2021 VICTORIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, February 20th & Sunday, February 21st
- Melbourne Sports Centre Outdoor Pool (MSAC), Queensland, Australia
- Timed Finals
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entry Lists
- Results: Meet Mobile
The 2021 Victorian Open kicked off today at the Melbourne Sports Centre Outdoor Pool, with this year’s edition of the annual event changed up due to the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the meet being condensed down to just 2 days, the races are now contested as timed finals.
Olympic champion Mack Horton was indeed in the water tonight, taking on the men’s 400m freestyle. Hitting the wall in a final result of 3:53.81, Horton represented the only man of the field to get under the 4:01 mark.
Melbourne Vicentre’s Horton last raced in December at the Queensland Championships where he had a lukewarm set of performances. He placed 10th in the men’s 200m free with a time of 1:51.83. In the 400m free, the Melbourne Vicentre athlete posted a morning time of 3:57.12 to rank 10th after prelims but wound up opting out of the final race.
Although this Vic Open is a non-selection, non-taper meet, Horton will need to up his game on the journey to Olympic Trials to reach the realm of Aussie countrymate Elijah Winnington. Winnington ranks as the #1 400m freestyler in the world so far this season with his scorching 3;43.90 from last December’s Queensland Championships.
Jack McLoughlin is another Aussie gunning for a 400m free Olympic spot, owning the #2 slot among the world’s top performers with season with his time of 3:44.24 from the same QLD Championships.
2020-2021 LCM Men 400 Free
Winnington
3:42.65
| 2 | Jack McLoughlin | AUS | 3:43.27 | 06/12 |
| 3 | Ahmed Hafnaoui | TUN | 3:43.36 | 07/24 |
| 4 | Henning Muehilleitner | GER | 3:43.67 | 07/24 |
| 5 | Felix Auboeck | AUT | 3:43.91 | 07/24 |
In other races this evening, Daniel Cave won the men’s 50m breast in 28.63 while Kayla Costa topped the women’s 50m fly in 27.27.
Additional winners included Nunawading’s Julia Hawkins grabbing gold in the 100m free in 56.52 while 26-year-old Jack Gerrard found success as the top men’s 50m backstroker tonight in a mark of 27.30.