2015 Hancock Prospecting Australian Short Course Swimming Championships
- Wednesday, November 25th – women’s 1500m free/men’s 800m free
- Thursday, November 26th – Saturday, November 28th
- Prelims at 10am local (6pm previous day EST)/Finals at 6pm local (2am EST)
- Meet Information
- Entries by Swimmer
- Event Timeline
- Live Stream: Dolphins YouTube Channel
- Live Results
The second day of the Australian Short Course Championships in Sydney saw several athletes put up some very strong performances, new one new Commonwealth and two new Australian records set as well as six swimmers post world number one ranked times.
Dominant Backstroke Performances
Both Emily Seebohm and Mitch Larkin won gold at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan in both the 100 and 200 backstroke and have carried that momentum into the 2015-16 season. Both came into Sydney with the world’s top times in the long course 100 and 200 backstroke and came away from the second day of the Australian Short Course Championships with new national records.
Seebohm took the women’s 200 backstroke in a time of 1:59.49 beating her own Commonwealth and Australian record of 2:00.13, which she posted in her silver medal winning performance at the 2014 Short Course World Championships in Doha. In that same race Hungarian Katinka Hosszu broke the world record putting up a winning time of 1:59.23, something Seebohm was aiming for this evening, “I said to myself this afternoon I’d be happy to swim under two minutes and I did that – close to the world record but I’m not disappointed, world records are there to be broken and they don’t last long,” said Seebohm.
“I’m stoked with that time and I’m really looking forward to the 100m tomorrow to see what I can do – 2015 has been a great year and it couldn’t be better leading into next year – I can’t wait.”
- 27.83/58.24 (30.41)/1:29.29 (31.05)/1:59.49 (30.20) – Seebohm (2015 Australian Short Course Championships)
- 28.17/58.36 (30.19)/1:28.77 (30.41)/1:59.23 (30.46) – Hosszu (World Record) Doha 2014
- 28.02/59.16 (31.14)/1:30.37 (31.21)/2:00.13 (29.76) – Seebohm – Doha 2014
Larkin, who set new Australian and Commonwealth records in the long course 100 and 200 backstroke at the World Cup in Dubai this November, broke the Australian record in the men’s 50 backstroke winning the event in a time of 22.91. The previous record of 23.04 was set by Robert Hurley in 2012.
Larkin now holds the Australian record in every backstroke event except for the long course 50 backstroke, which is held by Ben Treffers who posted a 24.54 in 2014.
World’s Number One
In the first event of the evening Jessica Ashwood recorded the world’s top time in the women’s 800 freestyle beating Hungarian Bolga Kapas time of 8:14.23. Ashwood, who set new Australian marks in the 400 (4:03.34), 800 (8:18.41) and 1500 freestyle (15:52.17) in Kazan this summer, bettered her previous best time of 8:16.77 and was not far off Kylie Palmer‘s 2008 Australian record of 8:12.32.
Cameron McEvoy won the men’s 100 freestyle in a time of 46.31 finishing a second ahead of the field. McEvoy beat the time of 46.89 recorded by Frenchman Mehdy Metella. Although well off of the Australian record of 45.46 set by Matthew Abood in 2009, McEvoy beat his own previous best of 46.56.
In the women’s 400 IM Ellen Fullerton snuck past Hungarian Katinka Hosszu beating her 2015 best by one tenth of a second. Fullterton posted a winning time of 4:28.72 to tie her own Australian record which she put up in 2009.
Changing of the Guard in Women’s Breaststroke
Georgia Bohl, who finished fifth at the 2014 Australian Short Course Championships, improved on her lifetime best of 1:05.90 by over a second, winning the women’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:04.65. Bohl defeated 2013 national champion Sally Hunter who finished second in a time of 1:04.85 and 2014 national champion Leiston Pickett who posted a 1:05.38.
Bohl, who has improved steadily since 2013 when her lifetime best was a 1:09.09, is now ranked second in the world behind American Katie Meili who recorded a 1:04.40 earlier this month.