Rio Olympic champion, Marion’s Kyle Chalmers, will get the chance to defend his 100m freestyle gold after clocking 47.59 in his pet event on Tuesday night at the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials.
Diving into his home pool in front of a raucous local crowd at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, the 22-year-old’s time currently sees him ranked fifth in the world. Chalmers will be joined on the blocks in Tokyo by lane two’s Matt Temple (Nunawading) who, after posting 48.32, snuck under the qualifying time by 0.01 of a second.
Speaking after the race, Chalmers said he’s looking forward to competing on the big stage.
“That’s what excites me most...I want to be part of the greatest races in history,” he said.
“I know there are a lot of guys swimming fast. It’s a bit easier to swim fast at the trials but you have to do it when the pressure is on, when it counts the most. It will be interesting to see how quick people can go in five weeks.”
Recording the second fastest time in history and setting a new Australian record in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke – an incredible 2:06.28 – Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler) earned his ticket to Tokyo on night four. Setting an electric tone in the first event of the night, Stubblety-Cook ripped it up from lane five and was under world record pace for the majority of the race.
TSS Aquatic teammates, Maddy Gough and Kiah Melverton, pushed each other all the way in grueling Women’s 1500m Freestyle and it paid dividends, with the duo placing one and two under the qualifying time of 16:02.75. Gough touched first in 15:46.13 to smash the Australian record of 15:52.17 set by Jessica Ashwood in 2015, while Melverton clocked 15:57.14.
2016 Rio Paralympian and 2019 World Para champion, Warringah Aquatic’s Tiffany Thomas Kane (SB7), posted 1:33.75 in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke Multi-Class to see her achieve the qualifying time in her pet event. Fellow Dolphin, USC Spartan Kiera Stephens (SB9), also swam into contention to make her first Games team, posting 1:18.26 – under her classification’s qualifying time of 1:19.63.
After breaking his own Australian record in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke Multi-Class earlier in the day, Jake Michel (Carina Leagues) came our firing in the final to better his time yet again. Hitting the wall in 1:04.35, the 23-year-old looks set to pull on the green and gold for the second time in his career after making his international debut at the World Para Championships in London in 2019.
UWA West Coast’s Brianna Throssell flew home in the Women’s 200m Butterfly to book herself a spot on her second Olympic team, recording a time of 2:07.63 – under the qualifying time of 2:08.43.
Melbourne Vicentre’s Ashleigh McConnell (S9) posted a time of 1:03.50 in Women’s 100m Freestyle Multi-Class this morning to see her successfully achieve her classification’s qualifying time. Although Bay and Basin’s Jasmine Greenwood (S10) recorded a new Australian record in the 100m, it wasn’t quite enough to see her swim under the time required – however, the 16-year-old has already obtained a qualifying time in the 100m butterfly.
In the Men’s 100m Freestyle Multi-Class, Western Australian Ben Popham (S8) from Arena, posted a new Australian record and qualifying time of 57.37, while USC Spartan Braedan Jason also achieved a qualifying time in his class, recording 53.27.
All the action from the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre kicks off again tomorrow, with heats beginning at 10am local time. You can catch all the action live on Amazon Prime Video from 9:50am local time.
To view all the results from the night, click here.
To get your tickets to attend the 2021 Australian Trials, click here.
