Australian Trials (Day 5): Mollie O’Callaghan Sinks Two Olympic Champions And Now Chases A Slice of World Championship History in Fukuoka
Teenage sensation and defending champion Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, QLD) will get a second chance at a rare slice of World Championships swimming history after winning the 100m freestyle on night five of the Australian Trials in Melbourne tonight.
Twelve months ago, in Budapest it was O’Callaghan who went within 0.30 of the 100-200m freestyle double – and now she has a second chance of achieving a feat that no other woman has ever done in the World Championships 50-year history.
EX-STREAM LINING: The bolt from the blue Mollie O’Callaghan’s shows her stream lining in the 100m freestyle start. Photo Courtesy:Delly Carr Swimming Australia
Last year O’Callaghan won the 100m freestyle world title beating Sweden’s world record holder and four-time runner-up Sarah Sjostrom and finished second to China’s Junxuan Yang in the 200m.
But when you have to race two Olympic champions in both of your main events just to secure a place on the team – your own Trials can sometimes be tougher and more daunting than winning the World Championship.
It was the second time in three days that the girl they call “Mollie O” has beaten an Olympic champion just to make the Dolphins team for next month’s World’s in Fukuoka, Japan, such is the extraordinary depth in Australia’s female freestyle sprinting stocks.
On Thursday night it was Tokyo Olympic gold medallist, club mate Ariarne Titmus who fell to O’Callaghan’s powerhouse final turn and lethal six-beat kick in a neck-and-neck 200m freestyle final – shooting to the top of the world rankings.
Tonight, it was the Tokyo Olympic 100m freestyle champion, Emma McKeon (Griffith University, QLD) who lost out to Mollie O’s blistering finish, also clocking the fastest time in the world this year by just four-one-hundredths of a second.
The 19-year-old stopped the clock in a personal best of 52.48 to McKeon’s 52.52 with Shayna Jack (St Peters Western, QLD) another four-one-hundredths of a second behind in third in 52.64.
And there was an air of confusion at the finish when the graphics on the venue big screen flashed up 2nd, 2nd 3rd but no 1st, the girls unsure who had actually won.
And when interviewed by two-time Olympian Matt Welsh after the race, O’Callaghan admitted she had heard a loud click on her block when she dived in, believing she may have been disqualified.
“I thought ‘did I do something wrong’…? Did I get disqualified when I dived in?” said O’Callaghan.
“I realised the block wasn’t clicked in properly and I panicked because I heard the click.
“I also had no idea what was going on in the last five metres; I just had to trust myself and believe I could try and touch that wall (first).
“I was breathing the other way and couldn’t see the girls and I knew all the girls go out pretty fast and I’m a bit different so as I said to myself, I just had to trust myself and trust the process.
“The depth here (in Australia) is just incredible and it’s always so close…I really wanted to win but I just went into this thinking ‘just try and make a relay and coach Dean Boxall said just try and get top two or the relay….”
Now Mollie O is good to go in the 100 and 200m freestyle and will be a key figure in so many of Australia’s relays.
The standard of tonight’s 100m freestyle final saw the 2022-23 World Rankings re-written again and this is how the Top Eight Rankings looks now:
- Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) 52.48
- Siobhan Haughey (HKG) 52.50
- Emma McKeon (AUS) 52.52
- Shayna Jack (AUS) 52.64
- Marrit Steenbergen (NED) 52.98
- Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 52.99
- Meg Harris (AUS) 53.09
- Yujie Cheng (CHN) 53.26
Australia also has Marion, SA’s Madi Wilson (53.42) in 10th and Chandler, QLD’s Cate Campbell (who did not contest the Trials) in equal 12th on 53.52; Carlile NSW’s 17-year-old Australian Age champion Olivia Wunsch(eighth in tonight’s final) at 22nd in 54.05 (swum at the Age Championships) and Titmus (who has a pb of 53.68) sixth in the final in 54.26 and just outside the top 25.
Meanwhile in other events tonight:
Commonwealth Games champion Sam Short (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) who has already qualified in the 400 and 800m freestyle added his pet event – the 1500m – clocking a personal best time of 14:46.67 (55:79; 1:53.95; 3:52.39 and 7:49.59) saying “I just wanted to see how long I could last…put myself in the hurt locker and to see what I could do…and that last 500m I was really feeling it but put me in a race situation and I reckon I could find another six seconds.”
Short’s time pushes him into fourth on the who’s who list of Australian distance greats behind Grant Hackett, Mack Horton and Kieren Perkins and sixth in the world this year.
SUCKING IN THE BIG ONES: Sam Short of breath at the end of his fastest ever 1500m freestyle. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr
Six-time Commonwealth Games medallist Bradley Woodard (Mingara, NSW) became the first automatic qualifier from NSW when he won the 200m backstroke in 1:56.04 ahead of Josh Edwards-Smith (Griffith University, QLD) 1:56.04 and Ty Hartwell (Chandler, QLD) 1:58.88 after his personal best this morning of 1:55.95 – the fourth fastest ever Australian.
Tokyo Olympian Abbey Harkin (St Peters Western, QLD) went within two-one-hundredths of a second of automatic qualification in the 200m breaststroke – in 2:23.93 to complete the 50, 100, 200m breaststroke treble and;
Olympic and World champion and world record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook assured he will be in Fukuoka to defend the title he won in Budapest last year, stopping the clock at 2:07.86 (29.67; 1:02.58; 1:35.50) – just under two seconds outside his own world record of 2:05.95 and saying…”I’m disappointed it wasn’t a pb and it is the world record of course but I still think there is a lot to give in 200m breaststroke…it is all about getting the best out of myself and seeing how far I can push myself….but I’m excited for the world champs and the world is getting faster….I hope to continue to do my best and that means pushing the world record…”