Night 2 of the Australian Olympic Swimming Trials on Tuesday will see a host of stars hit the pool at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre with spots on the line for the Paris Olympics.
But perhaps the most remarkable story of the night is Emily Seebohm, the 32-year-old seeking to represent Australia in a fifth Olympic Games – and competing tonight just eight months after giving birth.
Seebohm has three gold medals and seven Olympic medals in all, and is hoping to become just the third Australian mother to swim at an Olympic games (after Lisa Curry in 1992 and Hayley Lewis in 2000).
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She qualified in eighth for the final of the 100m backstroke, the first event of tonight’s finals. Seebohm snuck in to the final in the last position with a 1:01.02, just ahead of 21-year-old Alyssa Burgess with a 1:01.16s.
It’ll take something special from Seebohm to turn back the clock and book her place on the plane to Paris, especially given the field includes world record holder Kaylee McKeown, who qualified second-fastest with a 59.03s.
Mollie O’Callaghan was fastest with a 58.73s, still well off McKeown’s record 57.33s that could be in doubt tonight.
But O’Callaghan’s packed schedule means she is unlikely to race the event in Paris – meaning a third swimmer could well qualify.
Hayley Lewis’ son Kai Taylor finished second fastest in the heats for the men’s 200m freestyle behind Elijah Winnington. Winnington qualified for his second Olympics in the 400m on Monday night, and is considering racing the 200m (as well as the 800m he prefers) should he finish in the top two tonight.
In another remarkable comeback, Mitch Larkin qualified fourth for the finals of the men’s 100m backstroke as he seeks to become the first male Australian swimmer to race in four Olympics.
The 30-year-old has battled back from shoulder surgery that he revealed was expected to stop him ever competing at the elite level again. He spent 15 weeks in a sling in 2022 after a full shoulder reconstruction. But he’ll be eyeing off top qualifier Bradley Woodward (53.78s) and Isaac Cooper in tonight’s final.
“I wouldn’t be swimming like this if I didn’t wanna go to Paris. There’s obviously very much a big hunger still,” Larkin said.
“I love the sport. I love the whole concept of the Olympics, the whole pursuit of taking your body and trying to physically push it as far as it can and better yourself every day. That’s something that really excites me.
“My surgeon said ‘look, realistically, you might never see him again or you may never swim at the top level again. And that was pretty hard to hear. But I had some time to reflect and sort of ‘go, look, you’ve had a pretty good career.’
“But like I said, I love the sport. I’m fortunate enough that I’ve got other opportunities that are waiting for me. If I was to hang up the togs right now, I could sort of step into a full time role and start a career there.
“I never wanted to retire and just think, what would have happened if you had of going back to training and you potentially could have got that shoulder back to what it was capable of. So that’s what’s really driving me the last couple of months.”
“If I don’t make Paris, I’m not gonna have a tantrum. I’ll be obviously pretty upset. You know, four Olympics would be pretty impressive. And I think it’d be a really nice way to just finish off a pretty good career.”
TUESDAY NIGHT SCHEDULE (All times AEST and estimated)
7:30 PM Women’s 100m Backstroke (Kaylee McKeown, Mollie O’Callaghan, Emily Seebohm)
7:41 PM Women’s 100m Breaststroke (Jenna Strauch, Ella Ramsay, Abbey Harkin)
8:11 PM Men’s 100m Backstroke (Bradley Woodward, Isaac Cooper, Mitch Larkin)
8:40 PM Men’s 200m Freestyle (Elijah Winnington, Kai Taylor)
Ariarne Titmus v the World Record | 00:59
AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC SWIM TRIALS
To qualify for the Olympic team, a swimmer must finish in the top two of the A final of their event, and meet Swimming Australia’s qualifying time.
The event is being held at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre and can be watched on Nine and 9Now, with the finals from 7:30pm AEST each night.
The final team will be announced on Saturday night.
Qualification times (men’s / women’s)
50m freestyle: 21.88 / 24.67
100m freestyle: 48.06 / 53.61
200m freestyle: 1:45.97 / 1:56.49
400m freestyle: 3:45.43 / 4:04.98
800m freestyle: 7:45.80 / 8:22.20
1500m freestyle: 14:54.29 / 16:01.95
100m backstroke: 53.21 / 59.62
200m backstroke: 1:57.28 / 2:09.74
100m breaststroke: 59.49 / 1:06.31
200m breaststroke: 2:09.50 / 2:23.91
100m butterfly: 51.17 / 57.17
200m butterfly: 1:54.97 / 2:07.72
200m individual medley: 1:57.23 / 2:10.62
400m individual medley: 4:12.50 / 4:38.53
Source Agencies
