In a great start to the Japan Open Championships NSW swimmers certainly made a statement with 5 swimmers in A Finals and 2 swimmers in the B finals.
Jess Cole (Coach Pat Stellino) led the team off with a great swim in the W 200m Butterfly placing 4th overall in a time of 2:12.56.
Next up was the W 200m Freestyle with NSW swimmers taking the top 2 spots into the A final. Jaimie De Lutiis (Coach Pat Stellino) is the fastest qualifier with a well swam race in 1:59.59. Close behind her was her NSW teammate Abbey Webb (Coach Shannon Rollason) in a time of 2:00.69. Making the B final, having placed 13th overall is Lillie McPherson (Coach Justin Rothwell) in a time of 2:02.94.
In the M 200m Freestyle Marcus Da Silva (Coach Bec Wheatley) is ranked 7th into the final tonight after a superb finish! Marcus qualified into the final with a time of 1:49.43. In the B final will be Matthew Galea (Coach Adam Kable) who swam a time of 1:49.68.
In the W 100m Breaststroke Sienna Toohey (Coach Wayne Gould) swam a great heat and goes through to the final ranked 2nd just behind the Japanese record holder. Sienna’s time was 1:08.18.
In other swims Marius Boll (Coach Chris Nesbit) was just over his entry time in M 100m Backstroke in a time of 56.55.
A great start to the meet for the Mighty Blues…looking forward to the finals!
Day 1 Japan Open – FINALS
A great night of Finals for the Mighty Blues
Leading the way in the W 200m Butterfly was Jessica Cole (Coach Pat Stellino) who swam a great race to finish 4th in 2:11.22 just 0.02 from a podium finish. The time that she swam also eclipsed her entry time.
Undoubtedly the highlight of the night was the W 200m Freestyle final. The event saw two NSW girls going head-to-head to battle it out for the gold medal. Both superb swims but in the end Abbey Webb (Coach Shannon Rollason) claimed the gold in a new PB of 1:56.68. Taking the silver was Jaimie De Lutiis (Coach Pat Stellino) in a PB of 1:58.43. It was awesome to see both girls on the podium receiving their medals.
Up next in the M 200m Freestyle Marcus Da Silva (Coach Bec Wheatley). In a very fast race Marcus came in 6th in a time of 1:49.31…the first time he’s swam under 1:50 for both heat and final.
In the W 100m Breaststroke Sienna Toohey (Coach Wayne Gould) placed 3rd in a very competitive race in the 3rd fastest time of her young career in 1:08.02. A great swim considering it was her first international final.
In the B finals Lillie McPherson (Coach Justin Rothwell) placed 8th in the W 200m Freestyle in a time of 2:03.72. In the M 200m Freestyle no one was going to catch Matthew Galea who took out the B final in a new PB of 1:49.16.
Medals: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Looking forward to tomorrow where all the team are competing.
Day 2 Japan Open – FINALS
Another Great Night for the Mighty Blues
NSW swimmers had more success on night 2 of finals at the Japan Open.
In the first Final of the night Sienna Toohey (Coach Wayne Gould) continued her medal winning ways. In a tight race Sienna hit the wall in 31.26 to claim the silver medal.
Next up was Matthew Galea (Coach Adam Kable) in the M 400m Freestyle. Matthew, defending the title he won last year was pressed all the way with the lead changing many times. It came down to the last 10m with Matthew prevailing and claiming the gold medal in 3:49.05.
Stewart Swinburn (Coach Adam Kable) was in his first final of the meet in the M 200m backstroke. In a well executed race Stewart claimed the bronze medal in 1:59.38
In the W 100m freestyle final NSW teammates Abbey Webb (Coach Shannon Rollason) and Jaimie De Lutiis (Coach Pat Stellino) were the top two seeds and were set for another battle as they did the previous night in the 200m final. We weren’t disappointed with both swimmers recording personal bests. Abbey took the gold in 54.06 and Jaimie the silver in 54.60.
In the M 100m freestyle final Marcus Da Silva (Coach Bec Wheatley) was in for a fight with less than a second separating the finalists from the morning heats. Marcus rose to the occasion and once again executed his finish to claim the bronze medal in 49.55.
It’s great to see the medals spread amongst the team with 6 of 10 swimmers on the podium! Another pleasing stat is the conversion rate from heat to final currently standing at 86.7%!
Medals tonight: 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze
Medals total: 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 bronze
Sunday is the last day of racing, and we are looking for the team to finish the meet well!
Day 3 Japan Open – Finals
NSW Touring Team Finish the Japan Open on a High!
The last night of competition saw the team win another 3 medals to add to their impressive tally of nine they have accumulated over the previous 2 days of competition.
Kicking off the night was Matthew Galea (Coach Adam Kable) in the M 800m freestyle. After a battle with a couple of other swimmers Matthew hit the wall in 7:56.08 to take the silver medal.
The event of the night was the W 50m freestyle. Once again, as they had done on the two previous nights Jaimie De Lutiis (Coach Pat Stellino) and Abbey Webb (Coach Shannon Rollason) were the two top seeds for the final. After going head-to-head the whole way Jaimie turned the tables on her teammate to claim her first gold medal of the meet in a time of 25.06. Abbey was only 0.08 behind in 25.14 to claim the silver medal…both in new PB’s.
Following the women’s 50m was the M 50m freestyle and making his first international final was Tom Robinson (Coach Shannon Rollason) in a hot field that included the Olympic Champion Cam McEvoy. Undeterred Tom put in a mighty performance to back up his PB swim in the morning with another PB finishing in 5thplace in 22.42. For the record Cam won in 21.70.
In the B finals Lillie McPherson (Coach Justin Rothwell) placed 14th in the W 50m freestyle in a time of 26.31. In the W 100m Butterfly Jessica Cole (Coach Pat Stellino) placed 10th in a time of 59.91.
Well, that completed the final swims by the NSW Touring Team and what a great job they have done. Huge congratulations not only to the mighty group of 10 swimmers but our coaches who were led by Head Coach Shannon Rollason. Congratulations to Pat Stellino, Bec Wheatley and Adam Kable…so many learnings for all. The team mantra was about racing, about making finals and beating the person next to them. They knew they had to swim fast in the morning heats to make the finals and that they did…then swam even faster in the final!
We ended the night with team dinner at a Japanese BBQ Restaurant…a great night where our finalist were presented with special certificates from the Japan Swimming Federation
Medals tonight: 1 Gold, 2 Silver
Medals total: 4 Gold, 5 Silver, 3 bronze = 12 medals.
Finals: 21 Conversion from Heats to Finals: 85%
That’s it from the Japan Open…see you all at State Age!
GO THE MIGHTY BLUES!
