While the Australians sent a small squad to Istanbul this weekend for the Short Course World Championships, that performed very well, an equally impressive squad began competition at the long course Queensland State Championship meet in Brisbane this weekend.
Through Monday evening, we’ve seen two nights of open competition and several Olympians have shown quite brightly.
Among those swimmers are breaststroker Christian Sprenger, who was the Olympic silver medalist in the 100 in London. Coming into 2012, Sprenger was one of the best 200 breaststrokers in history, but had never even broken a minute in the sprintier breaststroke distance.
Now, he’s done it 5 times in the last year, which ties him with Kosuke Kitajima for as many as anybody has done this year (Cameron van der Burgh, the World Record holder, has done it 6 times). He won the 100 breaststroke on Sunday in 59.80, a three-second margin, which made him the first man ever to go under a minute on Queensland soil. That speaks volumes, as the state is one of the biggest producers of Australian international-level talent.
Nicholas Schafer was 2nd in 1:02.77 and Brenton Rickard was disappointingly 3rd in only 1:02.92. Meanwhile, Sprenger stuck to his guns of being through with the 200 breaststroke (he scratched the race at Aussie trials) and didn’t swim it here; Schaefer won it in his stead with a 2:15.56.
One of the biggest breakouts at last years Olympic Trials was Brittany Elmslie, who made the squad for London at only 17 (though is now 18). She already has a pair of freestyle wins early in this meet. First in the 200 on Saturday, she won the meet’s first event with a 1:58.34 in the 200 free. This was an impressive final that included runner-up Bronte Barratt in 1:59.46 and Katie Goldman in 3rd in 2:00.18.
Then in the 100 free, Elmslie used a great back-half to just out-touch fellow Olympian Cate Campbell 54.58-54.66. Close behind them in 3rd was another 18-year old, Emma McKeon, in 54.84. For the Aussies to have three swimmers go under 55 seconds, at this sort of off-timed, regional meet, is very impressive. That’s why they’re the defending gold medalists in the 400 free relay and are the favorites to repeat in 2016.
Emily Seebohm was only 4th in that race in a 55.23, but in the 100 fly she won a showdown with her teammate Elmslie in 59.02. Seebohm was fantastic both on the first 50 and second 50 of this swim, splitting 27.49-31.53. Elmslie was 2nd in 1:00.66, just out-touching 17-year old Madeline Groves from St. Peter’s Western, with Groves taking a bronze medal in 1:00.77. Groves has had a few rough years since first breaking a minute in this race at only 15 years old, but seems to be back on the right track.
Seebohm added a second win by breaking a minute again in the 100 back. She finished in 59.83, beating St. Peter’s Western teammates Meagen Nay (1:01.37) and Madison Wilson (1:02.38).
In the women’s 100 breaststroke, Lorna Tonks from the Redcliff Leagues Swim Club moved into the world’s top-50 with a 1:07.95, besting 15-year old Georgia Bohl, who was 2nd in 1:09.59.
Back on the men’s side of racing, Thomas Fraser-Holmes won the 200 free in 1:47.27. That’s within three-tenths of the time that got him 7th at the Olympics in this race. He bettered David McKeon in the race, who was 2nd in 1:49.40.
Much like the 100 on the women’s side, this is a race where the Australians are showing a lot of incredibly-young depth. In this race alone, they had four men go under 1:50; that includes Ryan Napoleon in 3rd (1:49.63) and still-18-year-old Cameron McEvoy in 4th (1:49.83).