Race to Rio showdown hots up in Adelaide

  
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 Australia’s “Summer of Swimming” is about to heat up in the countdown to April’s 2016 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide.

The country’s elite swimmers will converge on the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide between April 7 and 14 in their pursuit to be selected for the Olympic and Paralympic teams.

The eight-day meet will see Australia’s current individual FINA world champions from Kazan, Mitch Larkin, Emily Seebohm and Bronte Campbell lead a host of fellow Dolphins, young and old, who will all be chasing their dreams in Rio.

Larkin and Seebohm finished 2015 on top of the backstroking world after a whirlwind six months with Seebohm and Bronte Campbell also sharing the prestigious Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimmer of the Year Award.

Adelaide will provide a much anticipated battle with the clock and against a host of hungry opponents, keen to test the waters in the Race To Rio.

The meet will also feature the cream of Australia’s all-conquering Paralympic swim team – including Ellie Cole, Blake Cochrane, Brenden Hall and Maddie Elliott– a team that won 30 medals at last year’s IPC World Championships in Glasgow.

In the lead up to the meet Australia’s best swimmers will contest the “Summer of Swimming” events:

-          2016 South Australian State Championships (SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre) January 20-24

-          2016 Victorian State Championships (Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre) January 22-24

-          Perth Aquatic Super Series (HBF Stadium) February 5 and 6 – Australia v China v Japan and the;

-          2016 NSW State Championships (Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre) March 4-6

Swimming Australia CEO Mark Anderson said today the countdown to the 2016 Championships had been eagerly awaited.

“Everyone at Swimming Australia is excited to be back in Adelaide for our ‘Race to Rio’ – I know the swimmers are eager for selection and to represent the country with pride,” said Anderson.

“It has certainly been an encouraging build up from Kazan and Glasgow last year where the teams performed so well – April in Adelaide will be the icing on the cake.”

 Among the myriad of stars will be Miami’s Olympic legend Grant Hackett – who has a total of seven medals from three Games – three of them gold.

Hackett and Nunawading backstroker Ashley Delaney are the lone survivors from the 2008 men’s team, who will line up in Adelaide, while eight women from Beijing will also race eight years later.

The women’s class from 2008 – all gunning for a third Olympics - will be led by South Australia’s Sally Hunter, a 200m breaststroke finalist from London, who will be joined by Olympic relay gold medallists, Bronte Barratt, Cate Campbell, Kylie Palmer, Mel Wright (nee Schlanger), Alicia Coutts and Seebohm, as well as 200m backstroke finalist Belinda Hocking.

But the established stars that also include James Magnussen, Cam McEvoy, Cate Campbell and Jessica Ashwood, who will be joined by a host of new faces chasing Olympic berths for the first time.

“Next Gen” names like Emma McKeon, Taylor McKeown, Madi Wilson, Maddie Groves, Kyle Chalmers, David Morgan, Mack Horton and Jake Packard will be primed for a crack at their first Olympics.

Kazan and Glasgow brought out the best in the Dolphins, with some encouraging signs, for National Head Coach, Jacco Verhaeren.

“The World championships provided an ideal launch pad and I was very impressed with the way they performed in the pool and also how they came together as a team,” said Verhaeren, who has been contracted to Swimming Australia until the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

“And since then I have been very encouraged by the attitude of the athletes and the coaches and I believe we are heading towards some very exciting swims at the Australian Championships.

“I know I am excited and I am sure at the end of it we will have great teams representing Australia in Rio.”

There will be a host of meets in the lead up to Adelaide with the Dolphins facing off against teams from China and Japan at the Perth Aquatic Super Series at Challenge Stadium on February 5 and 6.

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

Ian Hanson| Media Manager Triathlon Australia Managing Director
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