SWIMMING: Australia’s junior Oceania team is proving a force to be reckoned with in the sprint events, picking up five more gold medals on night two of finals at the West Wave Aquatic centre for the Oceania Championships in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Aussie female freestylers were too quick for the rest of the field, with Barcelona World Championships relay medallist Ami Matsuo and World Junior Championship medallist Chelsea Gillett taking the top two spots in the women’s 100m freestyle.

Following her win in the 200m freestyle last night, Matsuo grabbed the gold in a time of 55.18, setting a new Oceania Championship record and relegating teammate Gillett to silver in 55.86. Samantha Lucie-Smith (55.88) from New Zealand joined the Aussies on the podium in the bronze medal position.

In the corresponding men’s event it was teen sensation Kyle Chalmers who added to Australia’s golden tally, sprinting into first place in a time of 50.71. The 15-year-old was too quick for Steven Kent (New Zealand) in 50.84 while Chalmers’ teammate Blake Jones collected the bronze in 51.18.

Meanwhile the backstrokers were just as speedy with namesakes Nicholas Greonewald (27.14) and Nicholas Brown (26.60) finishing first and second respectively in the men’s 50m backstroke, getting the better of Hawaii’s Makoa Alvarez in 27.22.

In the women’s 50m backstroke, 16-year-old Lucy McJannett bagged the bronze medal in a time of 29.43 behind New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa’amausili (28.77) and Bobbi Gichard (29.16). Fellow Australian Amy Forrester finished just outside the podium in fifth place with a time of 30.65.

Eighteen-year-old Jake Baggaley also stepped up onto the podium for a bronze medal, taking third place in the men’s 100m breaststroke when he hit the wall in 1:05.18, ahead of fellow Aussie Grayson Bell (1:06.26) who finished fourth. New Zealand duo Ben Walsh (1:02.81) and Julian Layton (1:03.05) were too strong taking gold and silver respectively.

Baggaley (4:29.02) just missed another medal when he finished fourth in the men’s 400m individual medley with Joachim Bardrum fifth in 4:29.54.

In the relays Australia won gold in both the men (7:34.84) and women’s (8:05.12) 4x200m freestyle relay and then went on to secure the silver in the mixed 4x50m medley relay in a time of 1:48.57.

After the second night of competition the Australian team is sitting on a total of ten gold medals.

The heats will continue tomorrow with live results available at http://swimmingnz.org.nz/results/?mt_id=82 

Swimming Australia