SWIMMING - PREVIEW - Swimming Australia
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SWIMMING E C
SP ION
I AL
IN AUSTRALIA EDIT
PREVIEW
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© Delly Carr Swimming Australia
Trials, tribulations and testing times
for Tokyo as our swimmers face their
moments of truth in Adelaide
ASCTA engaged swimming media expert Ian Hanson to profile a selection of athletes
that will line up in Adelaide from June 12-17 for the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials at
the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, after a frantic and frenetic time where Selection Criteria
has changed with the inclusion of contingencies and recent lockdowns, forcing WA and
Victorian Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls into Queensland.
It will be a testing Trials in more ways than one - for swimmers, coaches and event staff as they
work round the clock to give the class of 2020-21 a crack at their Olympic and Paralympic dreams.
Here Ian Hanson provides his insight into the events that will seal the Tokyo team for the Games.
Please enjoy and we wish the best of luck to all coaches and athletes at the Australian Swimming Trials.
2021 WOMEN © Delly Carr Swimming Australia
AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS WOMEN
50m Freestyle
WORLD RECORD: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 23.67 (2017)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Cate Campbell, 23.78 (2018)
Olympic QT: 24.46
Preview: An event shared at Australian Championship level by the Campbell sisters from Knox
Pymble (Coach: Simon Cusack) since Cate Campbell won her first Australian title in 2012 - the first
of her seven National championship wins. The only other current swimmer to etch their name into
the list is her sister Bronte Campbell in 2015 and 2017. Cate started her Olympic career in Beijing
2008 earning a bronze in the event, that was first swum in Seoul in 1988, and she has since finished
13th and fifth respectively in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. Cate could well finish her stellar
career in Tokyo in this very event at her fourth Games. She had been the co-world rankings leader
for 2021 along with long time rival, Ranomi Kromowidjojo in 24.11 until the Dutchwoman won
the European Championships in 23.97. If 2015 World Champion Bronte wants to join her big sister
again in 2021 then she will have to deal with Emma McKeon (Griffith University, Coach: Michael
Bohl) who sits third on the world rankings on 24.17. Others to watch include Holly Barratt (UWA
West Coach, Coach: Will Scott), and Madi Wilson (Marion, Coach: Peter Bishop). It will be an upset
if anyone else breaks into this trifecta.
Did You Know? Before Cate Campbell’s Beijing bronze the only other Australian Olympic
medallist was Libby Trickett with bronze in Athens in 2004 and the only other finalist has been
Karin Van Wirdum in the inaugural Olympic final in Seoul in 1988, who was eighth.
100m Freestyle
WORLD RECORD: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 51.71 (2017)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Cate Campbell, 52.03 (2018)
Olympic QT: 53.31
Preview: Seven-time National champion and former world record holder Cate Campbell (Knox
Pymble, Coach: Simon Cusack) went into this year’s Australian Championship final unbeaten
since 2013 and came out second to the ever present Emma McKeon (Griffith Uni, Coach: Michael
Bohl) who has a best time of 52.41, which places her in the top 25 all time. On current 2021 world
rankings it’s Campbell (52.43 swum in her heat at the 2021 Australian Champs) from McKeon on top
(with her winning Aust Champs time of 52.46) and the constantly improving Madi Wilson (Marion,
Coach: Peter Bishop) 6th on 53.40, Bronte Campbell 11th on 53.62, and enter the 16-year-old
“X-Factor” Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall). “Mollie O” lowered Cate
Campbell’s QLD All-Comers 16 years 100m Freestyle record of 54.69 to 54.65 in her age group heats
of the 2020 QLD State Open Championships – a record that had lasted 12 years – before lowering it
again in the final to 54.25 that night. Then to a staggering 53.93 to finish second to Emma McKeon
(52.46) the following night in a sizzling open final and she has since bettered that to 53.78 at the
Australian Championships – certainly the up-and-comer to watch. Apart from the top two spots for
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the individual places it will be a red hot go to be part of the defending Olympic gold medal winning
relay team.
Did You Know? Cate Campbell has recorded a remarkable 13 of the fastest 25 times ever
swum (more than half!) And four of the top 10 times – led by her Australian record of 52.03 set at
the 2018 Pan Pacs in Tokyo. The next fastest Australian is sister Bronte Campbell the 2015 World
Champion and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist who has recorded the equal 11th fastest
time – with her 52.27 which won that gold on the Gold Coast.
AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS WOMEN
200m Freestyle
WORLD RECORD: Federica Pellegrini, Italy, 1:52.98 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ariarne Titmus,1:54.27 (2019)
Olympic QT: 1:56.82
Preview: Led by three-time Australian Championship winner and 2019 World Championship
silver medallist Ariarne Titmus (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall) and four-time winner and
Rio bronze medallist Emma McKeon (Griffith University, Coach: Michael Bohl) will top the bill here
– in the race for individual places and to be part of the 4x200m Freestyle relay team that won the
2019 World Championship in world record breaking time. Throw those relay girls Madi Wilson
(Marion, Coach: Peter Bishop) and Brianna Throssell (UWA West Coast) and heat swimmers
Leah Neale (Chandler, Coach: Vince Raleigh), Kia Melverton (TSS Aquatics, Coach: Chris Nesbit),
Carla Buchanan (Rackley, Coach: Shaun Crow) and Mikkayla Sheridan (USC Spartans, Coach:
Chris Mooney) the Pan Pac (2018) 4x200m freestyle gold medallist. Then there are young guns
Lani Pallister (Griffith University, Coaches: Michael Bohl/Janelle Pallister), Mollie O’Callaghan
(St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall) and Backstroke’s new wonder girl Kaylee McKeown (USC
Spartans, Coach: Chris Mooney) and it will be a race for the ages.
Did You Know? Australia has won this event (first swum in 1968 in Mexico City) twice at the
Olympic Games – the first time in 1972 in Munich by Shane Gould and the next in 2000 by Susie
O’Neill. Gould, at 16, set a new world record of 2:03.56 to beat the previous record holder Shirley
Babashoff, taking almost two seconds off her previous time. Twenty-eight years later, with Gould
watching on in the grandstand, O’Neill repeated the feat in 1:58.24.
400m Freestyle
WORLD RECORD: Katie Ledecky, USA, 3:56.46 (2016)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ariarne Titmus, 3:58.76 (2019)
Olympic QT: 4:07.10
Preview: The Australian Championships on the Gold Coast in April saw world champion Ariarne
Titmus make her return to win the event (4:01.34 – second in the world in 2021) she also won at
the 2019 World Championships. She had spent four months re-habbing from a shoulder injury that
flared during the 2020 QLD State Championships. At the World Championships in Gwangju, Titmus
recorded Australia’s only individual win in a new Commonwealth, Oceania and Australian record
time of 3:58.76. Her winning time on the Gold Coast of 4:01.34 already ranks her second to USA
super swimmer Katie Ledecky (3:59.25). World junior champion Lani Pallister, Kiah Melverton,
Maddy Gough, Leah Neale and the major contenders for the second individual spot. Melverton
finished 5th in the 400m Gwangju final in 4:09.64;
Did You Know? That the first Australian to win Olympic gold in the 400m Freestyle, Lorraine
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Crapp, was also the first woman in history to break five minutes for 400m freestyle –clocking 4:50.8
in the lead up to the Games. Crapp clocked 4:54.6, a new Olympic record in Melbourne to beat
Dawn Fraser with third Aussie Sandra Morgan in sixth. The trio would later combine with Faith
Leech to win gold in the 4x100m Freestyle relay.
AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 800m Freestyle
WOMEN
WORLD RECORD: Katie Ledecky, USA, 8:04.79 (2016)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ariarne Titmus, 8:15.70 (2019)
AUST ALL-COMERS: Katie Ledecky, USA, 8:11.35 (2014)
Olympic QT: 8:29.70
Preview: Ariarne Titmus is the 7th fastest swimmer in history over 800m freestyle with her
8:15.70 to win silver at the World Champs in 2019. A four-time Australian champion and three-
time winner of the coveted 200, 400 and 800m National Championship treble. In what will be a
competitive battle for the podium, Kiah Melverton, Lani Pallister, Maddy Gough, Kareena Lee,
Moesha Johnson and Phoebe Hines provide the best depth in women’s distance in recent times.
Melverton is the 25th all time fastest swimmer on 8:22.24 – the time she swam at the 2019 Tokyo
World Cup – making her the third fastest all-time Australian. Pallister, the reigning World Junior
Champion from Budapest in 2019 with her personal best of 8:22.49 – makes her the fourth fastest
all-time Australian, while Gough showed she will be more than ready with her personal best of
8:24.17 at the Sydney Open to stay in touch with Titmus, Melverton and Pallister. Johnson (TSS
Aquatic) and Hines (USC Spartans) also clocking personal bests in Sydney with 8:29.17 and 8:31.27
respectively.
Did You Know? Sydney’s Michelle Ford remains the only Australian to win Olympic gold
over 800m Freestyle, breaking the East German gold medal monopoly in the boycott-ravaged
1980 Moscow Games, setting a new Olympic record of 8:28.90 – a time under the current Olympic
qualifying time of 8:29.70 – 40 years on!
1500m Freestyle
WORLD RECORD: Katie Ledecky, USA, 15:20.48 (2018)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Jess Ashwood, 15:52.17 (2015)
Olympic QT: 16:02.75
Preview: Australia’s elite group of 1500m girls have banded together and made the new Olympic
event their own as they race and chase towards a place for Tokyo and a slice of history, with the
1500m making its debut in Tokyo 2021. TSS training partners Madeleine Gough, Kiah Melverton
and the improving Moesha Johnson (all coached by Chris Nesbit) have pushed each other in
training and racing all round Australia in pool events and also in the open water. Gough showed all
her grit to win the Australian title in 16:00.18 but it was her personal best time of 15:55.14 to win
the Sydney Open on May 16 that really caught the eye – the fastest 1500m by an Australian since
Jess Ashwood in 2015. Melverton has swum 15:56.39 but didn’t race in Sydney, preferring to cheer
on her training partner. Throw in Lani Pallister (Griffith University, QLD), Kareena Lee (Noosa,
Coach: John Rodgers) and Phoebe Hines (USC Spartans) and it will be a race for the ages. Pallister,
the 2019 Fina World Junior champion over 400, 800 and 1500m Freestyle in Budapest, has made
the change from the Sunshine Coast (Cotton Tree) with her mum and coach Janelle Pallister (nee
Elford) to join the Gold Coast-based Griffith University squad run by Olympic gold medal coach
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Michael Bohl. Pallister has set herself for the three distance events in what will be a helter-skelter
race for Olympic selection across the board with that emerging depth in the Australian Freestyle
ranks. Lee, who has already qualified to swim the 10km marathon in Tokyo, cut her teeth in the
1500m, winning the National title in 2016 and 2017. And making up a TSS trio with Gough and
Melverton will be Johnson (who clocked a personal best in the 800m of 8:29.17 at the Sydney Open)
will be in the mix. Two Olympic spots in this new event await these girls in June and world record
holder Katie Ledecky awaits them in July.
AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS WOMEN
100m Backstroke
WORLD RECORD: Regan Smith, USA, 57.57 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Kaylee McKeown, 57.63 (2021)
Olympic QT: 59.71
Preview: USC Spartan’s Kaylee McKeown’s recent progress has been nothing less than remarkable
since she first appeared on the world rankings in 2018 (11th 59.25), then 2019 (9th 59.10), 2020 (1st
59.93) and so far in 2021 (1st 57.63). The 19-year-old Sunshine Coaster (Coach: Chris Mooney) swims
to honour the legacy left by her late father Sholto who died of brain cancer in August 2020. She is in
the zone every time she races – “Doing it for Dad” and has emerged as the girl most likely, ever since
her silver-medal-winning swim in the 200m Backstroke at the 2019 World’s in Gwangju. She has not
looked back, re-writing all but two of the Backstroke “Olympic event records” over the 100 and 200m
Backstroke, and has the world record for 200m Backstroke in short course. Her latest assault landed
her just 0.06 outside Regan Smith’s 100m Long Course World Record with her 57.63 at the Sydney
Open meet – the second fastest time in history and it came after swimming the fourth fastest time
ever over 200m (2:04.31) the day before, after which Smith sent her Aussie rival a text message. But as
McKeown well knows she hasn’t got to look too far over her shoulder to see her opposition at home
as they challenge for Olympic places. Veteran of three Olympics Emily Seebohm (Griffith University) is
on the move for her fourth and is leaving no stone unturned to tick that final Games box – improving
her season best to 59.06 behind McKeown in Sydney and with both 2019 World Championship silver
medallist Minna Atherton (Moreton Bay) who celebrated her 21st on May 17 and Mollie O’Callaghan,
just 17, waiting in the wings, the race for a top two spot is wide open. Atherton (59.46 at the 2020 QLD
Champs) and O’Callaghan (59.59 at the 2020 QLD Champs) are the only others to have swum under
60 seconds this season.
Did You Know? Australia has only won two medals in the Olympic 100m Backstroke since it first
appeared on the Games program in 1924. The first to “Bonnie” Mealing who would win silver behind
controversial American Eleanor Holm in LA in 1932. Mealing had been a member of the 1928 team to
Amsterdam at just 15 and four years later became one of a few select Australian women swimmers
to win an Olympic medal in the pre-World War II era. The legendary all-round sportsmen, turned
sports writer Reginald “Snowy” Baker, described Mealing’s style as being “effortless Backstroke...
never have the critics seen a swimmer with perfect balance, cleaner leg work or more scientific arm
action, both in drive and recovery.”
2021
© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 200m Backstroke
WOMEN
WORLD RECORD: Regan Smith, USA, 2:03.35 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Kaylee McKeown, 2:04.31 (2021)
(Third fastest swimmer in history – fourth fastest time ever swum
and five of the fastest 15 times ever swum).
