Aussie swim superstars Kaylee McKeown, Ariarne Titmus and Kyle Chalmers are all in action on night four of the Australian Olympic team swim trials in Brisbane.
For the second time at the meet, McKeown came ridiculously close to breaking her own world record, this time just 0.16 seconds away in the 200m backstroke final.
The superstar was under world record pace at both the 50m and 100m marks, with a blistering turn seeing her storm away from any competition. But she slipped behind the red line in the third 50, and could not catch it despite a late charge with a 2:03.30.
Jaclyn Barclay qualified for her first Olympics at just 17, coming home to finish second with a 2:07.88 – almost two seconds under the qualifying time.
Tokyo bronze medallist Emily Seebohm, attempting to become the first Aussie swimmer to qualify for five Olympics, was fifth.
Watch selected NRL, AFL, SSN games and every qualifying session and F1 race live in 4K on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial today.
McKeown and Giuliani star during night 2 | 01:57
After missing the podium in the 50m freestyle, Chalmers begins his revenge tour in his pet event, the 100m – in which he won gold in Rio, and silver in Tokyo.
While Chinese world record holder Pan Zhanle, ex-world record holder David Popovici and reigning Olympic champ Caeleb Dressel will be stiff competition, Chalmers can send a message in Thursday night’s final, for which he qualified fastest with a 48.39. Chalmers’ best is a 47.15, which is 0.11 off Cam McEvoy’s Australian record.
While Chalmers is unlikely to be beaten the race to join him in the relay team will be a tense one, with all eyes on the number of swimmers who finish in the 47-second range.
Titmus caps off the night in the 800m freestyle, hoping to break her own Australian record (8:13.59), but she and Lani Pallister (career-best 8:15.11) are both likely to be under the qualifying time of 8:22.20.
William Petric set a new personal best by half a second but the 19-year-old’s 1:57.54 wasn’t enough for automatic qualification as he won the men’s 200m individual medley.
However he may still be selected for Paris on a discretionary basis, especially given his youth.
The women’s 200m butterfly sees Lizzy Dekkers, the silver medallist at last year’s world championships who was not selected for Tokyo despite winning the event at that Games’ trials, as the second-fastest qualifier behind 19-year-old Abbey Connor. Both were under the qualifying time of 2:07.72 in the heats.
NIGHT 4 AUSSIE SWIM TRIALS EVENT SCHEDULE (All times AEST and estimated)
7:35pm – Women’s 200m Backstroke (Kaylee McKeown, Emily Seebohm)
7:46pm – Men’s 200m Individual Medley
8:17pm – Men’s 100m Freestyle (Kyle Chalmers)
8:54pm – Women’s 200m Butterfly (Lizzy Dekkers)
9:08pm – Women’s 800m Freestyle (Ariarne Titmus, Lani Pallister)
Aussie stars shine in Olympic Qualifying | 02:29
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 (which is tougher than the global standard).
A swimmer only needs to qualify in one event to make the team, and can then attempt other events as well.
The meet 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
World record times
50m freestyle: 20.91 / 23.61
100m freestyle: 46.80 / 51.71
200m freestyle: 1:42.00 / 1:52.23 (Ariarne Titmus, set on Wednesday night)
400m freestyle: 3:40.07 / 3:55.38 (Ariarne Titmus)
800m freestyle: 7:32.12 / 8:04.79
1500m freestyle: 14:31.02 / 15:20.48
100m backstroke: 51.60 / 57.33 (Kaylee McKeown)
200m backstroke: 1:51.92 / 2:03.14 (Kaylee McKeown)
100m breaststroke: 56.88 / 1:04.13
200m breaststroke: 2:05.48 / 2:17.55
100m butterfly: 49.45 / 55.48
200m butterfly: 1:50.34 / 2:06.12
200m individual medley: 1:54.00 / 2:06.12
400m individual medley: 4:02.50 / 4:24.38
Source Agencies
