After breaking a 26-year-old Age Record in her heat on Sunday morning, young Geelong breaststroker Hayley Mackinder capped off her day by winning the gold in the Girls 13-years 100m Breaststroke.
Posting a scorching time of 1:11.66 in the heats to secure lane four, her efforts saw her break Kirsty Ellem’s record of 1:12.10 which has stood in place since 1995. Keeping the pace during the final, Mackinder went so close to bettering her time again – clocking 1:11.67 to secure her first Age title. Acqua Rosa Clayfield’s Meghan Guthrie-Quinn nabbed silver in 1:14.91 and Bond’s Holly Hembling secured bronze in 1:14.94.
Speaking after the race an elated Mackinder said it felt ‘amazing’ to break the record.
“It feels pretty amazing. I didn’t know I had broken it until I looked at the board this morning,” she exclaimed.
“I went out harder and did a personal best for my 50m breaststroke tonight. I’m just going to take that – I got gold so I’m really happy.
“I’m so lucky to have my coaches with me, they’re the best coaches I could ask for and I’m really lucky to have people cheering me on. I couldn’t do anything without my parents, they work hard to get me there in the mornings, my sister as well.”
Bella Zhang went bang from lane six in the Girls 15-years 200m Breaststroke to collect her first medal of the champs. Going head-to-head with Epping’s Isabella Johnson, Zhang willed herself to the line to take the spoils in 2:37.09 – just three one hundredths of a second in front of Johnson (2:37.12). Mia Feltham from Griffith University bagged bronze in 2:38.60.
Exploding from lane zero in the first event of the night, Rackley’s Isaac Cooper stunned the field in the Boys 17-years 200m Backstroke to snare his third gold medal in a time 2:03.17. Smashing the time he set earlier in the heats – which was 2:09.94 – Cooper captured the title ahead of Nudgee College’s Matthew Magnussen (2:03.61) and Knox Pymble’s Tyler Krenkels (2:04.13).
Young local swimmer, Palm Beach Currumbin’s Julia Remington, took out the Girls 13-years 400m Freestyle from lane two in 4:27.58, adding another title to the 200m breaststroke she won on Wednesday night. Remington had tough competition from Warringah Aquatic’s Zara Kasprowicz and Griffith University’s Piper Asquith who placed second and third respectively in 4:29.57 and 4:30.35.
Once again demonstrating his dominance in the pool, Flynn Southam collected his fifth gold medal at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre on Sunday night – dominating this time in the Boys 15-years 200m Freestyle. Swimming from the middle lane, no one could catch the powerful Bond athlete who posted 1:49.66. Snaring silver was Karl Albertyn from Knox Pymble in 1:53.82 while St Peters Western’s Jye Bennion placed third for bronze in 1:54.79.
Samuel Short continues to prove he can go the distance, claiming victory in the Boys 17-years 400m Freestyle. With the 200m and 800m free titles already in the bag – not to mention setting a new All Comers Record in the 800m – Short posted 3:47.52 to win by more than eight seconds. St Peters Western’s Joshua Staples steamed home for silver in 3:55.33 while as the third fastest Australian, Short’s Rackley teammate George Williamson received bronze in 4:03.98.
In a speedy splash and dash, Ainsley Trotter (St Peters Western) galloped home in the Girls 13-years 50m Freestyle, clocking 26.83 to achieve gold and her third title of the competition. In a hotly contested sprint to the finish, Warringah Aquatic teammates Hannah Morton and Zara Kasprowicz could only be split by the finest of margins – clocking 27.14 and 27.15 respectively.
Nunawading took the trifecta in the Boys 16-years 200m Individual Medley, as William Petric (2:03.41), Evan Chee (2:07.23) and Yanning Zhang (2:07.91) snared gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
The night concluded with a host of speedy relay events, access the results here.
The final day of action continues tomorrow at 9am (local time). You can catch every race live from the Gold Coast Swimming & Aquatic Centre on Amazon Prime Video or via SwimTV.
More results from night seven:
Girls 14-years 100m Backstroke
Gold – Jaclyn Barclay, St Peters Western, 1:01.69
Silver – Sally Vagg, Rocky City, 1:03.37
Bronze – Inez Miller, St Hildas, WA, 1:04.23
Boys 14-years 100m Backstroke
Gold – Hayden Hoang, MLC Marlins, 58.61
Silver – Nicholas Gladen, Macquarie Uni, 1:00.23
Bronze – Yaroslav, Zharkov, Chandler, 1:00.88
Girls 16-years 100m Butterfly
Gold – Elizabeth Dekkers, Newmarket Racers, 59.66
Silver – Ella Ramsay, St Peters Western, 1:00.21
Bronze – Isabella Martin, Brisbane Grammar, 1:01.35
Boys 16-years 100m Butterfly
Gold – Jesse Coleman, Bond, 53.83
Silver – Daniel McLoughlin, Kincumber Pacific, 55.17
Bronze – Fergus McLachlan, Norwood, 55.22
Girls 14-years 400m Individual Medley
Gold – Taryn Roberts, Rocky City, 4:49.07
Silver – Haylee Reid, Helensvale, 5:03.80
Bronze – Talika Irvine, Bay & Basin, 5:04.97
Boys 14-year 400m Individual Medley
Gold – Samuel Higgs, Warringah Aquatic, 4:39.33
Silver – Brayden Woodford, Wests Illawarra, 4:48.57
Bronze – Albert Damin An, TAS Swimming, 4:52.45
Boys 15-years 200m Breaststroke
Gold – Gideon Burnes, Palm Beach Currumbin, 2:21.86
Silver – Ryan Cothill, EC Waves, 2:25.17
Bronze – Stewart Mitchell, Surrey Park, 2:25.31
Girls 16-years 200m Individual Medley
Gold – Ella Ramsay, St Peters Western, 2:15.76
Silver – Tiana Kritzinger, Nudgee College, 2:18.18
Bronze – Elizabeth Dekkers, Newmarket Racers, 2:18.58
Boys 14-years 800m Freestyle
Gold – Ike Martinez, TAS Swimming, 8:25.75
Silver – Xavier Metcalfe, Fraser Coast, 8:48.50
Bronze – Kieran Lees, Uni of Queensland, 8:51.87
Boys 15-years 800m Freestyle
Gold – Ander McAlpine, Chandler, 8:18.48
Silver – Clancy Luscombe, Marion, 8:26.48
Bronze – Jye Bennion, St Peters Western, 8:32.02
