Emma McKeon set the pool alight on night one of the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials, blitzing her own Australian record by clocking a time of 55.93 – well under the qualifying time of 57.10. Brianna Throssell touched in second, agonisingly only 0.01 outside of the time required in 57.11.
McKeon was relived to qualify in the first event of the meet.
“I think it's just nice to qualify in the first event and get that done and now settle into the rest of the week,” she said.
“It is significantly faster than what I was going for the last four years, I definitely felt like I was due for a good one. I have been putting in a lot of work with my coach and definitely have a lot of faith in him. And I think when he tells me that I'm due for a good one I have a lot more belief in myself.”
Australian records continued to fall in the second race of the night as Brendon Smith flew home in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley in 4:10.04 to beat Thomas Fraser-Holmes’ eight-year record. Birthday boy, Se-bom Lee had an extra reason to celebrate after he swum under the qualifying time in 4:14.16, likely booking a seat to Tokyo with Smith.
Smith was ecstatic after his record-breaking swim.
“Pretty surprising swim, everything went right and I had an amazing race,” he said.
“There is definitely a lot of time I can drop with that swim, but I am just looking forward to getting back into training and see if I can drop more.”
In what was tipped as one of the races of the night – the Men’s 400m Freestyle – it definitely lived up to expectations with five swimmers touching under the qualifying time. However, with only two spots available it was Elijah Winnington who nabbed first position in 3:42.65 with Jack McLoughlin securing second spot in 3:43.27. The epic battle saw defending Olympic gold medallist Mack Horton narrowly miss an individual swim.
Other races which featured on night one included the Men’s 100m Breaststroke and the Women’s 400m Individual Medley, both of which saw no individual qualifiers.
Swimming Australia
