2023 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, December 9th – Friday, December 15th
- Brisbane Aquatic Center
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Draft Entries
The 2023 Queensland Championships are slated for December 9th through December 15th at Brisbane Aquatic Center. For Australian athletes, this represents the final qualification opportunity to make the squad for the 2024 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
The draft entries have been released, so we’re combing through them to glimpse the high-octane match-ups potentially awaiting us next month. Look for additional posts on key entries to be published shortly.
Although the vast majority of competitors hail from the host nation, there is a sprinkling of athletes entered from other nations including Japan and New Zealand.
South Africa is set to have one notable athlete racing, as 43-year-old Roland Schoeman appears on the entries. The competition will mark the Olympic medalist’s first meet since this year’s World Championships.
This summer Schoeman returned to Fukuoka a remarkable 22 years after racing at the 2001 World Championships in that same city. The veteran took on the 50m free and 50m fly events this time around where he placed 50th (22.87) and 44th (24.02), respectively.
He’s entered in these same events for the Queensland Championships.
South Africa has not yet released its roster for the 2024 World Championships and its selection criteria for the event is not published on the federation’s website. Schoeman may be still in contention for a roster slot, therefore, as long as he were to hit the ‘A’ time standards of 22.12 in the 50m free and 23.53 in the 50m fly. The ‘B’ standards sit at 22.89 and 24.35 for reference.
Feel like this is pretty remarkable. He has no chance to be top 10, but outside N Santos nobody has done this. Impressive to see, clean or not
Shameless self promotion?
Sus
Roland is washed
do you mean washboarded?
Yeah. If he’s funding it himself and doing it for the joy then fair enough. But at this stage (when he’s struggling for QTs nevermind making even a semi final) I would hope he’s not taking money from the RSA youngsters.
I wonder if Roland funds his swimming himself or if he has sponsors.
Why does it matter exactly? He served out this suspension exactly as CAS declared it to be. So at this point he can have sponsors, earn money and compete wherever he wants.
Like, why does like, anything really matter, man?
(Point being – none of this matters. I think you’re the one who brought up his suspension, though I’m sure you’d prefer that everyone stops talking about it, so that bit might be some projection on your part. But people are curious about how athletes make a living, in part because it’s such a black box. They’re fans of the sport so it matters to them, even if it doesn’t matter in a metaphysical sense. By following professional sports we’ve all accepted to some degree that we are interested in something that has limited ‘matter’ in the world.)
I agree with Braden, I’m curious to if Roland is continuing swimming because it’s his passion, or if he needs to make a living.
I’m also curious to if someone his age and speed, is able to still fund himself through sponsors.
Im curious if someone his age and speed is able to still find sponsorships to swim.
Maybe Roland is just spending his money to swim for fun.
Knowing Roland would have a tough time at the Olympics and medaling due to his age, I wonder what his aspirations are. Someone competing at 43 is inspiring, (ignoring the doping scandal).