Preview: Kaylee McKeown tops the world rankings for 2020-21 with her latest offering coming in
the Sydney Open meet where she set a new Australian record – where the 2019 World Championship
silver medallist and world short course record holder recorded the fourth fastest time in history
with her 2:04.31. It makes her the third fastest swimmer ever behind world record holder Regan
Smith and 2012 Olympic champion Missy Franklin. Amongst her rivals here will be three-time
World Champion (twice in this event 2015 and 2017) Emily Seebohm (Griffith University, Coach:
Michael Bohl). Her winning time from the 2017 World Championships 2:05.68 who is the previous
Australian record before McKeown’s recent assault but she remains the 7th fastest swimmer in
history. Minna Atherton (Moreton Bay, Coach: David Lush) has battled some shoulder problems
this season but she is the silver medallist in the 100m Backstroke from the 2019 Worlds in Gwangju
and the World Short Course record holder over 100m, who finished 2020 at #4 in the world with her
2:07.86, and with a personal best of 2:06.82 so she too is sure to be on the money here. Sure to be
breathing down their necks will be “Mollie O” (the kid from St Peters Western Mollie O’Callaghan,
2:11.03, who is on the move).
100m Breaststroke
WORLD RECORD: Lily King, USA, 1:04.13 (2017)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Leisel Jones, 1:05.09 (2006)
Olympic QT: 1:06.97
Preview: Exciting Gold Coast powerhouse Chelsea Hodges (Coach: Sean Eels) has certainly
emerged as the girl most likely in the 100m Breaststroke this season – already swimming under
the QT of 1:06.97 on three occasions – 1:06.91 (2020 QLD Champs), 1:06.90 (2021 AUS Champs)
and 1:06.76 (2021 SYD Open) heats. It was a quantum drop to win the QLD title last December
and maintaining her seventh fastest All-Time Australian ranking with her 1:06.76 in Sydney to
put her well and truly ahead of the game for the June Olympic Trials. She won her first National
titles this year in the 50 and 100m (the 50m in 30.20 – the second fastest all-time Australian with
only Sarah Katsoulis’ super suit time (30:16) ever swimming faster. A stand out at the Dolphins
National Event Camp on the Gold Coast. Joining the fray will be World Championship medley relay
medallist from 2017 and 2019 Jess Hansen (Cruiz Swim Club, ACT) who has made the move from
Nunawading to link up with noted Olympic gold medal coach and former Australian Coach of the
Year Shannon Rollason in Canberra; 2019 Australian Champion Abbey Harkin (St Peters Western);
as will Bond’s ever improving Jenna Strauch and Tara Kinder (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC). It’s no
reason why Olympians, the 2012 winner Leiston Pickett (Marion/London Olympics) 2016 and 2018
winner Georgia Bohl (Griffith University/Rio Olympics) and Tessa Wallace (USC Spartans/London
Olympics) can’t raise the alarm and put their hands up too – but to join Hodges they’ll have to break
1:07.00 for the first time this season.
2021
Did You Know? The last Olympic medallist in this event for Australia was Leisel Jones who
won gold in Beijing in 2008 – closing a medal winning era that started in 1992 with bronze to Sam
Riley who added a second bronze in 1996 before 14-year-old Jones emerged from the pack to start
her Olympic odyssey with silver in 2000, bronze behind Brooke Hanson (silver) in 2004, before her
golden Beijing triumph in 2008.AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 200m Breaststroke
WOMEN
WORLD RECORD: Rikke Pederson, Denmark, 2:19.11 (2013)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Leisel Jones, 2:20.54 (2006)
Olympic QT: 2:24.18
Preview: On recent times, 2019 and 2021 Australian Champions Jenna Strauch (Bond Swim
Club) and Abbey Harkin (St Peters Western) are the stand-out contenders here – both nudging
the QT with season bests of 2:24.27 (Australian Open Champs) and 2:24.29 (NSW Open) for Harkin
and Strauch respectively. They’ll be aiming for sub 2:24 times to guarantee their 1-2 finishes and to
secure their places for Tokyo. Other major players include Olympians Tessa Wallace (2012) who
showed her hand at the Sydney Open with a season best of 2:25.11 in Sydney – relishing her move
to USC Spartans and the astute coaching of Chris Mooney. Taylor McKeown and Georgia Bohl
(2016) who in the past have swum under 2:24.00 – McKeown in particular who was fourth in Rio and
who has the second fastest time by an Australian with her 2:21.45 swum at the last Olympic Trials in
2016, will need big improvements to trouble the top four.
100m Butterfly
WORLD RECORD: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 55.48 (2016)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Emma McKeon, 56.18 (2017)
Olympic QT: 57.10
Preview: Commonwealth Games gold medallist and World Championship silver (2017) and
bronze (2019), Emma McKeon has owned this event in Australia since 2015. She has won the
last six Australian Championships, only bettered by Susie O’Neil’s remarkable ten. She holds the
Commonwealth and Australian records at 56.18 (2017 Worlds) and the Australian All-comers record
at 56.36 (NSW States 2020). No one has been in coo-wee of her this season with McKeon pumping
out a 56.44 (Australian Champs), 56.65 (NSW Champs), 56.69 (QLD Champs December 2020) and a
56.81 (Sydney Open). Of the other contenders, none have broken 57 secs with Brianna Throssell -
Rio Olympic 200m Butterfly finalist who was a close up fifth in the world championship final in 2019,
the closest in 57.02. With the qualifying time sitting at 57.10 it is hard to see the other contenders,
Alexandria Perkins (USC Spartans), Meg Bailey (Hunter), Mia O’Leary (St Peters Western) and
Elizabeth Dekkers – Star of the Australian Age, and more suited at this stage to the 200m - Laura
Taylor (TSS Aquatic, Coach: Chris Nesbit) and Gabriella Peiniger (Nunawading; Coach: Nick
Veliades) troubling the top two.
2021
© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 200m Butterfly
WOMEN
WORLD RECORD: Liu Zige, China, 2:01.81 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Jess Schipper, 2:03.41 (2009)
Olympic QT: 2:08.43
Preview: Brianna Throssell (UWA West Coast, Coach: Mick Palfrey) an Olympic finalist in Rio has
been 2:06.58 at the Rio Trials in Adelaide in 2016 and is a class act who will not die wondering here.
Throssell won her first National title on the Gold Coast in 2021 and backed up to take the 200m fly at
the Sydney Open Meet, and knows what it’s like to swim in the 2:06s and that’s what it’s going to take
to go 1-2 in this event. Throssel had been on the road for two months from an “at times” locked down
WA, training in South East QLD under coach Palfrey as they prepare for a second Olympic campaign.
And there’s a new player on the blocks in the 200m Butterfly in the countdown to the June Olympic
Trials, with Brisbane 17-year-old schoolgirl Elizabeth Dekkers (Newmarket Racers, Coaches: Steve
and Bob Miller) throwing her togs into a butterfly ring that is steeped in the proudest traditions of
swimming in Australia. Dekkers wasted no time staking another claim for Tokyo, swimming the fourth
fastest time in the world this year at the Australian Age with her 2:07.25 (8th fastest in the world for
2021) on the rain swept Gold Coast on the first night of the meet to break her own 16 years Australian
and Australian All-Comers records– ripping 0.57 off her own previous Australian marks of 2:07.82 set
at the Queensland State Championships in December. It was the same time she also clocked to finish
second to Throssell on the Gold Coast. The only other swimmer in the field to have swum under 2:07
is Commonwealth Games silver medallist and the winner of this event for the previous two Australian
Championships in 2018 and 2019, Laura Taylor (TSS Aquatic, QLD) who has been 2:06.80 at the 2018
Trials. Also include Meg Bailey (Hunter, Coach: Adam Kable) who has deferred retirement to swim
on to the Tokyo Trials and who comes in as the fourth fastest seed on 2:08.94. You get the impression
the last 25 metres of this final will be telling the story of tickets to Tokyo.
