Australian Trials: Olympic Gold Medal Foursome To Lead 38-Strong Dolphins Swim Team For Fukuoka World Championships
Australia’s Tokyo Olympic gold medallists Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Zac Stubblety-Cook will be joined by the son of a gun and a reincarnated Cameron McEvoy in a 38-strong Dolphins Swim Team for next month’s World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Swimming Australia named the team after the six-day Trials meet concluded at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre – adding 30 swimmers to the already selected open water members.
SON OF A GUN: Kai Taylor will make his World Championship debut in Fukuoka where his legendary mum Hayley Lewis completed her career in 2001. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr Swimming Australia.
It will be one of the most experienced swim teams to represent at a recent World Championships with 19-year-old Kai Taylor (St Peters Western, QLD) – the son of Australian swimming team legend Hayley Lewis, the only rookie on the pool team.
Taylor caused a major boilover and one of the stories of the week when he won the 200m freestyle from lane eight after finishing ninth in the morning heats – gaining his place in the final after Kyle Chalmers withdrew.
Kai joins mum Hayley, one of Australia’s most decorated World Championship and Olympic representatives, who herself won World Championship gold from lane eight in 1991 in Perth and completing a decorated decade long career in 2001 with bronze in the five-kilometre open water World Championship – ironically also swum in Fukuoka.
The team comprises 20 men and 18 women – with Queensland’s Moesha Johnson (Griffith University, QLD) earning the distinction of making the pool team in the 1500m freestyle after already qualifying in the open water team in five-kilometre event.
Johnson (16:03.02) finished second to Gold Coast Aquatic Centre training partner Lani Pallister (15:56.31) in the 1500m freestyle tonight – Pallister adding the longest pool event to the 400, 800 and the 4x200m freestyle relay after an impressive week’s racing.
Madeleine Gough (Carlile, NSW) finished third in the 1500 and she had already qualified along with Johnson on the Open Water team, Gough to swim the 10km event.
And it was a day to remember for triple Olympian McEvoy, coached by Tim Lane at Somerville House, QLD, who is the oldest member of the men’s team at 29.
McEvoy made the biggest splash of the final day when he rocketed to the top of the world rankings in the morning’s heats with his sizzling top of the world rankings time of 21.27, backing up with another impressive qualifying time of 21.41 in the final to secure his place on the team.
BLAST OFF: Cameron McEvoy has mastered the art of swimming faster. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr Swimming Australia.
A bigger, stronger and faster McEvoy completed a spectacular re-entry with his two world-class 50s after his eye-catching 50m butterfly earlier the meet – swimming his fastest times in seven years and setting the tongues wagging all around the world.
“I’m in a great spot and it’s great to be back,” said McEvoy after his impressive 50m freestyle foray.
“It’s been a lot of fun getting down to the nitty gritty with the dive and the first 15 metres…and everything around that and getting a real appreciation for really how hard it is to nail the 50m freestyle from an execution point of view.”
With dual Olympian Madi Wilson (Marion, SA), a crucial member of Australia’s 4×100 and 4x200m freestyle relays, also 29, the oldest member of a women’s team that is arguably the best in the world.
The youngest members of the team are 18-year-olds Flynn Southam (Bond Swimming, QLD) and Abbey Connor (USC Spartans, QLD) – who both debuted on last year’s Commonwealth Games team in Birmingham – and continued to make a splash in Melbourne.
Southam further announced his arrival as a world class individual freestyler with his impressive 47.77 to finish second to Kyle Chalmers (47.44) in a slashing 100m freestyle final on night five giving Australia a two-pronged attack in swimming’s blue ribband event.
While former Sydneysider Connor, who had quit the sport earlier in the year, made a spirited comeback to make the team in the 200m butterfly after a career-saving move to coach Mick Palfrey on the Sunshine Coast.
World champions Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD) 200m breaststroke; McKeown (Griffith University, QLD) 200m backstroke and St Peters Western pair Elijah Winnington in the men’s 400m freestyle and Mollie O’Callaghan in women’s 100m freestyle will all be defending their world titles from Budapest last year.
Queensland swimmers again dominate the team with a whopping 28 representatives, with four from SA, three from NSW, two from WA and one from Victoria.
The team has a record 10 representatives from the Dean Boxall squad at St Peters Western Lutheran College in Brisbane, five from the Michael Bohl squad representing Griffith University from the Gold Coast and four from the Peter Bishop group in Adelaide South Australia, representing Marion, SA.
In tonight’s finals:
Men’s 50m freestyle:
Cameron McEvoy (Sommerville House, QLD) followed his sizzling 50m heat win in 21.27 with a winning time of 21.44 in an equally impressive performance – the two fastest times of the year so far – finishing ahead of Thomas Nowakowski (Somerset, QLD) 21.89 and Isaac Cooper (St Andrews, QLD) 22.00.
Women’s 50m freestyle:
Won by Shayna Jack (St Peters Western, QLD) in a show-down to end all showdowns to snatch an individual swim in the most competitive domestic competition in world swimming, stopping the clock in the second fastest time in the world this year at 24.22 – 0.04 ahead of Olympic and Commonwealth champion Emma McKeon (Griffith University, QLD) 24.26 and 0.08 ahead of Meg Harris (Marion, SA) 24.30.
SLICK CHICKS: Shayna Jack leads the way in the women’s 50m freestyle dash. Photo Courtesy:Delly Carr Swimming Australia
Then followed 100 and 200m freestyle winner O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, QLD) 24.64, triple Olympian and former world champion (2015) Bronte Campbell (Cruiz, ACT) 24.81, Wilson (24.84, Milla Jansen (Bond Swimming, QLD) 25.08 and Olivia Wunsch (Carlile, NSW) 25.11.
