This weekend’s 2023 Sydney Open and UNISPORT Nationals Swim Meet at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre will feature no fewer than seven Olympic gold medallists and five Paralympic gold medallists as Australia’s elite swimmers prepare for this year’s World Championships.
Bronte Campbell (Cruiz, ACT) will make a long-awaited competition comeback alongside gold-medal-winning Tokyo teammates, Marion SA pair Meg Harris and Madi Wilson in the 50m freestyle heats.
With the relay trio joined by individual Olympic champions Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University, QLD), Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD), Kyle Chalmers (Marion, SA) and Mack Horton (Griffith University, QLD)for the three-day competition, starting Friday and concluding on Sunday night.
It will be the final hit out for many of Australia’s elite swimmers as they put the finishing touches to their World Championship Trials preparations, alongside a strong New Zealand contingent, led by world-class middle-distance freestyler Erika Fairweather (Neptune, NZ) who will contest the 100, 200, 400 and 800m freestyle.
Fairweather will re-ignite her rivalry with Australia’s World Short Course star Lani Pallister (Griffith University, QLD) following previous tussles in the World Juniors and in the absence of Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus (St Peters Western, QLD), who will by-pass this meet as she prepares for the World Trials.
The Melbourne Sports And Aquatic Centre will play host to the six-day Australian Trials Meet (June 13-18) for the World Championships in Fukuoka, JPN (August 14-30).
The Sydney Open Meet will also feature already selected members of Australia’s World Championship Para Swim Team as they prepare for the World Championships in Manchester (July 31-August 6) – spearheaded by Paralympic gold medallists Lakeisha Patterson, Brenden Hall and Rachael Watson who will race under the University of Queensland banner, Rowan Crothers (Yeronga Park, QLD) and Will Martin (Chandler, QLD).
BRONTE’S RETURN TO RACING
It will be Bronte Campbell’s first appearance since winning her second Olympic gold in Tokyo 2021 alongside sister Cate, Emma McKeon, Harris and Wilson in Australia’s triumphant, world-beating 4x100m freestyle relay team.
Cate Campbell, who returned successfully at the Australian Championships on the Gold Coast last month and four-time Tokyo golden girl McKeon will by-pass the meet.
Bronte, Harris and Wilson will line up in Friday’s 50m freestyle heats in what will be a low-key start under new coach Shannon Rollason, Campbell competing under the Canberra-based Cruiz Swim Club banner.
The Sydney-based 29-year-old will juggle her training schedules between Canberra and Sydney with the Cranbrook squad under the watchful eye of Bec Wheatley with Rollason, the man who coached Jodie Henry to Olympic 100m gold in 2004, planning the sessions.
Campbell will be making every post a winner in the heats on Friday, unavailable for the finals due to a friend’s wedding – her major goal being a fourth Olympics in Paris next year.
For McKeown (Griffith University, QLD) the meet will see her return to the pool which saw her set the 200m backstroke world record at the NSW State Championships in March and her three-gold medal haul in the 100m backstroke, 200m breaststroke and 200 IM at last month’s Australian Championships on the Gold Coast.
McKeown will line up in the 100 and 200m backstroke and the 200 and 400IM as she juggles her versatility, which has not only seen her lower her backstroke times but also record personal bests in both breaststroke, freestyle and the 200 IM.
Chalmers, who withheld the challenges of the next generation at the Australian Championships, will take on one of those youngsters when he lines up against fellow Commonwealth Games teammates Flynn Southam (Bond, QLD) and Will Yang (SOPAC, NSW) in the 100 and 200m freestyles.
Stubblety-Cook, the Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion and world record holder in the 200m breaststroke, will limit his appearance to his main event while 2016 Olympic champion Horton will also just contest his main event, the 400m freestyle.
