Australian Open: Titmus 3:59 Tops 400 Tussle With Pallister & Winnington Pips Short In 800 On 7:43s
Ariarne Titmus, Olympic champion, tolerated close company until the 100m mark of the 400m freestyle at the Australian Open Championships on the Gold Coast before pressing on to a 3mins 59.13sec victory, Lani Pallister the only rival close to her wash, for silver in 4:01.75.
The 23-year-old from St Peters Western went through, with Pallister chasing, like this:
57.63; 1:58.31; 2:58.77; 3:59.13 Titmus
57.85; 1:59.02; 3:00.56; 4:01.75 Pallister
In a scrap for third, Kiah Melverton got her hand to the wall in 4:06.94, just 0.01sec ahead of Eve Thomas, based at St Peters Western and racing for New Zealand a week after qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games for the country ion distance freestyle.
The men’s distance free final of day 3 of 4 on the Gold Coast delivered the highlight of the men’s program: Elijah Winnington and Sam Short sparred over 800m freestyle in similar fashion to the way they had ion day 1 in the 400m freestyle, battle ending 7:43.08 to 7:43.98 in Winnington’s favour, with Korea’s Kim Woomin on 7:49.69 in third.
The ebb and flow:
Winnington:
25.75 54.13 (28.38)
1:22.83 (28.70) 1:51.74 (28.91)
2:20.86 (29.12) 2:49.94 (29.08)
3:19.32 (29.38) 3:48.70 (29.38)
4:18.20 (29.50) 4:47.77 (29.57)
5:17.60 (29.83) 5:47.54 (29.94)
6:17.64 (30.10) 6:47.09 (29.45)
7:15.77 (28.68) 7:43.08 (27.31)
Short
26.48 54.96 (28.48)
1:23.74 (28.78) 1:52.76 (29.02)
2:21.93 (29.17) 2:51.04 (29.11)
3:20.64 (29.60) 3:50.15 (29.51)
4:19.56 (29.41) 4:48.86 (29.30)
5:18.35 (29.49) 5:47.88 (29.53)
6:17.48 (29.60) 6:46.77 (29.29)
7:16.32 (29.55) 7:43.98 (27.66)
Kim
25.93 54.66 (28.73)
1:23.59 (28.93) 1:52.67 (29.08)
2:21.76 (29.09) 2:51.08 (29.32)
3:20.66 (29.58) 3:50.55 (29.89)
4:20.53 (29.98) 4:50.56 (30.03)
5:20.87 (30.31) 5:51.12 (30.25)
6:21.36 (30.24) 6:51.77 (30.41)
7:21.27 (29.50) 7:49.69 (28.42)
Australian Medley Record-Breaker McKeown Back To Defend Her Patch Against O’Callaghan Challenge
The women’s 50m backstroke also witnessed a terrific tussle between 2023 World champions Kaylee McKeown, GUSC’s triple gold winner on backstroke in Fukuoka , and Mollie O’Callaghan, St PW’s 100-200m pioneer at the same showcase in Japan. The sprinters were split by 0.09sec at the finish, the backstroke specialist the champion over the freestyle visitor 27.07 to 27.19, Iona Anderson third in 27.75.
McKeown took down Stephanie Rice‘s 2009 Australian medley records with towering swims of 2:06.99 in the 200m in day 1 and 4:28.22 in the 400m yesterday.
In the ‘fly dash final, Japan’s Rikako Ikee laid down a sharp 25.33 too get the better of Emma McKeon, 25.70, Alexandria Perkins, 25.90, and Brianna Throssell, 25.92.
In 50.80, Matt Temple took the 100m butterfly, the time his fifth best on a list of eight sub-51sec swims, a 51.6 at NSW titles in March his fastest this year, his career high the Australian record at 50.25. The top three was rounded off by Shaun Champion, 51.28, and Ben Armbruster, 51.88, with Cody Simpson fourth in 52.32, almost a match of his heats 52.36.
In the men’s 200m medley, William Petric, Nunawading, fended off New Zealand visitor Lewis Clareburt 1:58.43 to 1:58.73, with Lee Se-Bom with them until fading on freestyle for a 2:00.90 third place, the flow as follows:
25.78, 56.64 (30.86) 1:30.19 (33.55) 1:58.43 (28.24) Petric
25.66, 56.08 (30.42) 1:30.95 (34.87) 1:58.73 (27.78) Clareburt
25.80, 56.40 (30.60) 1:31.56 (35.16) 2:00.90 (29.34) Lee
Brendon Smith lost touch with the leaders on breaststroke but almost caught Lee down the last lap for fourth in 2:00.98, 200m breaststroke Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook next home in 2:02.06.
In other finals, Jenna Strauch, Miami, took the 200m breaststroke in 2:23.33 ahead of 19-year-old teammate Matilda Smith, on 2:24.89, and Abbey Harkin‘s 2:26.11; Cameron McEvoy pipped Kyle Chalmers in the 50m free 21.93 to 21.98, with Tom Nowakowski third in 22.08; and Mark Nikolaev topped the 100m backstroke in 54.61 ahead of Lee Juho, Korea, on 54.64 after 54.44 in heats, and Brad Woodward, on 54.74.