Jack saying: “I’m just proud to get that win tonight; my preparation has been great and having Dean and everyone around me to do the job I need to do here as well.
“We have the fastest freestylers in the world here (in Australia) so it’s a tough competition ….and we all come to the pool each day and have respect for each other and for how hard we all train and without that competition we wouldn’t have the fastest girls in the world…
“I keep using the word redemption and for me it is a word that describes what I’m going through and all the things I’m trying to achieve is redemption for me.”
Men’s 400m individual medley:
Won impressively by Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Brendon Smith (Griffith University, QLD) in a Fukuoka qualifying time, the seventh fastest time in the world of 4:10.64 (56.14; 2:00.43;3:13.48) ahead of 200IM qualifier Tommy Neill (Rackley Swim Team, QLD) in a pb of 4:15.57 and impressive 20-year-old Gold Coaster Tommy Hauck (All Saints, QLD) 4:21.69.
Women’s 400m individual medley
Saw emerging star Jenn Forrester (St Peters Western, QLD) clock her second personal best of the season – maintaining her fourth placed world ranking with a time of 4:34.89 (1:03.01; 2:11.18; 3:30.47) ahead of SPW club mate Kiah Melverton (4:39.65 and Ella Ramsay (Chandler, QLD) 4:39.96. Forrester’s time giving her two individual swims in both the 200 and 400IMs.
Men’s 100m butterfly
Saw Australian record holder and Tokyo Olympian Matt Temple and his Marion SA teammate, training partner and tradie work mate, Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers go 1-2. Temple (lane four) winning in 51.35 ahead of Chalmers (lane seven) 51.61 ahead of Shaun Champion (Abbotsleigh, NSW) 51.88 – with Champion earning a spot on the team for Fukuoka to bolster the men’s relays.
Australian Swimming Team, 2023 World Swimming Championships, Fukuoka (JPN), July 14-30:
MEN
Bailey Armstrong (USC Spartans, QLD): 10km Open Water
Jack Cartwright, 24 (St Peters Western, QLD)
Kyle Chalmers, 24 (Marion, SA): 100m freestyle
Shaun Champion, 23 (Abbotsleigh, NSW)
Isaac Cooper, 20 (St Andrews, QLD)
Alex Graham, 28 (Miami, QLD)
Kyle Lee (North Coast, WA): 5km Open Water
Cameron McEvoy, 29 (Somerville House, QLD): 50m freestyle
Thomas Neill, 21 (Rackley Swim Team, QLD): 200IM
Sam Short, 19 (Rackley Swim Team, QLD): 400, 800m, 1500m freestyle
Nick Sloman (Noosa, QLD); 10km Open Water
Brendon Smith, 22 (Griffith University, QLD): 400IM
Flynn Southam, 18 (Bond, QLD): 100m freestyle
Zac Stubblety-Cook, 24 (Chandler, QLD): 200m breaststroke
Kai Taylor, 19 (St Peters Western, QLD)
Matt Temple, 23 (Marion, SA)
Sam Williamson, 25 (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC)
Jack Wilson (North Coast, WA): 5km Open Water
Elijah Winnington, 23 (St Peters Western, QLD): 400, 800m freestyle
Bradley Woodward, 24 (Mingara, NSW): 200m backstroke
WOMEN
Abbey Connor, 18 (Revesby Workers/USC Spartan, QLD): 200m butterfly
Bianca Crisp (Yeronga Park, QLD): 5km Open Water
Elizabeth Dekkers,19 (Chandler, QLD): 200m butterfly
Jenna Forrester,19 (St Peters Western, QLD): 200IM, 400IM
Chelsea Gubecka (Yeronga Park, QLD): 10km Open Water
Maddy Gough (Carlile, NSW): 10km Open Water
Abbey Harkin, 25 (St Peters Western, QLD)
Meg Harris, 21 (Marion, SA)
Shayna Jack, 24 (St Peters Western, QLD): 50m freestyle
Moesha Johnson, 25 (Griffith University, QLD): 1500m, 5km Open Water
Emma McKeon, 29 (Griffith University, QLD): 100m butterfly, 50m, 100m freestyle
Kaylee McKeown, 21 (Griffith University, QLD): 200IM, 100m, 200m backstroke
Kiah Melverton, 26 (St Peters Western, QLD)
Mollie O’Callaghan,19 (St Peters Western, QLD): 100m backstroke, 100m, 200m freestyle
Lani Pallister, 21 (Griffith University, QLD): 400m, 800m, 1500m freestyle
Brianna Throssell, 27 (St Peters Western, QLD): 100m butterfly
Ariarne Titmus, 22 (St Peters Western, QLD): 200, 400m, 800m freestyle
Madi Wilson, 29 (Marion, SA)
Head Coach:
Rohan Taylor (QLD)
Open Water Head Coach:
Mel Tantrum (WA)
Coaches:
Peter Bishop (Marion, SA)
Michael Bohl (Griffith University, QLD)
Dean Boxall (St Peters Western, QLD)
Amanda Isaac (Abbotsleigh, NSW)
Damien Jones (Rackley, QLD)
Adam Kable (SOPAC, NSW)
Ian Mills (North Coast, WA)
Chris Nesbit (Carlile, NSW)
Mick Palfrey (USC Spartans, QLD)