SWIMMING: On the morning after last night’s world class 100m freestyle shoot out, London Olympic silver medallist James Magnussen has come out firing in heats of the 50m freestyle at the 2016 Australian Championships in Adelaide.
The one lap dash saw the defending Australian champion from Ravenswood (NSW), fourth in the 100m, clock 22.39 to be the fastest qualifier into tonight’s semi-finals.
With the chance to secure an individual Olympic berth, Magnussen will be doing everything he can to keep his competitors at bay.
Canberra’s fifth placegetter from last night Matt Abood (22.54) and winner of last night’s 100m free Cameron McEvoy (22.60) each won their respective heats with the next fastest times.
Olympian James Roberts (Somerset, QLD) who produced the swim of his life to finish third in the 100m, was also back in action, qualifying for the 50m semis.
“I haven’t had much sleep,” 24-year-old Roberts said.
“I was pretty emotional after the race. I tried to keep it together as best as I could when I touched the wall and saw the third – it was a pretty big moment for me."
Since competing in London four years ago, Roberts has had extensive surgery on both shoulders, the most recent in February 2015 which kept him out of the pool for nine months. A move to train under Olympic relay gold medallist Ashley Callus on the Gold Coast, has paid dividends for Roberts who after just eight months is now eyeing a chance for Olympic redemption in the 4 x 100m relay.
“It has been a pretty tough couple of years with injury and various set-backs – that’s why that race last night means the world to me,” Roberts said.
McEvoy added the 100m butterfly to his already action-packed program today, in a move motivated by inter-club competition with New Zealand teammate Chris Dawson.
“He [Dawson] went to their nationals, did the 100 fly – won it and went 53.6 but that also meant that his PB was the fastest in the squad. So we all got up and entered into the 100 fly for here so we can knock him down and re-gain the crown,” said McEvoy, who won’t contest tonight’s semi-finals.
“I’m excited for the 50 final. I showed great speed last night [in the 100 final] so my 50 should on paper look pretty good for another best time.”
Meanwhile, London Olympian Chris Wright (Southport Olympic, QLD) was the fastest qualifier from the 100m butterfly heats and will be hoping to drop time through the semi-final and final to reach his Olympic qualification goal of 51.51.
He’ll face tough competition from Grant Irvine and David Morgan who have already qualified in the 200, with Tommaso D’Orsogna and Jayden Hadler also needing a top eight finish.
In the women’s 800m freestyle, distance specialist Jessica Ashwood produced 8:31.60 in her heat. The 22-year-old should easily clock the Olympic qualifying time in tomorrow night’s final but has her sights set on breaking her own Australian record.
“No 800 is easy but that was really comfortable this morning so I’m really happy with that,” said Ashwood who trains under Vince Raleigh at Chandler.
“In the first 200 I tried to give it a little bit but I am hoping to crank out a PB tomorrow night so that is my main focus. It is quite hard to do an 800 PB but I am just trying to just chip away at it every time I do it.”
In the women’s 200m backstroke, dual Olympian Belinda Hocking was the fastest heat swimmer, clocking 2:09.31.
She was number one in the world over the distance in 2014, but a period of bad luck in 2015 saw her have injections in her shoulder, dislocate her knee, crash her car and bizarrely set herself on fire needing plastic surgery on three of her fingers.
The 25-year-old from Nunawading, VIC is back in action though and will be looking for a finals berth and ultimately a spot on the team for Rio. Standing in her way will be Madison Wilson (2:09.40) and World Champion Emily Seebohm (2:10.90) who have both already qualified in the 100.
Tonight’s session will see sister act Cate and Bronte Campbell battle it out for the 100m freestyle title with Emma McKeon poised to upset their one-two finish. Taylor McKeown will be looking to add the 200m breaststroke to her Rio program as will Mitch Larkin in the men’s 200m backstroke. With Thomas Fraser-Holmes withdrawing from the final of the men’s 20m individual medley, the stage is set for defending champion Daniel Tranter to get his Olympic nod with Justin James and Travis Mahoney also in the mix.
SWIMMING AUSTRALIA
