McKeown Hits Big-Time 58.14 100 Back, Tamsin Cook Returns To Form

2021 SYDNEY OPEN

• Thursday, May 13th – Sunday, May 16th
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Heats at 6pm local; Finals at 9am local
• Meet Site
• Start List
• SwimSwam Preview
• Results or Meet Mobile

The 2021 Sydney Open rolled on with evening heats, with the likes of Kaylee McKeown, Emma McKeon, Matthew Temple and Matt Wilson back in the water.

After McKeown’s ground-breaking 2:04.31 Aussie national record in the 200m backstroke this morning, the 19-year-old topped the 100m field tonight in a big-time 58.14. Splitting 28.57/29.57, McKeown’s performance here in Sydney checks in as the 3rd fastest of her career.

She owns the Aussie national record with the 57.93 she produced last December and then also holds a super quick 58.11 from the month prior. As such, tonight’s 58.14 represents a tremendous performance that inserts itself into slot #7 among the all-time performances. We’ll see what she produces in the morning final.

As for McKeon, the versatile Griffith University standout reaped lane 4 in the women’s 100m fly, clocking 57.71. That’s on track to possibly come near her season-best of 56.44, a time she logged last month at the Australian Championships.

The men’s 50m fly saw Temple get to the wall ahead of the field in 23.97, while Zac Stubblety-Cook snagged the top spot in the 100m breast with 1:00.37.

Another highlight came in the form of comeback swimmer Tamsin Cook in the women’s 400m free heats. The 2016 Olympian checked in with a super solid time of 4:06.48, a mark that represents the 5th fastest outing of her career. The FINA ‘A’ cut stands at 4:07.90, which means that Cook is well under that time standard with the Aussie Olympic Trials coming up next month.

As background on Cook, the Western Aussie is still on the comeback trail after taking a swimming hiatus in 2018. Prior to that time she finished an impressive 6th in the 400m freestyle with her PB of 4:04.36 and battled American Katie Ledecky again on the anchor leg of the women’s 4x200m freestyle to hang on for Olympic silver in Rio at the last Summer Olympic Games.