Swimming news reported by Braden Keith – 2014 Australian National Championships
Women’s 50 Free – FINALS
Australia’s Cate Campbell already had the world’s top-ranked time coming into this meet, and she’s reaffirmed that status this week by going faster than her previous season-best three times, with a 24.23 in prelims, a 24.13 in the semi’s, and now a 24.18 in finals of the women’s 50 free.
With virtually nobody in the Pan Pacific region or in the Commonwealth of Nations who can contend with that this summer (Simone Manuel, perhaps, will be her best competition), she will be a heavy favorite to pick up big hardware at the summer’s big events.
The Australians as a nation could do very well in these women’s sprint free events; as shown above, they now have three of the four fastest in the world this year. Cate’s younger sister, 19-year old Bronte Campbell, was a 24.58 for 2nd, and Mel Schlanger added time from the semis, but was still good enough for 3rd in 24.82.
That time for the 27-year old Schlanger will ensure her of spots on both the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs teams, which is huge for her after missing most of the 2013 season, including Worlds, while battling a rib injury.
Emma McKeon, who already has multiple swims locked up for the summer, was 4th in 25.00, followed by Brittany Elmslie (25.05), Holly Barratt (25.29), Yolane Kukla (25.39), and the talented 15-year old Shayna Jack (25.51).
MEN’S 100 BREAST – FINALS
While earlier in the meet, we discussed that Christian Sprenger was getting back into the 200 breaststroke with great success this year, which hasn’t cost him anything in this 100 of which he was the 2012 Olympic Champion. After a mediocre semi-final swim, Sprenger put in a 58.87 in finals to break his own All-Comers record of 59.05 that he swam last year.
So sharp was Sprenger in this swim that he turned in 27.35 – which on its own would be a world leader in the 50 meter event. He’ll swim that event final on Saturday, with his two primary qualifications out of the way, so expect him to rip off an impressive time there.
His load could be pretty big at the CG’s and Pan Pacs. With his former running mate Brenton Rickard retired, Sprenger is swimming alone in the breaststroke pool and will be Australia’s only option for the medley relays this summer (unless they give 200 man Daniel Tranter a go in a fairly meaningless prelims swim).
The runner-up here, Jake Packard, didn’t clear the SAL “B” time with his 1:01.38, though it was a new lifetime best for the 19-year old. Buster Sykes was 3rd in 1:01.73, and Tommy Sucipto took 4th in 1:01.97. The 2nd-4th ranked guys are all 19 or 20 years old, though, so with Sprenger already at 28 years old, it looks at least as though the next generation is beginning to come up from behind to fill that hole after Sprenger’s retirement.