Women’s 100 Free – Prelims
Youth was served in the prelims of the 100 free. The top four qualifiers into the semi-finals were all teenagers: Cate Campbell (54.26) and Yolane Kukla (54.27) both had fantastic swims. Campbell was my favorite coming into this meet, if healthy. Kukla struggled in her first race of this meet the 100 fly, but that 100 free was already within a few tenths of her best time, which was done at the 2010 Pan Pac Championships where she had her major international breakout.
Emma McKeon (54.61) and Bronte Campbell (54.66) were the next two qualifiers.
Behind them, though, the veterans lurked. Alicia Coutts and Melanie Schlanger matched 54.80’s for 5th. Emily Seebohm was safely through in 55.0, was was Bronte Barratt. Another teenager, the 17-year old Brittany Elmslie who has been a hit at this meet, also made it through in 54.88.
Libby Trickett already once placed 3rd in the 100 fly in this meet, but now in her best opportunity for qualification, she was 7th in prelims in 54.83. She, unlike Thorpe and Klim, was able to improve in each round of that 100 fly competition, and so she’s still well in the hunt for a spot here.
Women’s 200 Breast – Prelims
A bit of a surprise (or maybe it shouldn’t be) came in this 200 breaststroke, when Leisel Jones swam the preliminary heats. It was unclear coming into this meet whether or not she’d take on this race – she was entered, but dropped it last year at the World Championships. After placing only 2nd in the 100 breaststroke at this meet, though still good enough to make the Olympic Team, she decided for now to at least go after the 200 as well.
She took the 2nd seed in this prelim in 2:29.78, just behind Sarah Katsoulis in 2:29.53. Though 16-year old Taylor McKeown (2:30.03) and 14-year old Karlen Pircher (2:30.83) were quite close to that pair, Katsoulis and Jones are expecting to go much faster in the later rounds and are big favorites.
Men’s 200 Back – Prelims
A new contender emerged in this race as 19-year old Matson Lawson our of Victoria took the top seed in 1:59.35. That’s a best time for him by almost a second.
Hayden Stoeckel and Ashley Delaney posted twin 2:00.0’s, and Josh Beaver, another teenager, took 4th in 2:00.86. Those are the top contenders in the finals, which will run on Tuesday evening Australia time.
Men’s 200 IM – Prelims
400 IM Champion Thomas Fraser-Holmes was safely through to this 200 IM men’s final, but he wasn’t close to the top seed. He touched in 2:02.74 for the 5th overall seed in this race, behind Jayden Hadler in 2:01.80.
But it’s going to take much faster than either of those times to win this race, so all swimmers in the semis are still well within this race.
Kenneth To had his best race of the meet with a 2:02.08. Travis Nederpelt (2:02.37) and Daniel Tranter (2:02.50) both were also in the top 5.