Girls front and centre as six more Rio spots up for grabs

  

Swimming Australia, April 8, 2016: Six more Rio places will be on offer tonight on the second day of competition at the 2016 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide after last night’s flying start.

And it will be the girls this time who are chasing four of the spots in the 100m butterfly and 400m freestyle.

It’s “Swim Like A Girl” night at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre with last night’s top two qualifiers in the women’s 100m butterfly Emma McKeon and Olympic bronze medallist Alicia Coutts set to fight it out for the two available spots before World Championship bronze medallist Jessica Ashwood and WA teen Tamsin Cook spearhead the women’s 400m freestyle qualifiers.

Ashwood produced a strong 400m freestyle heat swim (4:08.65) and will go into tonight’s final confident of an Olympic qualifying time and a top two finish.

“It was a solid swim (this morning); I am pretty happy with the time,” Ashwood said. “It was harder than I wanted it to be but it felt more comfortable after about 200 metres so that’s good.”

Posting the fastest qualifying time of 4:07.37 in the heat was dual-Olympian Bronte Barratt, who, as planned, has withdrawn from the final to concentrate on tomorrow’s 200m freestyle heats.

Barratt is Australia’s longest serving female swimmer and will be hoping to make her Olympic swan song in Rio.

But it could well open the door for FINA World Junior champion Cook to challenge for a place on the team. Cook won the title in Singapore in 4:06.17 – with the Olympic Team qualifying time 4:07.58.

The third Olympic event on the program is the men’s 100m breaststroke featuring World Championship finalist Jake Packard and seven young men desperately trying to push under the Rio qualifying time of 59.75.

Packardwillbe looking to repeat or better his quick semi-final time of 59.67 to secure his nomination to the Olympic team while Joshua Palmer, Nicholas Schafer and Matthew Wilson will be very much in the mix.

Meanwhile in today’s other heats, World Championship silver medallist  Madison Wilson (St Peters Western, QLD) will go into tonight’s 100m Backstroke semi-finals as the fastest qualifier after posting an Olympic qualifying time of 59.54 in the heat.

Wilson edged out World Champion and London Olympic silver medallist Emily Seebohm (1:00.09) who qualified third-fastest behind her Brisbane Grammar training partner Minna Atherton (59.97).

“I love that it is so competitive because we are all pushing ourselves so much harder,” Wilson said of her competition with Seebohm and Atherton.

“We have number one and two in the world, and fourth – you can’t get much better than that in an event. I went out comfortably and tried to push the second fifty a bit more. I am just excited for tomorrow [the final] - I want it to be tomorrow already!”

In the women’s 100m breaststroke it was St Peters Western teenager Georgia Bohl who announced her Olympic intentions, posting a qualifying time of 1:06.73 to go into tonight’s semi-final as the fastest qualifier.

“I was pretty relaxed,” Bohl said. “I was just trying to go in there and be as comfortable as I could for a heats swim but not be too easy because that’s also pretty dangerous.”

Veteran Sally Hunter of Marion, SAwas behind Bohl in 1:08.21 with Taylor McKeown (USC Spartans, QLD) rounding out the top three Aussies in 1:08.35. Lorna Tonks (Yeronga Park, QLD) and Leiston Pickett (Southport Olympic, QLD) will also be looking to be in the final eight.

The depth of talent in the men’s 200m freestyle was on show this morning with less than three seconds separating the top 16 qualifiers heading into tonight’s semi-finals. With two individual Olympic spots on offer and the chance for a few more for the relay, the competition is intense and the semi-finals are likely to be fast and fierce.

Last night’s 400m silver medallist and Olympic qualifier David McKeon was the fastest heat swimmer in 1:47.66 with SOPAC’s Kurt Herzog a fraction off in 1:47.82.

Miami training partners Grant Hackett, Daniel Smith and Thomas Fraser-Holmes are all in the mix with 1:48 times as is defending Australian Champion Cameron McEvoy.

Fresh from his win at the Australian Age Championships, 15-year-old Elijah Winnington has allowed a glimpse into his promising future, making the semi-final with a time of 1:49.56.

Not to be outshone by the girls, dual world champion Mitch Larkin made short work of his 100m backstroke heat, posting a slick 53.39 to be the fastest qualifier for tonight’s semi-finals.

Joshua Beaver and Ashley Delaney from Nunawading, VIC both posted times under 55 seconds, as did Bobby Hurley and Zac Incerti (UWA West Coast, WA).

Still reeling from her World Record in last night’s Multi-Class 50m Freestyle, Ellie Cole produced a good heat in her pet event, the 100m Backstroke. Cole was the top qualifier in 1:11.34 and will be challenged for the podium by Katherine Downie (Westside Christ Church, WA), Taylor Corry (Nelson Bay, NSW) and Lakeisha Patterson.

In the men’s Multi-Class 100m Backstroke Michael Anderson was the top qualifier with a time of 1:01.45. Anderson will be up against his 17-year-old USC Spartans teammate Logan Powell along with seasoned professionals such as Jeremy McClure (Canning Lightning, WA), Jeremy Tidy (Nunawading, VIC) and Brenden Hall (Lawnton, QLD).

Please see attached for final start list.

The finals will be Broadcast LIVE on Network Seven tonight, check your local guides for details.

#AusChamps16 #RacetoRio

To access images from the 2016 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships please follow this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ofkvv6ekek8jlrh/AABNUF47kYrLO07HbSJFqWJaa?dl=0

Please see attached for the final start list.

FULL HEATS RESULTS

http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/SAL/2016OPEN/

TICKETS

http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=SWIMMING16