SWIMMING: Brisbane’s Olympic gold medallist Emily Seebohm has continued her stunning debut into the realms of the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Doha adding two more medals to her haul on the third night of competition at the Hamad Aquatic Centre.
The 22-year-old took her medal tally to three when she added another silver medal in the 200m backstroke to match her night two silver in the 100m backstroke before claiming bronze in the 100m individual medley.
And it seems everywhere that Seebohm goes in these Championships so does Hungarian super swimmer Katinka Hosszu.
The 25-year-old FINA Swimmer Of The Year has won the gold in all three of Seebohm’s races – and all three in world record times.
But Seebohm has not been afraid to get in and race the “The Iron Lady” of the pool in this, her first attempt at a World Short Course Championship meet.
She charged to her second silver medal in the 200m backstroke, clocking one of the fastest times ever recorded in the process and 15 minutes later was back in the water in the individual medley.
“Being my first World Short Course I didn’t really know what to expect and I’m over the moon with my results,” said Seebohm.
“I haven’t done that much short course racing; I’m more of a long course swimmer so it’s fun to come here and deal with all the pressures that go with a big meet like this; I didn’t really expect to swim this fast so to keep improving is awesome.”
Seebohm led out for the first 50m of the 200m to again set up a thrilling duel with Hosszu, who took control in the second 50m, splitting 58.36 to Seebohm's 59.16.
But the determined Australian wasn't going away as Hosszu sped to a new world record of 1:59.23 - the first woman under two minutes with Seebohm in hot pursuit, setting new Commonwealth and Australian records of 2:00.13.
Only Hosszu and previous world record holder, Olympic champion Missy Franklin have swum faster.
Australia's Madison Wilson put up a great fight in the third 50m to challenge for the bronze before finishing fifth in 2:02.67.
And in next to no time Seebohm was back in the pool, again with Hosszu waiting for her in the 100m individual medley final.
Only this time Hosszu and Great Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor stood ahead of her on the dais as the Hungarian blasted her own world record, stopping the clock at 56.86; O’Connor at 57.83 and Seebohm in a personal best of 58.19.
Meanwhile earlier in the night a brave Bronte Campbell missed bronze by just 0.18 after setting a cracking pace in a thrilling 100m freestyle final.
Campbell, 20, clocked a personal best time of 51.65 - making her only the fourth Australian to swim under 52 seconds - with world record holder Libby Trickett (51.01) and her sister Cate (51.31) and Emma McKeon (51.69) only ever swimming quicker.
"I couldn't be happier even if I'd won the race,” admitted Campbell, “It was my first time under 52 seconds…and I honestly couldn’t be happier. I can't wait for the 50m."
The men’s 400m freestyle final saw Miami Podium Centre pair Jordan Harrison and Dan Smith finish fifth and eighth respectively in personal best times; Harrison in 3:39.11 and Smith in 3:39.63.
It was Harrison’s first appearance at these Championships and he will now set himself for a tilt at the 1500m freestyle against the likes of Olympic gold medallist Oussama Meloulli and Canadian Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ryan Cochrane.
The boys were no match for the winner, Hungary’s Peter Bernek who broke Grant Hackett’s 15-year-old Championship record set in Hong Kong in 1999 – the Hungarian 22-year-old clocking 3:34.32 – taking 0.69secs off Hackett’s then world record time.
But they have age on their side and enormous futures as they set themselves for next year’s World Championships in Kazan and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Ironically Hackett is back at Miami training alongside Harrison, Smith and another boom youngster in Commonwealth Games and Pan Pac 200m freestyle gold medallist Tom Fraser-Holmes.
Meanwhile Beijing Olympian Sally Hunter has marched through to the 100m breaststroke final with the fourth fastest time, clocking a new personal best of 1:04.23 in her semi-final.
And in another slick swim Pan Pac 100m freestyle gold medallist Cameron McEvoy finished sixth in the 50m freestyle final in 21.15 – a race that saw powerfully built Frenchman Florent Manaudou stop the clock in an extraordinary new world record time of 20.26secs.
New world champion in the 100m backstroke, Mitch Larkin, will contest the final of the 50m backstroke on night four after qualifying sixth in 23.33, and he too will face the wrath of that man Manaudou (22.97) and Olympic champion Matt Grevers (23.27).
The heats will continue this evening at 5:00pm AEDST at the Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha with more information here: http://www.wscdoha2014.com/index.php
Full results are available at: http://www.omegatiming.com/index.htm
Swimming Australia
Larkin leaves heroes in his wake
SWIMMING: Brisbane engineering student Mitch Larkin is Australia’s latest world swimming champion after turning the tables on his heroes to win the men’s 100m backstroke gold at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Doha.
The Michael Bohl trained Larkin from the St Peters Western Podium Centre stormed home over the final 50m to win the world title convincingly in a time of 49.57 seconds.
He swam away from Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki who snuck in on the wall to win silver in 50.11 with celebrated Olympic medallists Ryosuke Irie from Japan and London 100m gold medallist Matt Grevers from the USA dead-heating for the bronze in 50.12.
Larkin, a London Olympic finalist and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, looked the goods through his heat and semi-final and produced the race of his life to leave his “swimming heroes” in his wake in the final.
“I have looked up to some of these guys throughout my career – they have been like heroes to me and to race them in tonight’s final was a real honour and a thrill,” said Larkin, who has emerged as one of the world’s premier backstrokers throughout the World Cup short course season.
“To come out on top is a dream and being called a world champion is something that certainly hasn’t sunk in.
“My coach Michael Bohl and I have worked on my skills and making sure I nail the turns and I think that was a factor tonight.
“Although the time was a little off my best I have said it would always come down to the best racer on the night and I was lucky enough to put it all together on the night.”
Larkin’s gold medal was the start of a medal charge by the Australians with fellow Brisbane swimmers Emily Seebohm and Tommaso D’Orsogna chiming in with silver and bronze medals respectively.
And it took world records to beat them with Hungarian super-swimmer Katinka Hosszu (55.03) surging ahead of Seebohm off the last turn to win the gold medal in the 100m backstroke final which also saw Australian team mate Madi Wilson finish fourth.
Seebohm produced the fastest swim of her career, clocking a new Commonwealth and Australian record time of 55.31 with Wilson swimming her personal best 56.37.
She later qualified for the final of the 100m individual medley final in 58.31.
D’Orsogna wasn’t going to miss the party either and also pulled out a personal best time of 49.60 to claim the bronze in the 100m butterfly final, won by the world’s hottest swimming talent in Chad Le Clos from South Africa who set a new world record of 48.44secs.
“I’m stoked with that swim and I knew I just had to come home hard and hang on,” said D’Orsogna, who trains under Simon Cusack at the Commercial Podium Centre at the Valley Pool in Brisbane.
“Simon and I sat down after the Pan Pacs and changed a few things and so far so good.
“I’ve hit the right form at the right time and I’m looking forward to the rest of the meet with the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle to come.”
Meanwhile Leiston Pickett (29.88) and Sally Hunter (30.22) flew the Aussie flag in the 50m breaststroke final finishing fourth and seventh respectively.
Commonwealth Games and Pan Pac silver medallist Bronte Campbell qualified second into tomorrow night’s 100m freestyle final after clocking a personal best time of 52.02.
The 20-year-old younger sister of world champion Cate, admitted she made “plenty of mistakes” in the semi-final swim which saw her finish second to The Netherlands gold medal relay swimmer Femke Heemskerk.
Joining Campbell in tomorrow night’s finals in the men’s events will be Pan Pac 100m freestyle champion Cameron McEvoy who swam another personal best time of 21.14 to put himself into the 50m freestyle final.
It followed McEvoy’s 100m freestyle personal best of 46.56 in last night’s lead off in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
After two nights Australia’s medal tally sits at one gold, one silver and two bronze.
The heats will continue this evening at 5:00pm AEDST at the Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha and can be live streamed here: http://www.wscdoha2014.com/index.php
Full results are available at: http://www.omegatiming.com/index.htm
Aussie girls win inspired bronze on Day 1 in Doha
SWIMMING: Australia has stormed home to win an unexpected bronze medal in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay on the opening night of the 12th FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Doha.
The 20-strong Australian team here in Qatar was selected off the back of the Australian Short Course Championship trials in Adelaide last month specifically for individual events with relays to be formed from the available talent.
But Australia has such a rich history in relays – especially in recent years with five Olympic gold medals to Australia’s women at the last three Games in Athens, Beijing and London.
