[1/2] Commonwealth Video games – Swimming – Girls’s 400m Freestyle – Medal Rite – Sandwell Aquatics Centre, Birmingham, Britain – August 3, 2022 Gold Medallist Australia’s Ariarne Titmus celebrates at the podium throughout the medal rite REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/Report Picture
MELBOURNE, June 19 (Reuters) – Australia’s swim staff head to subsequent month’s global championships in Fukuoka with self belief after surroundings quite a few attention-grabbing occasions at nationwide trials in Melbourne.
The assembly wrapped up on Sunday with veteran sprinter Cameron McEvoy posting a year-best 21.27 seconds within the 50m freestyle heats earlier than simply successful the overall in 21.41 forward of Thomas Nowakowski.
The rejuvenated 29-year-old punched his price ticket for Fukuoka to sign up for a star-studded staff of 38 which boasts Olympic champions Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown and Emma McKeon.
“I’m occupied with this staff,” ‘Dolphins’ head trainer Rohan Taylor instructed newshounds.
“We have now were given a perfect mixture of skilled campaigners and a few younger blood coming via.
“Those global championships are such crucial stepping stone in what is a large three hundred and sixty five days earlier than the Paris Olympics.”
Propelled via a formidable girls’s contingent, Australia’s swimmers received a countrywide file 21 medals, together with 9 gold, on the Tokyo Olympics, 2d best to america’ haul of 30 medals.
Matching that efficiency at Paris will probably be an enormous problem however Australia’s manufacturing line of elite feminine swimmers seems in nice running order.
Teenage 100m freestyle global champion Mollie O’Callaghan underlined that as she edged five-times Olympic champion McKeon in an exhilarating duel to put up the 12 months’s quickest time (52.48) within the blue riband tournament.
Previous within the week, the 19-year-old Queenslander disappointed Olympic champion Titmus to win the 200m freestyle.
With large intensity within the 100 loose, Australia’s girls will probably be fancied to win back-to-back global titles within the 4×100 relay and push for the medley relay gold after their runner-up end finally 12 months’s global championships in Budapest.
McKeown, the 100m and 200m backstroke global file holder and Olympic champion, persevered to provoke, storming to dominant wins in her most popular occasions.
Shayna Jack, 3rd within the 100m freestyle, pipped McKeon to win the 50m freestyle ultimate with a time of 24.22 seconds to emerge as a medal contender within the shortest dash.
Handiest Sweden’s evergreen global champion Sarah Sjostrom has swum sooner than Jack this 12 months within the 50.
Australia’s males produced just one gold medal from the Tokyo pool, with Zac Stubblety-Cook dinner taking the 200m breaststroke identify.
They’ll have other winners at Fukuoka, despite the fact that, with sprinter Kyle Chalmers again in shape after taking a psychological well being destroy ultimate 12 months.
Chalmers, who received 100m freestyle gold at Rio and silver at Tokyo, cruised to victory within the distance in Melbourne in 47.44 seconds.
“I do know that during 5 weeks’ time I will be able to swim a complete lot sooner,” mentioned Chalmers, whose ideal end within the 100m freestyle on the global championships used to be a silver medal on the 2019 version in South Korea.
Whilst former 400m Olympic champion Mack Horton did not qualify for Fukuoka, 19-year-old Sam Brief loved an exhilarating trials.
Brief swept the 400, 800 and 1,500m occasions to emerge as a imaginable successor to Horton in Australian distance swimming.
Reporting via Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Enhancing via Peter Rutherford
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