record Horton (Team Stockwell) clocked a combined time for the broken 900m freestyle of 8:56.78 (2:58.65; 3:00.34 and 2:57.79) with Hackett (Team Fraser) clocking 8:59.32 (2:59.47; 3:01.70 and 2:59.15).

To have Hackett pushing Horton can only be a major plus for a young buck with his eyes set firmly on a prize that has been so treasured by Australians since Andrew “Boy” Charlton’s first win over the Olympic 1500m distance in Paris in 1924.

In other men’s events this morning Cam McEvoy continued his sprint domination, winning the broken 200m in 1:38.74 (24.25; 50.24; 24.25) Jayden Hadler (Team Beringen) won the broken 100m butterfly in 48.90 (24.28, 24.62), while Japan’s Ryosuke Irie (Team Beringen) winning the broken 200m backstroke in 1:49.02 (26.60; 55.83; 26.59) from Mitch Larkin (Team Stockwell) 1:49.10 (26.47; 55.83; 26.80).

Japan’s star of last year’s Pan Pacs Kosuke Hagino (Team Fraser) won a closely fought broken 200IM (50m butterfly; 100m backstroke/breaststroke; 50m freestyle) in 1:51.27 from teammate Daya Seto (Team Stockwell) in 1:52.15 and Australia’s Mitch Larkin (Team Stockwell) third in 1:52.48.

In the women’s 100m Freestyle (2x50m), reigning world champion Cate Campbell (Team Beringen) continued her sprint domination, taking out the broken 100m freestyle (2x50m) in a speedy 49.75. In a replica of the results from the Australian Championships in April, sister Bronte Campbell (Team Fraser) was the next best, clocking a combined time of 50.27 with Emma McKeon (Fraser) rounding out the top three in 51.53.

Team Beringen was on a roll in the women’s events, after taking out the freestyle they also took the maximum points in the women’s broken 100m backstroke (2x50m) with Emily Seebohm winning in a time of 57.23.

Team Fraser’s Madison Wilson secured second spot in 58.12 ahead of youngster Minna Atherton (Stockwell) in 59.52.

The women’s broken 200m butterfly (50, 100, 50) saw Australian Champion Madeline Groves (Team Beringen) come out on top in a time of 1:57.66, relegating team Stockwell’s Natsumi Hoshi to second in 1:58.10 and her teammate Tamsin Cook to third in 1:58.25.

Team Fraser’s Jessica Ashwood proved her potential in the women’s broken 400m freestyle (100, 200, 100) this morning, showing off her speed throughout the intervals to pick up top points in a time of 3:58.91. Ashwood was too strong for the team Stockwell duo of Kylie Palmer who was second in 4:00.54 with Tamsin Cook collecting the points for third with her cumulative time of 4:05.08.

Team Fraser and Team Stockwell battled it out for bragging rights in the women’s 400m individual medley (100fly, 4x50 back/breast, 100free) with Keryn McMaster (Fraser) narrowly out-touching Taylor McKeown (Stockwell) for top spot.

McMaster clocked an overall time of 4:13.01 to McKeown’s 4:13.75 with Chihiro Igarashi taking third spot in 4:16.10.

Japanese swimmer Kanako Watanabe (Fraser) demonstrated her dominance in the breaststroke events with an impressive win in the women’s broken 200m breaststroke (50, 100, 50).

Watanabe finished in 2:13.10, over a second ahead of Tessa Wallace (Beringen) in 2:14.75 and Taylor McKeown (Stockwell) was back in the water following the 400m individual medley, a touch behind in 2:14.98.

At the conclusion of the third session Team Fraser continued their domination to finish on 750 points, ahead of Team Stockwell 689 and Team Beringen 609.

The Grand Prix finishes up tonight with the final session starting at 5pm.

Results are available online at: http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2015GP1/

Swimming Australia is the national sporting organisation which is responsible for the promotion and development of swimming in Australia at all levels. Home of the Australian Swim Team, Swimming Australia is recognised as one of the leaders in Australian sport and has almost 90,000 members and just over 1,000 swimming clubs nationwide. For more information visit www.swimming.org.au  

 

Issued on behalf of Swimming Australia by
Ian Hanson| Media Manager

Ian Hanson| Media Manager Triathlon Australia Managing Director
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