2021
© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 200m IM
WOMEN
WORLD RECORD: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary, 2:06.12 (2015)
COMMONWEALTH/AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Stephanie Rice, 2:07.03 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN ALL-COMERS: Kaylee McKeown, 2:08.23 (2020)
Olympic QT: 2:10.49
Preview: Girl of the moment Kaylee McKeown (USC Spartans, Coach: Chris Mooney) has emerged
as the lone stand-out performer in this event and despite her current #1 world ranking she is far
from fulfilling her amazing potential. Last December at the QLD Championships, McKeown stepped
up to deliver the fastest time of the year in what was a disrupted 2020 with her 2:08.23 and fourth
months later she won the Australian title in 2:09.78 before dropping to a 2:08.73 at the Sydney Open
– another swim that ranks her #1 in the world for 2021. Stephanie Rice’s Commonwealth/Australian
mark sits at 2:07.03 from 2009, while Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu is 2:06.12 – and those times are
now under serious notice. No other athlete has broken 2:13 this season and 2:10.49 seems a ways a
way for any other serious contender. But next in line includes never-say-die London Olympian and
200m Breaststroke specialist Tessa Wallace (USC Spartans, Coach: Chris Mooney); Tara Kinder
(Melbourne Vicentre, Coach: Craig Jackson); Commonwealth Games rep Meg Bailey (Hunter, Coach:
Adam Kable) and Rio Olympian Blair Evans (UWA West Coast, Coach: Will Scott).
Did You Know? Australia has a proud record when it comes to the 200m IM at the Olympics
– winning two gold, a silver and a bronze – as well as five finalist positions, and they were only ever
out of a final once between 1968 and 2016 and that was the home Games in Sydney in 2000. The
medallists were Gold - Shane Gould (1972), Stephanie Rice (2008), silver Alicia Coutts (2012) and
bronze Michelle Pearson (1984).
400m IM
WORLD RECORD: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary, 4:26.36 (2016)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Stephanie Rice, 4:29.45 (2009)
Olympic QT: 4:38.53
Preview: Kaylee McKeown’s decision to by-pass the 400m IM for Tokyo has opened the door for
two potential spots given the depth in the longer medley and a QT of 4:38.53, that may not be too
far out of reach. London and Rio 400m IM swimmer and three-time National Champion, Blair Evans
(UWA West Coast, Coach: Will Scott) is making a late charge for her third Olympics but will have
newly crowned Australian Champion Jenna Forrester (St Peters Western) 4:39.46 the top qualifier
here ready to rip and former US-based College swimmers, Commonwealth Games rep from 2018
Meg Bailey (4:39.59 – 2nd Australian Champs). Evans best came at the Olympic Trials in Adelaide
in 2016 with her 4:35.26 and even a sub-4:38.53 looks to be a tall order. Bailey, from Merewether in
Newcastle, who swam for Ohio State and is now a PE Teacher, was forced out of Sydney and back to
Newcastle where she swam in the Merewether ocean baths during last year’s pandemic lockdown,
2021
deciding to delay retirement for one last shot at Olympic qualification in the 200m Butterfly and
400m IM.
Did You Know? Showing anything is possible, Sydney’s Gail Neall won Olympic 400m IM gold
from Lane Seven in Munich in 1972 – qualifying in 5:11.89 but under the astute coaching of the late
Don Talbot, Neall was able to turn the tables on the field and not only win but also set a new World
Record in doing so, clocking a time of 5:02.97!2021 MEN © Delly Carr Swimming Australia
AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 50m Freestyle
MEN
WORLD RECORD: Cesar Cielo, Brazil, 20.91 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ashley Callus, 21.19 (2009)
Olympic QT: 21.77
Preview: Australia’s 50m Freestyle sprinters will have to pull something rare out of their proverbial
caps to clock under the 21.77 qualifying time in this one. Only one member of the field, 3rd fastest
Australian all-time Cameron McEvoy (21.44 in 2016) has ever swum under the QT– which truthfully
looks way out of his reach. McEvoy swam 22.23 last December – and has not raced since and maybe
time is ticking for Cam. Will Stockwell (Rackley, Coach: Damien Jones) comes in second on the psyche
sheets with his personal best of 22.29; followed by Grayson Bell (TSS Aquatic, Coach: Chris Nesbit)
22.30; William Yang (Loreto Normanhurst, Coach: Bobby Hurley); and Jack Cartwright (St Peters
Western, Coach: Dean Boxall) 22.33. London and Rio Olympian James Roberts (with a 21.91 personal
best swum in 2017) is still not quite there and the 2018 Australian Champion has a season best of 22.50
for 2021. He will be joined by the return of 34-year-old London team mate, US-based Matt Targett
(Swimland, VIC) who has (like Cody Simpson) been training with Brett Hawke at USC in Los Angeles,
also linking with celebrated US Olympic coach David Marsh in his Team Elite group in San Diego before
undergoing quarantine on arrival into Melbourne. Ashton Brinkworth (UWA West Coast, Coach: Mick
Palfrey) has also made some inroads as he went 22.45 in the heats of the Sydney Open – clocking the
fourth fastest time this season.
Did You Know? The closest an Australian has come to an Olympic medal in the 50m Freestyle was
Ashley Callus in Beijing in 2008, when he finished fourth in 21.62 – just 0.13secs behind Frenchman
Alain Bernard (21.49), and with only 0.32 between Brazil’s Cesar Cielo’s gold medal time of 21.30 and
Callus. Eamon Sullivan (21.65 was 6th in 2008 and 8th in 2012 in 21.98). Brett Hawke finished 6th
in 22.18 in Athens in 2004 and when the 50m was re-instated in 1988 (after an absence of 78 years)
Andrew Baildon finished eighth in 23.15 in a final which saw American Matt Biondi win gold in a WR
time of 22.14.
100m Freestyle
WORLD RECORD: Cesar Cielo, Brazil, 46.91 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Cameron McEvoy, 47.04 (2016)
Olympic QT: 48.33
Preview: It’s not every day you get to talk about the reigning Olympic champion but we sure can
here with Kyle Chalmers (Marion SA, Coach: Peter Bishop) who has done everything in his powers to
get his body in shape – and do what no other Australian male has done and defend an Olympic 100m
Freestyle gold - after undergoing a shoulder operation in Sydney in December that kept him out of
the Queensland Championships. He was back swimming in January with a 48.55 (flying start) in the
Marion club relay at the SA Champs before winning the NSW State Championship in 48.50 and then an
impressive 48.04 to win his third straight Australian title. Chalmers will be in his home pool and with
the atmosphere of an Olympic Trials “the big Tuna “is sure to turn on the after burners as he mounts
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his challenge to defend his Olympic crown. Other leading players from times swum this year are Jack
Cartwright (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall), Louis Townsend (Rackley, Coach: Damien
Jones), Matthew Temple (Nunawading, coach: Wayne Lawes), Cameron McEvoy (TSS Aquatic, Coach:
Chris Nesbit), William Yang (Loretto Normanhurst, Coach: Bobby Hurley), James Roberts (Somerset,
Coach: Ashley Callus), Zac Incerti (UWA West Coast, Coach: Mick Palfrey), Flynn Southam (Bond,
Coach: Kyle Samuelson) and Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall). Among
those fighting to claw their way into the final will be Clyde Lewis who along with Alexander Graham
has switched to Miami Aquatic Centre following the appointment of Richard Scarce who moved fromAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS MEN
Bond to begin his tenure as the new head coach, under Rackley Swimming.
Lewis, who has struggled with a back injury this season, is born to race and won’t die wondering here
with an Olympic blazer on the line. US-based London Olympian Matt Targett (Swimland, VIC) at 34
and on the comeback trail, is also entered here and brings a lifetime of experience and talent. They all
that know that they all have to get down to 48 flat or better to make the cuts and become competitive
individually and in the 4x100m Freestyle relay. And then there’s our fastest ever, Australian record
holder at 47.04, the four-time winner of this race, two-time Olympian and 2015 World Championship
silver medallist Cam McEvoy (TSS Aquatic, Coach: Chris Nesbit), who has entered here but hasn’t raced
the 100m since his second placed 49.17 to Cartwright at last December’s Queensland Championships
– six months ago.
Did You Know? The flying Dutchman, Pieter van den Hoogenband is the only swimmer to
contest four consecutive Olympic 100m Freestyle finals – and he got quicker each time, from fourth
(beaten by 0.11) in Atlanta 1996 with 49.13, to gold in Sydney 2000 with 48.30 (after lowering the WR
in the semi-finals and becoming the first man under 48 seconds with a sizzling 47.84) to gold in Athens
2004 (48.17) to fifth in Beijing 2008 with 47.75 (after a lifetime best of 47.68 in the semi-final) and in
the final just 0.08 away from the dead heat for bronze. What a swimmer!
200m Freestyle
World Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany, 1:42.00 (2009)
Australian Record: Ian Thorpe, 1:44.06 (2001)
Olympic QT: 1:45.76
Preview: Like the women’s race the men’s 200m is top heavy with Rackley Swimming’s latest
recruits to Miami Aquatic Centre in Clyde Lewis and Alex Graham leading the way. Lewis, who had
a break through year in 2019, has been nursing a shoulder injury and joined Bond University from
St Peters Western at the start of the season, before following Richard Scarce to Miami. Lewis’ semi-
final time from the 2019 Gwangju World Championships of 1:44.90 has only ever been bettered by
one other Australian, named Ian Thorpe (1:44.06). Lewis, Graham, three-time Australian champion
and Olympic 100m Champion Kyle Chalmers (Marion, SA) along with Rio Olympic 400m Freestyle
Champion Mack Horton (Melbourne Vicentre, Coach: Craig Jackson) broke a 16-year drought to win
the 4x200m in Gwangju. Commonwealth Games 4x200m relay gold medallist Elijah Winnington (St
Peters Western, QLD) – who left Bond University last year to link with Dean Boxall has matured into a
major player in the 200 and 400m Freestyles and has been the form middle distance freestyler of the
season. His new SPW team mates Jack Cartwright and former Sydneysider and Rio Olympian Jacob
Hansford, along with Rackley Centenary’s four-time World Junior Championship medallist Tommy
Neill and his team mate Louis Townsend will all want in. Throw in Nunawading Butterflyer Matthew
Temple and WA boys Zac Incerti – who has the fastest time of the season from the Australian
Championship semi-final and Ashton Brinkworth (both UWA West Coast under Mick Palfrey) and
they will all be chasing those vital final top 8 lane places. No room for error here. Exciting Gold Coast
graduate Thomas Hauck (All Saints, Coach: Ken Sabotic) is a young man who has dominated middle
distance Freestyle, Backstroke and IMs through a spectacular Age Group career, leaving his mark with
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a plethora of Australian and Queensland records, erasing names like Mitch Larkin along the way.
Hauck played a key role in Australia’s 4x200m Freestyle in the World Juniors in Budapest in 2019 when
he combined with Thomas Neill, Alex Grant and Mitch Tinsley to win bronze at those World Junior
Championships. Hauck took down Larkin’s 200m IM Qld 17 years All-Comers record with his time of
2:01.40 and Ty Hartwell’s 17 years Qld All-Comers record for 200m Backstroke with his 1:59.68 at
the 2020 QLD State Championships in December. And as he continues to transition into the Open
ranks we can’t wait to see the next chapter unfold for the man they call “Tomma Hawk” – will it be in
the 200m Freestyle or his first love, the 200m Backstroke as this super talent pursues his goal to be
Australia’s next great Olympic Backstroke hope?AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 400m Freestyle
MEN
WORLD RECORD: Paul Biedermann, Germany, 3:40.07 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ian Thorpe, 3:40.08 (2002)
Olympic QT: 3:46.34
Preview: Olympic Champion in 2016 and 2019 World Championship silver medallist, also four-
time National Champion Mack Horton (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) remains the main man in the 400m
Freestyle. But the 24 year-old knows he will have to be on his game to meet the challenges that are
sure to be coming thick and fast. Young gun Elijah Winnington ended 2020 on a high, swimming a
new personal best of 3:43.90 – giving him the 6th fastest time by an Australian (bettered only by Ian
Thorpe, Horton, Grant Hackett, David McKeon, and Kieren Perkins) who backed up in March to
win the NSW Championship in 3:44.83 (#6 in the world as of May 31). Rio Olympian Jack McLoughlin
won gold in the 400 and bronze in both the 800 and 1500m Freestyle at the 2018 Pan Pacs and
finished 2020 with a second placed finish to Winnington in a cracking 400m shoot out at the QLD
Championships – clocking 3:44.24 – only just outside his personal best swum at the 2018 Pan Pacs in
Tokyo. Others in the mix will include 2019 World Juniors medallist Tommy Neill (Rackley Centenary,
Coach: Damien Jones) – who has already had some encouraging swims here, including a personal
best in the 200 – could surprise. Neill Has emerged over the last two years as one of the real heir
apparents in Australia’s distance ranks, producing his best swims at the World Junior Championships
in 2019 where he clocked his best times on his biggest stage so far, winning medals across 200 (relay),
400, 800 and 1500m Freestyle – dipping under 15 minutes for the first time, before leading off the
bronze medal winning 4x200m Freestyle in a personal best of 1:47.58. Neill also set a World Junior
Record over 800m Freestyle short course in Brisbane last year before earning one of four Rackley
Swimming’s innovative City Venue Athlete Scholarships along withy fellow Rackley team members
Louis Townsend, Carla Buchanan and Bronte Job. Meanwhile, Mitchell Tinsley (Chandler, Coach:
Vince Raleigh) was also a member of the 2019 Junior World Championships Team in Budapest in
2019 where he won bronze with Australia’s 4x200m Freestyle relay team (Thomas Neill 1:47.58;
Mitchell Tinsley 1:49.85; Thomas Hauck 1:48.65; and Alexander Grant 1:48.98) 7:15.06. Grant
(Moreton Bay coach David Lush) is also in this event. Tinsley finished third in the 400m (3:49.89),
800m (7:54.91) and 1500m (15.23.05) at the 2020 QLD State Championships.
