O’Callaghan Takes On Six Swims On Day Two Of 2023 Queensland Championships

2023 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, December 9th – Friday, December 15th
• Brisbane Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• Swimming Australia 2024 World Championships Qualifying Criteria
• Meet Central
• Draft Entries
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results

Day three of the 2023 Queensland Championships saw an impressive display of stamina by World Record holder Mollie O’Callaghan.

The 19-year-old swam the heats and finals of the 100m fly, the heats and finals of the 400m freestyle and finally the heats and finals of the 100m free to register a lineup of six swift performances on the day.

First on her agenda, O’Callaghan led the B-Final of the 100m fly, scoring a time of 58.98 to get to the wall first. She opened in 27.72 and closed in 31.26 to produce a time that would have placed 7th in the A-Final.

Her outing represents a big-time personal best, crushing the 1:01.05 logged at the 2021 edition of these championships.

Taking the 1fly A-Final was USC Spartan Alexandria Perkins. The 23-year-old notched 57.48 to get the edge over 27-year-old Brianna Throssell who touched in 57.53. Japan’s Rikako Ikee rounded out the podium in 57.74.

For Perkins, her outing surpassed her previous PB of 57.64 put up in April with tonight’s time also representing just the 3rd occasion on which she’s been under 58.

Throssell’s career-quickest remains at the 56.96 turned in during the semi-finals at the 2022 World Championships. She ultimately placed 6th in Budapest in 56.98.

Ikee’s time tonight was speedier than the 58.98 she registered for 5th place in this event at this year’s Asian Games and actually would have garnered the bronze there in Hangzhou. As a refresher, she and teammate Daiya Seto are both currently training under Michael Bohl at Griffith through the end of the year. Seto won the men’s 200m breast earlier in the competition.

In her second event on the night, O’Callaghan clocked a time of 4:09.43 to come away with the 400m free bronze behind teammate Ariarne Titmus and New Zealand’s Eve Thomas.

23-year-old World Record holder Titmus clocked a solid time of 4:04.25 to follow up on her 1:55.99 result in the 200m free last night. Both performances represent the Dean Boxall-trained ace’s first since having undergone surgery to remove benign ovarian tumors. 

NZL’s Thomas checked in with a mark of 4:07.63 for 400m free silver. The 22-year-old holds a career-best of 4:06.10 in this event from this year’s Australian National Championships.

O’Callaghan has been as fast as 4:07.21 in this 4free event, a time she put on the books this spring at the NSW State Open Championships.

Finally, in the women’s 100m free, O’Callaghan posted a time of 53.27 to place 4th behind a trio of fellow speedsters.

25-year-old Shayna Jack was the event winner, clocking 52.76 as the sole competitor under the 53-second threshold. Splitting 25.31/27.45, Jack logged her fastest time of the season and now sits only behind Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey in the season’s world rankings.

Jack’s time checks in as the 3rd-best of her career, one which boasts a PB of 52.60 at the 2022 Australian Championships.

Meg Harris, whose training home is now Rackley after she left Marion this summer, scored silver in 53.03 and 31-year-old Cate Campbell bagged bronze in 53.23.

Additional finishers included 17-year-old Milla Jansen who wrangled up 5th in 54.42 and Ikee dove back in for 6th in 54.54 after a 54.12 heat swim. Kaylee McKeown was in the A-Final as well, registering 54.72 to place 8th.

McKeown also took on the 100m breaststroke this evening and turned in a solid 1:07.47 to earn the silver. It was 26-year-old Miami swimmer Jenna Strauch who struck gold in 1:07.30 as another stop along her post-injury return quest.

Ramsay rounded out the top 3 performers in 1:07.64, a new personal best by nearly a second.

Commonwealth Games medalist Cody Simpson led the men’s 100m butterfly final, ripping a time of 51.67 to top the pack. He split 24.19/27.48 to beat out Shaun Champion who touched in 52.55 while Ben Armbruster logged 52.72 for bronze.

Simpson’s effort sliced .11 off his previous career-best of 51.78 posted at this same competition last year. However, it still fell short of the stiff Swimming Australia-mandated qualification time of 51.17 needed to qualify for the 2024 World Championships.

World Championships multi-medalist Sam Short of Rackley powered his way to a victory in the men’s 400m free, battling Elijah Winnington the entire way.

Short fired off a head-turning 1:49.50 front half before holding on to register 3:44.20 as the winner. Winnington finished in 27.33 on the final 50m to nearly catch Short, ultimately hitting 3;44.43 to settle for silver.

Short already ranked #2 in the world this season, courtesy of the 3:44.51 put up at the Budapest stop of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup. After reducing that to tonight’s 3:44.20, the Rackley star now wears the rankings crown, taking it from South Korean Kim Woomin. Winnington is now 3rd on the season.

Additional Notes

• Both Emma McKeon and Zac Stubblety-Cook were entered in events today but neither wound up swimming. We’re reaching out to find out why.
• Japan’s Marin Nakano nailed a new Queensland All Comers Record en route to winning the girls’ 200m IM for 12-year-olds. Nakano touched in 2:19.85 to erase the previous record of 2:20.31 fellow Japanese athlete Miyuki Ishikawa established nearly 30 years ago in 1995.
• The men’s open 100m breast saw 19-year-old Haig Buckingham touch in 1:00.34 for the win. Sam Williamson was next in 1:01.05. This pair competed at the Japan Open earlier this month, where Williamson notched a new Aussie Record of 26.51 in the 50m breast. He scored a 100m breast PB of 59.26 in Tokyo as well.
• 20-year-old Kai Taylor took the gold in the men’s 100m freestyle, with the St. Peters Western swimmer scoring 48.86 as one of two athletes under the 49-second threshold. Joining him was Maximillian Giuliani, following up his 200m free gold last night with silver here in 48.90.