Chalmers Collects Remarkable 4th Australian National Title

2019 AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, April 7th – Friday, April 12th
• SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre
• LCM
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Entry Lists
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4/Day 5
• Live Results
• Live Stream

As a reminder this meet is NOT a World Championships qualifying affair. The Australian World Championships Trials take place in June.

Men’s 50m Free – Final

• GOLD – Kyle Chalmers, 22.07
• SILVER – Will Stockwell, 22.29
• BRONZE – Grayson Bell, 22.42

On the heels of American Caeleb Dressel firing off his fastest 200m free ever, in-season to boot, halfway around the world his speeding bullet rival Kyle Chalmers of Australia threw down a personal best of his own. 20-year-old Chalmers produced his quickest 50m freestyle to do date, a time of 22.07 to win the gold.

The 2016 100m free Olympic champion wrapped up his remarkable 4th national title at these championships with this win, having claimed the 100m free, 200m free and 100m fly throughout the 6-day competition.

Entering these Nationals, Chalmers’ personal best in this 50m free event rested at the 22.13 he threw down just this past January at the South Australian Open States. Prior to that, you’d have to go back to the 2016 and 2015 for his lifetime bests, which were 22.15 and 22.19, respectively. The latter time was logged en route to the gold at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Singapore. At that competition, Chalmers took home an incredible 7 medals, including double gold in the aforementioned 50m free and 100m free.

With his 22.07 tonight, Chalmers now inserts himself into the world rankings as the 11th fastest swimmer, fittingly just .01 ahead of Dressel.

Runner-up tonight went to Rackley athlete Will Stockwell in 22.29, while Grayson Bell rounded out the top 3 in 22.42.

Women’s 200m IM – Final

• GOLD – Calypso Sheridan, 2:11.53
• SILVER – Abbey Harkin, 2:12.26
• BRONE – Blair Evans, 2:14.29

Brisbane Grammar swimmer Calypso Sheridan continued her siege on the women’s IM events, doubling up on her 400m IM silver from night 2 with another powerful swim tonight. Entering these championships, the Northwestern University student-athlete’s 200m IM personal best rested at teh 2:15.43 she produced at the Queensland Championships in 20116 at just 17 years of age.

This morning Sheridan dropped that down to 2:14.74 to claim the top seed, only to lay waste to that new PB with a humongous winning effort of 2:11.53. That’s about a 4 second time drop in a day from where she was to now sit as the 13th fastest swimmer in the world this season.

St. Peters Western swimmer Abbey Harkin, who took the 100m breast national title earlier in this competition, snagged silver tonight in this 200m Im in 2:12.26. That’s over a second and a half off of her previous lifetime best effort.

Western Australia’s Blair Evans took home bronze in 2:14.29.

Men’s 200m Back – Final

• GOLD – Mitch Larkin, 1:56.22
• SILVER – Tristan Hollard, 1:57.17
• BRONZE – Cameron Tysoe, 1:59.10

Not to be outshone by Chalmers is the fact that Mitch Larkin also picked up his 4th National Title of these championships tonight, busting out a 1:56.22 to win the men’s 200m back. That gold is added to his 200m IM, 400m IM and 100m back national titles here in Adelaide.

Tonight Larkin led the charge of 2 other sub-2:00 swimmers in Tristan Hollard and Cameron Tysoe, who finished with the silver and bronze in times of 1:57.17 and 1:59.10, respectively.

Larkin’s time tonight, after a long meet of intense racing, places the 25-year-old St. Peters Western swimmer right in the mix among the world’s best swimmers at 11th in the world rankings this season.

Overall in his career, Larkin’s gold tonight represents his 18th national title.

Women’s 100m Back – Final

• GOLD – Minna Atherton, 59.71
• SILVER – Kaylee McKeown, 59.88
• BRONZE – Madi Wilson, 1:00.53

With training partner and domestic rival Emily Seebohm not competing here in South Australia, 18-year-old Minna Atherton went head-to-head with 17-year-old 400m IM winner Kylee McKeown in the 100m back tonight.

Splitting 29.14 to McKeown’s 29.22 to start out, Atherton held on to come home in 30.57 to McKeown’s 30.66 and take the title in 59.71. This is added to Atherton’s 50m back title already from this competition.

Tonight’s time from Atherton is within striking distance of her personal best of 59.34 from 2016. For McKeown, her PB is 59.25 from last year’s Pan Pacs.

Wilson finishing in 3rd in 1:00.53 is also notable, proving she’s still got her backstroke discipline in form while dropping some notable times in the 100m/200m freestyles to put her name in the ring for relay spots this summer.

Men’s 200m Fly – Final

• GOLD – Nic Brown, 1:56.50
• SILVER – Bowen Gough, 1:56.73
• BRONZE – David Morgan, 1:57.21

Putting up the best time of his career, 23-year-old Nic Brown stood atop the men’s 200m fly podium in a time of 1:56.50. This marks the 23-year-old Western Australian’s first time ever under the 1:57 barrier in the event. Of note, Brown’s father was also an Australian Dolphin, winning 4 national titles between the years 1988 and 1990.

Nunawading’s Bowen Gough took the silver in 1:56.73, while Olympian David Morgan also landed on the podium in 1:57.21.

Brown’s performances places him within the top 15 performers in the world this season.

Women’s 50m Fly – Final

• GOLD – Holly Barratt, 25.91
• SILVER – Cate Campbell, 26.03
• BRONZE – Natasha Ramsden, 27.03

Bringing some outside smoke out of lane 8, 31-year-old Holly Barratt busted out a big-time 25.91 to win the women’s 50m fly tonight over national record holder Cate Campbell. C1 produced a nice swim of her own in 26.03 for silver, while Natasha Ramsden clocked 27.03 for bronze.

Tonight’s performance matches Barratt’s 4th fastest time of her long career, positioning her now 7th in the world this season.

Men’s 1500m Free – Final

• GOLD – Josh Parrish, 15:15.53
• SILVER – Ben Roberts, 15:15.66
• BRONZE – Mitchell Tinsley, 15:26.18

The grueling 1500m free final came down to the touch, with Josh Parrish hitting the wall first in 15:15.53 to just beat out Ben Roberts who finished .13 later in 15:15.66. MItchell Tinsley took bronze in 15:26.18.

Parrish took bronze in the 400m free on night 1 and silver in the 800m free as well, so he’s got a collection of all 3 medal colors to close out his national championships.

Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay – Final

St. Peters Western crushed a winning time of 4:04.87 to take the women’s 4x100m medley relay for the women by over 2 seconds. The foursome of Shayna Jack, Abbey Harkin, Michaela Ryan and Ariarne Titmus collectivtly beat out runner-up Nunawading, who finished in 4:07.55, as well as Brisbane Grammar, who earned bronze in 4:09.19.

Splits for the top team included 1:03.16 for typically non-backstroker Jack, 1:07.83 in breast for Harkin, 59.92 for Ryan in the fly and finally a solid 53.96 from Titmus, who has had the meet of her life with world-class 200m free and 400m free swims.