SWIMMING: More than 60 swimmers will represent Australia at the 2013 FINA and IPC World Championships in Barcelona and Montreal this year with a host of new faces announced on the Australian Swim Team in Adelaide.

Following eight days of competition at the EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships, 43 swimmers were selected to compete in both the pool and open water swimming in Barcelona, with 19 heading to Montreal for the IPC World Championships.

Swimming Australia Director of High Performance Michael Scott said the tough qualifying standards had produced some world class swimming in Adelaide over the last eight days.

“We’ve seen more than 20 athletes produce personal best times to gain selection for this year’s FINA and IPC world championships and that’s a really promising sign,” said Scott.

“We’ve got 86 days until we compete for Australia in Barcelona and the challenge now is to improve further on the standards that athletes and coaches have set themselves this week.  The next stage is about being professional in everything we do including enhancing the performance culture of the team.”

Debutant 14-year-old Queenslander Chelsea Guebecka and Paralympic gold medallist Maddison Elliott will be the youngest members of the team that will boast five newcomers heading to their first major international long course meet in Alexander Graham, Jordan Harrison, Grant Irvine, Emma McKeon and Ami Matsuo.

Securing a spot on the team on the opening night, 17-year-old Queenslander Jordan Harrison brought the crowd to their feet tonight as he became the third quickest Australian in men’s 1500m freestyle history.

The Gold Coast prodigy grew from strength-to-strength across the 30-lap race to win his first national title in a time of 14:51.02, shaving more than 24 seconds off his personal best and recording the second quickest time internationally in 2013.

Harrison now only ranks behind dual Olympic gold medallists Grant Hackett and Kieren Perkins in the fastest Australian’s of all-time over the distance.

Seventeen-year-old Mack Horton also joined the exclusive sub 15-minute club with a time of 14:59.66, missing out on qualifying by just over a second, while London Olympian Ryan Napoleon finished third in 15:24.25.

Harrison’s Miami training partner Thomas Fraser-Holmes completed his meet in style by breaking his own Australian record, and setting a new Commonwealth record with the second fastest time of the year in the men’s 400m individual medley.

The Olympic finalist powered through his butterfly leg, before consolidating over the backstroke and breaststroke and bringing it home in the freestyle to win his fourth straight national title in the event.

Fraser-Holmes stopped the clock in 4:10.14 to secure his second individual swim in Spain, while 22-year-old Travis Mahoney (4:18.09) fractionally missed the required world championship selection time in taking silver and Jared Gilliland (4:19.31) snared the bronze.

Cate and Bronte Campbell secured another one-two finish, as they replicated last year’s result in the women’s 50m freestyle. Cate maintained her crown as the queen of Australian sprinting, setting the quickest time in the world this year to defend her title in a time of 24.27, while Bronte set a new personal best of 24.59 in winning silver.

Olympic gold medallist Brittany Elmslie (24.91) won the bronze medal, touching out five-time Olympic medallist Alicia Coutts by just 0.05 of a second to deny her a seventh medal of the week.

Junior Pan Pacific Championships representative Keryn McMaster won the women’s 400m individual medley to claim her first national title. The 19-year-old Queenslander was not quite able to match the required selection time, but won gold in 4:40.76 to lead home Samantha Hamill (4:42.79) and Taylor McKeown (4:42.83).

Daniel Arnamnart won his maiden national title by the barest of margins in the men’s 50m backstroke. The 23-year-old London Olympian touched out defending champion Ben Treffers by just 0.07 of a second to win in a time of 24.90, while 100m backstroke national title winner Ashley Delaney (25.35) claimed the bronze medal.

Swedish visitor Jennie Johansson made her trip down under worthwhile with victory in the women’s 50m breaststroke. The 24-year-old from Hedemora in the south of the Scandinavian country clocked a time of 30.83 to touch out London Olympian Leiston Pickett (30.86) by 0.03 of a second, while the tireless Alicia Coutts (31.47) won the bronze medal.

2013 Australian Swim Team – 43 Total (36 pool and 7 open water)
FINA World Championships – Barcelona

MEN (21 pool, 3 open water)
Matthew ABOOD (26) NSW, Ashley DELANEY (27) VIC, Tommaso D’ORSOGNA (22) WA, Thomas FRASER-HOLMES (21) QLD, Alexander GRAHAM (18) VIC, Jordan HARRISON (17) QLD, Simon HUITENGA (24) WA, Grant IRVINE (22) QLD, Jarrod KILLEY (22) NSW, Mitch LARKIN (19) QLD, Matson LAWSON (20) VIC, James MAGNUSSEN (22) NSW,  Rhys MAINSTONE (22) WA, Cameron MCEVOY (18) QLD, Ned MCKENDRY (20) QLD, David MCKEON (20) NSW, Jarrod POORT (18) NSW, Brenton RICKARD (29) QLD, James ROBERTS (22) QLD, Christian SPRENGER (27) QLD, Matt TARGETT (27) VIC, Kenneth TO (20) NSW, Chris WRIGHT (24) QLD, Daniel TRANTER (21) NSW

WOMEN (total 15 pool, 4 open water)
Jessica ASHWOOD (19) NSW, Bronte BARRATT (24) QLD, Bronte CAMPBELL (18) QLD, Cate CAMPBELL (20) QLD, Alicia COUTTS (25) QLD, Danielle DE FRANCESCO (20) QLD, Brittany ELMSLIE (18) QLD, Sally FOSTER (28) SA, Melissa GORMAN (27) QLD, Chelsea GUEBECKA (14) QLD, Belinda HOCKING (22) VIC, Bonnie MACDONALD (17) QLD, Samantha MARSHALL (20) VIC, Ami MATSUO (16) NSW, Emma MCKEON (18) NSW, Megan NAY (24) QLD, Kylie PALMER (23) QLD, Melanie SCHLANGER (26) QLD, Emily SEEBOHM (20) QLD

Swimming Australia