Did You Know? Australians have been involved in some of the closest finishes in Olympic
history over 400m Freestyle, with Duncan Armstrong beaten by 0.20 from taking out the 200/400
double in Seoul 1988; while Kieren Perkins missed gold by 0.16 which would have given him the
400/1500m double and then there’s Ian Thorpe who out-touched fellow countryman Grant Hackett
by 0.26 in Athens in 2004 – giving Thorpie the 200/400 double and robbing Hackett of the 400/1500m
double... And finally in 2016 when Mack Horton snatched the gold from Sun Yang by just 0.13 in Rio!
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© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 800m Freestyle
MEN
WORLD RECORD: Zhang Lin, China, 7:32.12 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Grant Hackett, 7:38.65 (2005)
Olympic QT: 7:48.12
Preview: Time for the big boys to aim up in their new Olympic event with Commonwealth Games
1500m gold medallist Jack McLoughlin (Chandler, Coach: Vince Raleigh) leading the way. He is the
fastest in the field with his 7:42.64 after his fourth place finish in the 2019 World Championships.
McLoughlin had won gold in the 400 and bronze in both the 800 and 1500m Freestyle at the 2018
Pan Pacs and you get the feeling he’s going to take a power of beating in this. Rackley’s young gun
and four-time World Junior medallist and new National champion, Tommy Neill is also suited to this
800m distance, especially after his World Junior record last year and the man he stole the record off
Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall) has started out 2021 in the fast lane and
under new coach Boxall, he means business. Neill’s Rackley team mate Sam Short won the 200, 400,
800 and 1500m Freestyle at National Age, also erased Kieren Perkins name from the Age Group
record books in the 800m Freestyle with his 7:52.18. Neil, Short and Winnington are all inside the Top
20 for 800m Freestyle for 2021. Olympic 400m Champion Mack Horton (Melbourne Vicentre, Coach:
Craig Jackson) is the second fastest of Australia’s current crop with his 7:44.02 from the 2015 World
Championships in Kazan where he won bronze. Horton will be looking forward to his taper and fast
times. All of a sudden the men’s 800 metres Freestyle has that golden glow about it after finally being
re-called to the Olympic program for Tokyo 2020. It can only enhance Australia’s medal chances.
Did You Know? Francis “Frank” Gailey had been Australia’s “lost Olympian” for over 100 years
after being mistakenly listed in official records as an American. Brisbane-born Gailey competed at
the St Louis Games of 1904, sailing to the US and winning silver medals over 220, 440 and 880 yards
Freestyle and bronze in the mile – the one and only time the 880 yards (800m) had been contested at
an Olympics. The medal haul is the greatest individual tally at a single Games by any Australian male.
The mix up occurred when Gailey joined the San Francisco Olympic Club on his arrival into the US and
was wrongly registered for the Games as an American – something he never challenged. Gailey came
home to Australia after the Games but in 1906 returned to the US as an immigrant, where he would
marry and become a US citizen, living out his life in California, where he died in 1972, at the age of 90.
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© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 1500m Freestyle
MEN
WORLD RECORD: Sun Yang, China, 14:31.02 (2012)
COMMONWEALTH/AUSTRALIAN, RECORD: Grant Hackett, 14:34.56 (2001)
AUSTRALIAN ALL-COMERS: Mack Horton, 14.39.54 (2016)
Olympic QT: 14:55.06
Preview: Looming as a battle between the old and the new led by Rio Olympian, Jack McLoughlin
(Chandler, Coach: Vince Raleigh), who narrowly missed the Olympic final in 2016, has become
Australia’s #1 contender in then 1500, winning gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a
personal best time of 14:47.09, winning bronze at the 2018 Pan Pacs where he also won gold in the
400m and bronze over 800. The young will be led by Thomas Neill (Rackley, Coach: Damien Jones),
who is the only other swimmer in the field who has swum under 15 minutes – with his 14:59.19 to
finish second in the World Junior Championships in Budapest in 2019. Neill won his first National
Open title over 800m in April in a personal best of 7:51.65 and fought on strongly in the closing stages
for another personal best swim to take the silver in the 400m final in 3:46.35 before finishing second
to Nick Sloman (Noosa) in the 1500 in 15:07.23. The QT is certainly not beyond him. Other contenders
include Sam Short (Rackley, Coach: Damien Jones) who completed an eye-catching National Age
Championship with his personal best of 15:02.48 and a sub 15 minute is certainly on the cards here
– remains to be seen if it will be 14:55 but young Sam, one of the real stars of the Australian Surf
Lifesaving Championships at Maroochydore this year, certainly won’t die wondering.
Did You Know? It is only fitting that at these Olympic Trials we remember one of the greats
of Australian swimming – 1960 Olympic 1500m Champion and prolific world record holder John
Konrads, who passed away after a long illness on Anzac Day this year– he was 78. Along with sister
Ilsa Konrads, herself a star-studded teenage world beater, Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold
medallist, they became known as the “Konrads kids” after legendary coach Don Talbot discovered
them at Revesby Primary School in 1952. At just 16 years of age, Konrads would beat a 21-year-old
Gary Winram in the 440 yards and 1650 yards freestyle, at the 1958 Commonwealth Games, where
Konrads broke the Games record by over a minute in the heat and by another ten seconds in the
final. Two years later in Rome, Konrads would win Olympic gold in the prestigious 1500m Freestyle
– beating the legendary Murray Rose, the defending champion and his hero, to become one of five
individual gold medallists from 1960, along with John Devitt and Dawn Fraser (in their respective
100m Freestyles), David Theile (100m Backstroke) and Rose (400m Freestyle).
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© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 100m Backstroke
MEN
WORLD RECORD: Ryan Murphy, USA, 51.85 (2016)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Mitch Larkin, 52.11 (2015)
Olympic QT: 53.40
Preview: Former two-time world champion and dual Olympian Mitch Larkin (St Peters Western,
QLD) has owned this event since 2014 and it’s going to take something special from one of his younger
rivals to unseat the boss of Backstroke in Australia. We haven’t seen a dynasty like this since Victorian
ace Matt Welsh who dominated backstroke swimming for a decade between 1997 (when he won his
first National title) until 2007 when he won his last (Nine 100s and 23 National titles in all) highlighted
by Olympic silver and bronze in 2000 in Sydney. Larkin can be proud of his figures too...18 National
titles in all and no signs of stopping. His key opponents will be his 2018 Commonwealth Games team
mate from the NSW Central Coast Bradley Woodward (Mingara, Coach: Adam Kable), William Yang
(Loreto Normanhurst, Coach: Bobby Hurley); Tristan Hollard (Southport, Coach: Glenn Baker) and
former Toowoomba emerging Age Group Champion Isaac Cooper (Rackley, Coach: Damien Jones)
who won the Sydney Open.
Did You Know? It took 40 years for Australia to make it back onto the podium in the Olympic
100m Backstroke after Brisbane doctor David Theile defended his 1956 Melbourne gold in Rome in
1960. Victoria’s late bloomer Matt Welsh barnstormed his way onto the Sydney Olympic team in 2000
and pushed the great Ukrainian-born American Lenny Krayzelburg all the way in a gripping Olympic
final, Krayzelburg winning gold in 53.72 with Welsh (54.07) winning silver and another Aussie Josh
Watson a close-up fourth in 55.01.
200m Backstroke
WORLD RECORD: Aaron Piersol, USA, 1:51.92 (2009)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Mitch Larkin, 1:53.17 (2015)
Olympic QT: 1:57.26
Preview: Mitch Larkin (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall) is the stand out international
performer in this field – the 2016 Rio Olympic silver medallist, the 2015 World and 2018 Commonwealth
Games Champion is also a seven time winner of the Australian title. Much conjecture has raged over
whether or not Larkin will target this or the 200m IM in Tokyo. If he swims then he would almost
certainly take one of the two available Olympic berths – if he doesn’t then it opens the door for both
Tristan Hollard (Southport Olympic, Coach: Glenn Baker) and Bradley Woodward (Coach: Adam
Kable) to steal a march for their Olympic debuts. All three have swum under the Olympic qualifying
time already – Larkin’s 1:54.38 heat outing at the Australian Championships and Hollard’s impressive
winning final time of 1:56.40 to take out his first National title in Larkin’s absence. Woodward’s winning
time of 1:57.14 at this year’s NSW Senior State puts him right in the mix. Others to watch include:
rising stars Joshua Edwards-Smith (UWA West Coast, Coach: Mick Palfrey) Ty Hartwell (Chandler,
Coach: Vince Raleigh) and Thomas Hauck (All Saints, Coach: Ken Sabotic).
Did You Know? In 1976 in Montreal Mark Tonelli and Mark Kerry were fourth and fifth
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respectively in the 200m Backstroke for Australia, with Kerry earning individual bronze in his second
Games in Moscow in 1980 where he also won gold in Australia’s 4x100m medley relay team with
Tonelli, Peter Evans and Neil Brooks in an era where anabolic steroid use was rife throughout
Eastern Europe. Kerry, like his Moscow team mates swam in the US College system and would return
to LA, (where he swam at USC) for a third Games in 1984 to win bronze with Evans, Glenn Buchanan
and Mark Stockwell in the 4x100m medley relay. An Olympic journey worth celebrating for one of
Australia’s true Olympic heroes.AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 100m Breaststroke
MEN
WORLD RECORD: Adam Peaty, Great Britain, 56.88 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Brenton Rickard, 58.58 (2009)
Olympic QT: 59.21
Preview: Australia has three boys who have swum under 60 seconds in this event: 2019 winner
Matthew Wilson (SOPAC, Coach: Adam Kable), Olympian and three-time winner Jake Packard
(USC Spartans, Coach: Chris Mooney) and Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, Coach: Vince Raleigh).
And only two, Wilson (59.17 in 2019) and Packard (59.20 in 2018) have swum under the QT of 59.21.
Stubblety-Cook has posted a personal best in 2021 of 59.72 – the fastest time of the three for this
season. It’s time for a drop here – the world led by the extraordinary Adam Peaty has moved way
ahead and we need to stay in touch. Packard and Wilson have also played key Breaststroke roles in
Australia’s medley relays with Packard joining Mitch Larkin, David Morgan and Kyle Chalmers for
Olympic bronze in 2016 while Wilson has now won World Championship silver in 2017 and gold in
2019 in the Mixed Medley Relay – a new addition to the Tokyo 2021 program with Wilson splitting
58.37.
Did You Know? When Queenslander Christian Sprenger added a deserved Olympic silver
lining to his career London 2012, the headline screamed “Spreng Loaded” for Australia’s best ever
result in an Olympic 100m Breaststroke final. The then 26-year-old clocked 58.93 – a time only
Sprenger has bettered since when he clocked 58.79 at the 2013 World’s in Barcelona.
200m Breaststroke
WORLD RECORD: Anton Chupkov, Russia, 2:06.12 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Matthew Wilson, 2:06.67 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN ALL-COMERS: Zac Stubblety-Cook, 2:07.00 (2021)
Olympic QT: 2:08.28
Preview: This is very much a two horse race between two of the world’s best 200m Breaststrokers
in former world record holder Matt Wilson and the man who would be king Zac Stubblety-Cook.
Wilson set the Gwangju pool alight to equal the world record at 2:06.67 in the World’s semi-final
in 2019 before winning silver in a final which saw Stubblety-Cook finish fourth. The pair have been
duelling ever since – developing their Breaststroking talents en-route to their first Olympics. They
shouldn’t have any trouble with the 2:08.28 – and Stubblety-Cook certainly didn’t when he won the
Sydney Open in a new personal best of 2:07.00 after Wilson’s 2:08.60 in an evening heat swim, which
he has treated as a final, choosing not to swim the morning final. Stubblety-Cook had late last year
showed his back-end talents to clock 2:07.96 at the Queensland Titles in December. Both boys know
that in Tokyo they will have to drop well into the 2:06s – Wilson has been there, done that and knows
what it takes and Stubblety-Cook is well and truly on the way.
Did You Know? Ian O’Brien, born in the country NSW town of Wellington in 1947 was just 15
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when he won triple gold for Australia at the 1962 Perth Commonwealth Games – in the 100 and
200m Breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay. Two years later he won Olympic gold in Tokyo at
17 in a new WR after legendary coach Terry Gathercole – himself an Olympic 200m Breaststroker
and former world record holder - had started to coach the kid from the bush. Something the fellow
NSW Country born Gathercole from West Wyalong could relate to. O’Brien would make a comeback
for the 1968 Olympics, narrowly missing a medal in the medley relay before retiring, eventually
becoming one of Australia’s best known television camera operators.AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS 100m Butterfly
MEN
WORLD RECORD: Caeleb Dressel, USA, 49.50 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Andrew Lauterstein, 50.85 (2009)
Olympic QT: 51.70
Preview: Rio Olympic relay bronze medallist and three-time (2016, 2017, 2018) Australian
Champion David Morgan and 2019 World Championships rookie Matt Temple (Nunawading; Coach:
Wayne Lawes) - who share a 51.47 (equal 4th all-time Australian) personal best, and 200m National
title holder Bowen Gough (also Nunawading) along with National title holder Shaun Champion
(Abbotsleigh, Coach: Amanda Isaac), Nick Brown (UWA West Coast, Coach: Mick Palfrey) son
of 2 time Olymian Ian Brown and Edward Marks (Carlile, Coach: Adam Kable) are primed for a
ding-dong battle here and anything is possible in one of the most wide-open races on the program.
Although both Morgan and Temple share a personal best time under the 51.70 QT, Temple has
also clocked 51.64 at last December’s QLD State Championships. The man who has brought more
attention to these Trials than just about anyone else, former pop star and National Age Champion,
Cody Simpson, has his sights set on a finals berth here after impressive and improved showings at
the Australian Championships and Sydney Open Meets.
Did You Know? Andrew Lauterstein, who won three medals at the Beijing Games, including
individual bronze in the controversial 100m Butterfly final behind Michael Phelps and Milorad
Cavic, and two relay medals, retired at the conclusion of the 2012 Olympic Trials – the last time he
swam at an Australian Championship. But this year Lauterstein’s name returned to the entry lists
and he claimed a double victory in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly at the Victorian State Sprint
Championships in January before winning the 50m Butterfly at the Victorian States and returning
for the first time in nine years to the Australian Championship stage at the Gold Coast Aquatic
Centre where he finished 12th in the 50m Freestyle in 22.92 at the age of 33.
200m Butterfly
WORLD RECORD: Kristof Milak, Hungary, 1:50.73 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Nick D’Arcy, 1:54.46 (2009)
Olympic QT: 1:56.25
Preview: Only Rio Olympian and Commonwealth Games silver medallist David Morgan (TSS
Aquatic, Coach: Chris Nesbit) has swum under the QT of 1:56.25 and that was back in 2019 at the
World Championship Trials when he clocked the second fastest time by an Australian of 1:55.26.
Morgan is one of a host of 200 flyers challenging for a Games berth led by 2021 National Champion
Bowen Gough (Nunawading, Coach: Wayne Lawes); his team mate Matthew Temple; WA’s former
Youth Olympic medallist Nick Brown (UWA West Coast, Coach: Mick Palfrey) and Charles Cox
(St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall). It was Morgan who won silver in this event at the 2018
Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and was a member of the Australian 4x100m medley
relay that won bronze in Rio.
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Did You Know? Only two Australians Kevin Berry (Tokyo in 1964) and Jon Sieben (Los Angeles
in 1984) have ever won the 200m Butterfly at an Olympic Games. In 1964 Berry was working as
a dishwasher at a well known Sydney steakhouse the day members of the Tokyo Olympic team
attended a reception there. Berry worked in the kitchen, changed his clothes, attended the luncheon,
before returning to the back of the restaurant to wash the dishes from lunch. Berry went training
that afternoon under coach Don Talbot who prepared his young charge for a memorable gold
medal swim in the 200m Butterfly at the Tokyo Games.AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS MEN
200m IM
WORLD RECORD: Ryan Lochte, USA, 1:54.00 (2011)
COMMONWEALTH/AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Mitch Larkin 1:55.72 (2019)
AUSTRALIAN ALL COMERS: Michael Phelps, 1:54.98 (2007)
Olympic QT: 1:57.98
Preview: If Mitch Larkin decides to target this event then without doubt he will be a genuine
medal chance in Tokyo. His 1:56.74 swum in April at the Australian Championships had him sitting
second in the world towards the end of May, and his Commonwealth and Australian record was the
#1 World Ranked Time in 2019 (1:55.72) swum at the World Trials in Brisbane. Larkin is head and
shoulders above anyone else in Australia. Because of his Backstroke prowess Larkin’s IM had been on
the backburner – until switching back to SPW and coach Dean Boxall in 2018 which saw him take silver
at the Tokyo Pan Pacs to re-ignite this event. He was 7th at the 2019 World Championships – his best
time would have won him the gold and his 1:57.32 was still just 1.18 away from gold. The Backstroke
boss has spent all season tossing and turning and much of his racing in Freestyle and form strokes
suggest he was not only targeting the IM but he was serious. On the other hand the 200m Backstroke
has been his signature event. Among the other contenders are Se-Bom Lee (Carlile, Coach: Misha
Payne), Liam Hunter (Chandler, Coach: Vince Raleigh) as well as Thomas Hauck - coached by the
astute Ken Sabotic and a boy who has been mentored by the great Bill Sweetenham could well
sneak on to this team in either this event or the 200m Freestyle or Backstroke.
Did You Know? Australia has never won an Olympic men’s 200IM medal – in an event that had
been dominated between 2004 and 2016 with four Olympic gold to “The Man” Michael Phelps, and
silver medallist in 2004 and 2012, World Record holder Ryan Lochte who is also contesting the 2021
US Olympic Trials. An event also won by Swimming Australia’s newly appointed CEO Alex Baumann
in LA in 1984.
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© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaAUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS MEN
400m IM
WORLD RECORD: Michael Phelps, USA, 4:03.84 (2008)
AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Thomas Fraser-Holmes, 4:10.14 (2010)
Olympic QT: 4:15.24
Preview: Serious Olympic hopeful Brendon Smith (Nunawading, Coach: Wayne Lawes) kick
-started his Tokyo Olympic bid in earnest on the Gold Coast in April in a time just outside the QT in
a wide open event for Australia – but an event he knows he can own after already swimming under
that QT with his 4:14.91 at the 2019 Australian Championships coming second to Mitch Larkin. And
he has certainly forged a different pathway to Olympic selection, best utilising his swimming prowess
in Surf Lifesaving and also the only Australian male (with Emily Seebohm) to contest last year’s
International Swimming League in Budapest where he swam with the New York Breakers. Smith was
also a member of the Australian Swim Team at the 2019 World Uni Games that won bronze in the
4x200m Freestyle relay in Naples. In Adelaide two years ago, an 18-year-old Smith was hot on the
tail of dual Olympian Larkin, pushing him right to the wall, trailing by only 0.29 of a second. Smith
also took home a silver medal in October last year at the Australian Short Course Championships in
the 400m Freestyle to further his prospects. And the Half Moon Bay lifesaver was the only Victorian
named in the 2018 Australian Youth Team for the World Life Saving Championships in Adelaide
where he went on to break two world records and win a total of five medals. His feats rewarded
him with a Tier Three Scholarship within the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring
Program. Joining Smith in the 400m IM charge towards the Olympic Trials in June will be WA’s
Kieren Pollard (North Coast, Coach: Adrian Davini) Smith’s Nunwading team mate Elliot Rogerson
(Coach: Wayne Lawes), Carlile NSW’s emerging star Se-Bom Lee and prolific All-Saints Gold Coast
Age Group winner and record holder Thomas Hauck - who took down Larkin’s 200m IM QLD 17
years All-Comers record with his time of 2:01.40 as well as Ty Hartwell’s 17 years QLD All-Comers
record for 200m Backstroke with his 1:59.68 at the 2020 QLD State Championships in December.
Nunawading’s Elliot Rogerson (4:21.09) and Hauck (4:21.17) were second and third respectively to
Smith on the Gold Coast.
Did You Know? Australia has only ever won one medal in the gruelling 400m IM by Rob
Woodhouse in LA in 1964 – a race also won by Canada’s Alex Baumann – now Swimming Australia’s
CEO. Woodhouse would go on to become the manager to so many of Australia’s stars and the voice
of reason on the ABC’s Olympic radio broadcasts with Norman May and Gerry Collins. The 400IM
was first swum in Tokyo in 1964 – a final that featured former Australian Olympic Head Coach and
Head Manager Terry Buck.
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© Delly Carr Swimming AustraliaYou can also read
