Day 3 Highlights:
Congratulations to Tim Hodge (ACU Blacktown), who shattered his own SM9 200m IM World Record in the Para 200m IM Final. Sticking to his race plan, Tim split 28.37/32.89/38.87/31.90 to post a new time of 2:12.03, shaving 0.03 seconds off his previous PB. This impressive feat certainly puts the world on notice as we head towards the Paris Paralympics. Kudos to both Tim and his coach, Misha Payne.
In other Para news, Jasmine Greenwood (Cruiz – Coach Marty Roberts – SA Para HUM – AIS) finished 1st in the Women’s 200m IM with a time just outside the automatic qualifying mark. However, she has already posted a qualifying time in the S10 100m Butterfly.
The pool was electrifying with the best Women's 200m Freestyle ever swum in night 3 finals. An incredible six girls swam under the qualifying time, with Ariarne Titmus narrowly touching out Mollie O’Callaghan in a new World Record of 1:52.23. Mollie also swam under her previous World Record time! It was a pleasure to witness such a spectacular race.
In the Men’s 50m Freestyle Final, Will Yang (SOPAC – Coach Adam Kable – NSWIS HUB) placed 7th with a time of 22.23. The event was won by Cameron McEvoy in a time of 21.35, marking his qualification for a fourth Olympics – the first Australian male swimmer to achieve this feat!
Matthew Galea (SOPAC – Coach Adam Kable – NSWIS HUB) showed great determination in the Men’s 800m Freestyle, finishing 3rd with a time of 7:53.99. We look forward to seeing Matthew compete in the 1500m later in the program.
Day 4 Highlights:
Exciting news for the Mighty Blues as Will Yang (SOPAC – Coach Adam Kable – NSWIS HUB) secured his place on the Olympic Team with a blistering final 50m in the Men’s 100m Freestyle. Will turned in 23.18 and came home in 24.90, setting a new PB of 48.08 to claim second place behind Kyle Chalmers (47.75). Will’s time was just 0.02 seconds outside the Australian Team’s automatic qualifying time but well within the World Aquatics “A” standard of 48.34, earning him a spot on the Australian 4x100m Relay Team. Congratulations to both Will and Adam.
In other A finals, Abbey Webb (Cruiz – Coach Shannon Rollason – SNSW Performance Centre) placed 7th in the Women’s 200m Backstroke with a time of 2:14.29.
The Men’s 200m IM saw three NSW swimmers in the A final. Se-Bom Lee (SOPAC – Coach Adam Kable – NSWIS HUB) gave a strong performance to place 3rd with a time of 2:00.11. Manly Swim Club (Coach Justin Rothwell) had two swimmers in the final: Gabriel Gorgas placed 5th in 2:02.36, followed closely by teammate Joshua Kerr in 6th with a time of 2:02.46.
In the Women’s 200m Butterfly, Bella Grant (Trinity Grammar – Coach Ben Tuxford) gave her all to finish 3rd with a time of 2:08.86. Jessica Cole (West Illawarra – Coach Pat Stellino) placed 7th in 2:13.12, with Rafaela Kopellou (SOPAC – Coach James Greathead) coming in 8th at 2:13.58.
As we all know, the Australian Olympic Swimming Team is one of the hardest teams in the world to make. To reach the finals at this event is a significant achievement. Congratulations to all the swimmers who made the A finals so far!
In the Para events, Tim Hodge (ACU Blacktown – Coach Misha Payne) once again stood out by swimming a new PB of 1:11.37 in the 100m Breaststroke event, taking another minute off his previous best.
Here is a list of Day 3 & 4 NSW A Finalists:
