As the Victorian Open Championships wrapped up in Melbourne over the weekend, the 2014 swimming season was just getting started with the country’s best swimmers keen to perfect their race routine ahead of a jam-packed year.
With three major international long course events on the Australian Swim Team’s schedule in the coming months; the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast, a number of swimmers posted impressive pre-season times and demonstrated their desire to represent their country at these events.
Queensland based teenager Madeline Groves was one swimmer making waves at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, with the 18-year-old flying into first place and re-writing the Victorian record books in both the 100 and 200m butterfly.
In the 100m fly Groves stepped up to the blocks less than 20 minutes after finishing the 400m freestyle and took out the title in a new Victorian Championship record and a personal best time of 57.43, to take the title half a body length ahead of Alicia Coutts (58.11) and Ellen Gandy (58.55).
Despite the minimal rest between events, Groves’ time would have been fast enough for a top five finish at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona last year.
The following day the St Peters Western swimmer set the pool alight again, this time in the 200m butterfly, stopping the clock at 2:06.09, setting a new Victorian Championship record and collecting her second gold medal of the meet.
Groves’ next stop will see her make her senior team debut at the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series in Perth from January 31 to 2 February, where she will get the chance to test her racing skills against swimmers from Brazil, China, Japan and South Africa.
Swimming Australia High Performance Director Michael Scott and new National Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren were in Melbourne at the weekend to see many members of the Australian Swim Team start their 2014 season, with Verhaeren impressed with what he saw from both athletes and coaches.
“It was good to meet a number of coaches and athletes in Melbourne at the weekend, and I was really happy to see them using the Victorian State Championships to work on their programs and processes,” said Verhaeren.
”Some of our athletes will have another chance to do that in Perth this week at the WA State Championships, and then the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series is our first chance for coaches and athletes to start really testing that process at an international level.”
“Performing to your best at the top level is about putting the right program and process in place to deliver a maximum performance on the day.”
Other swimmers showing signs of early season speed in Melbourne over the weekend included World Championship representatives James Magnussen, Belinda Hocking, and Bronte Barratt.
Magnussen gave a preview of what we can expect in Perth when he took out the final of the men’s 100m freestyle in a time of 47.73 – just 0.02 of a second outside his 2013 World Championship winning time.
While Victorian local, Hocking picked up the 100 and 200m backstroke double in front of a home crowd and Barratt took the title in the women’s 200m freestyle in 1:58.30 for a new Victorian record.
The West Australian Open Championships will kick off today, January 20-24 at VenuesWest Challenge Stadium with Magnussen to be joined by training partners Jessica Ashwood and Daniel Tranter in Perth. Fellow Australian Swim Team members Tommaso D’Orsogna, Kat Downie, Matthew Abood and Yolane Kukla will also be competing in Perth this week.
This release was provided to SwimSwam Courtesy of Swimming Australia.