And a new-look team put together by National head coach Jacco Verhaeren showed it wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
A trio of three youngsters – rookie Leah Neale, 19, swimming in her first international final joined WA’s Youth Olympian Brianna Throssell and Commonwealth Games backstroker Madison Wilson combined with Olympic gold medallist Kylie Palmer to bring home the bronze behind the world record breaking Dutch and Chinese teams in a time of 7:38.59.
Neale led off in 1:54.15, followed by Wilson (1:54.37) and Throssell (1:56.80) with Olympic gold medallist Palmer bringing the relay home in 1:53.27.
Throssell has a successful Youth Olympic Games meet in Nanjing in August and Wilson was a star of the 2010 Youth Olympic Team in Singapore.
The girls were always in the hunt after rookie Neale's personal best lead-off swim had the Aussie girls in second place followed by Wilson and Throssell with the experienced 2008 Olympic 4x200m golden girl Palmer charging past the USA to take a deserved bronze medal with a spirited anchor swim.
Neale, like her fellow rookies Dan Smith (seventh in the 200m freestyle final) and David Morgan (semi-finalist in the men’s 100m butterfly) showed she was ready for the big time, leading off both the heat and the final with personal best times.
Palmer, who has moved into join Neale under coach Chris Mooney at Indooroopilly, was full of praise for her young team mates, saying she was excited about their future.
“We had a makeshift team, not expecting anything, and to come away with a bronze medal is amazing, these girls have got an awesome future,” said Palmer, who admits she is enjoying her swimming the most she has ever done in a career that started out at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
“I came into this meet not thinking about results at all and concentrating on my own races and putting it together the best I can.
“Then our relay coach Michael Bohl spoke about the great tradition of the 4x200m freestyle relay and we started to get nervous.
“But we spoke about everyone doing their job and all of us delivered; for Leah to swim those two PBs (personal bests) in one day and in the lead off says it all. Brianna continues to prove herself and Madi just keeps going from strength to strength.”
Meanwhile Gold Coast rookie Dan Smith produced a creditable seventh place finish in a star-studded 200m freestyle final at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Doha.
The 22-year-old from the Miami Podium Centre on the Gold Coast clocked 1:42.81 in a final full of big names and won by South African Olympic butterfly champion Chad Le Clos from Danila Izotov (RUS) and 5-time Olympic gold medallist Ryan Lochte (USA).
Swimming on his first Australian senior team, Smith pulled out all stops to clock a personal best time of 1:42.67 in a morning heat swim followed by a key role in Australia's 4x100m freestyle relay team.
In the only other individual final featuring an Australian swimmer on the opening night, Throssell (2:06.40) finished seventh in the 200m butterfly won by Spain's Mireya Belmonte Garcia in a new WR of 1:59.61.
The Australian men's 4x100m freestyle relay team (3:06.48) produced a fast finishing 5th in a time of 3:06.48 with Tommaso D'Orsogna clocking a sizzling 45.65 anchor swim. Cameron McEvoy led off in 46.56 to be sitting second, followed by Matt Abood 46.78 and Travis Mahoney 47.49. France swam over the top of Russia to win the event in a Championship record. The USA was third 0.90 seconds ahead of Australian with Italy fourth.
Meanwhile in semi-final action:
Olympian Mitch Larkin is the fastest qualifier into tomorrow night's 100m backstroke final after winning his semi-final in 49.62.
Australia will have two finalists in the women's 100m backstroke tomorrow night after Olympic silver medallist Emily Seebohm (56.32) qualified second with Madi Wilson sixth in 56.91, and two finalists in the women's 50m breaststroke with Leiston Pickett (29.79) the fourth fastest qualifier and Sally Hunter (30.08) the equal 5th fastest into tomorrow night's final.
While London Olympian Tommaso D'Orsogna the second fastest qualifier to Olympic 200m butterfly gold medallist Chad Le Clos (RSA) into the 100m butterfly final.
Le Clos clocked 49.25 to edge out D'Orsogna (49.69) in the first semi-final, with D'Orsogna's time just 0.18secs outside Mitch Patterson's 2009 Australian record of 49.51.
Rookie David Morgan was just outside his morning personal best of 50.61, stopping the clock at 50.96 to finish 15th.
The heats will begin at 5:00pm AEDST and can be live streamed here: http://www.wscdoha2014.com/index.php
Full results are available at: http://www.omegatiming.com/index.htm
Swimming Australia
