Three of Australia’s gold medal heroes from Tokyo Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown and Zac Stubblety-Cook will be in full cry on the second night of finals at the NSW State Open Swimming Championships in Sydney tonight.
Fresh from her NSW All Comers Record-breaking 800m freestyle last night of 8:18.59, came the 400m freestyle heats today at the famed Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre with two-time Tokyo winner Titmus (St Peters Western, QLD) topping the qualifiers in a stacked 10 lane final.
Titmus clocked 4:09.29 ahead of club mate Kiah Melverton (4:09.43) and Griffith University pair, Australian five and 10km National champion Moesha Johnson (4:09.76) and Fina World Junior champion Lani Pallister (4:10.40) – back after almost nine months away from competition.
Just over half-a-second then separates fifth to eighth with Chandler’s dual Olympian Leah Neale fifth in 4:14.21; Eve Thomas (St Peters Western, QLD) 4:14.60, dual USC Spartans new recruit Olympian Tamsin Cook (4:14.79).
Triple Olympic gold medallist McKeown (Griffith University, QLD) was back in the water this morning after winning the 200m backstroke with ease last night in 2:05.85. This time in the 100m backstroke heats, clocking 1:00.29 where she cruised to the top spot ahead of an ever present Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, QLD) 1.00.72 and Tahlia Thornton (USC Spartans, QLD) 1:03.03.
McKeown won last month’s 100m backstroke at the Victorian State Championships, clocking 58.31, so her and new coach Michael Bohl would be looking at something similar tonight.
O’Callaghan looked impressive last night, back-ending her 100m freestyle, with training partner Shayna Jack just holding on to claim the win 53.13 (25.69 and 27.44) to her younger rival’s 53.67 (26.68 and 26.99).
The two-time Olympic relay medallist in Tokyo then backed up two events later to finish second to McKeown in the 200m backstroke – 2:05.85 (1:02.62 and 1:03.23) to 2:10.91 (1.04.84 and 1:06.07) – something coaches Dean Boxall and Maxine Seear are always working on for this promising multi-event swimmer.
Stubblety-Cook and Chandler coach Vince Raleigh will be looking for the Olympic 200m breaststroke gold medallist to dip under the minute in tonight’s 100m breaststroke final after his 1:00.92 (29.29 and 31.33) in this morning’s heats.
Backing up from his 50m win last night will be former UWA West Coast 20-year-old Joshua Yong who has followed coach Mick Palfrey and team mates Brianna Throssell, Tamsin Cook and Ashton Brinkworth to the USC Spartans program on the Sunshine Coast.
Yong touched in 1:01.14, just ahead of SOPAC Swim Club pair former world record holder over 200m and Tokyo Olympian Matt Wilson (1:01.24) and National Age champion Haig Buckingham (1:02.29).
Another former WA swimmer, Tokyo Olympian Zac Incerti (Marion, SA) tops the qualifiers in the 200m freestyle ahead of 400m winner from last night Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD) 1:49.88, 19-year-old multiple National Age champion Thomas Hauck (All Saints, QLD) 1:50.69 and fellow teens Ryan Wilkes (Sydney University) 1:50.84 and Kai Taylor (St Peters Western, QLD) 1:50.85.
Other finals tonight will feature:
- LORETO NORMANHURST’s William Yang (23.63) the fastest qualifier in the 50m butterfly ahead Tokyo Olympic relay bronze medallist Matt Temple (Marion, SA) 23.87 and Cody Simpson (Griffith University, QLD) 24.23.
- CARLILE Olympian Se-Bom Lee (2:05.49), Chandler’s triple Olympian Mitch Larkin (2:05.72) and Nunawading Vic’s 17-year-old William Petric (2:05.72) in the men's 200m individual medley and;
- NORTH SYDNEY’S 35-year-old five-time Paralympian Matt Levy who will contest three Multi-Class finals – starting with the 100m breaststroke and finishing with the 50m freestyle.
You can watch all the action tonight poolside, with $1.95 Finals sessions for spectators aged 18 and older. Accompanied children are welcome to attend for free! Or tune in from the comfort of your home via SwimTV live stream. It all kicks off tonight at 5:45pm.
Full 2022 NSW State Open Championships event info can be found on the Swimming NSW website.
