Wednesday 17 March 2010

Australian Championships - Day 2 Finals

Women's 50 LC Meter Butterfly Final

Yolane Kukla, 14, completed her emergence as a new star of the swimming world. Kukla clocked 25.92 beating World Champion Marieke Guehrer into second by 0.36 - a huge margin in a 50 race. Guehrer was not the only big name scalp that Kukla collected - the rest of the final read like a who's who of Australian Women's swimming - Emily Seebohm (26.47), Felicity Galvez (26.49), Alice Mills (26.65), Jessicah Schipper (27.09), Ellese Zalewski (27.68) and Amy Smith (27.69).

Kukla now lies second in the world rankings behind Therese Alshammer's 25.60 and would have been good enough for 14th in last year's suited world rankings.

Men's 50 LC Meter Backstroke Final


Hayden Stoeckel won a tight 50 Back final in a quick time of 25.06. Daniel Arnamnart was just 0.02 seconds behind with Ben Treffers a further 0.01 seconds back. 0.03 seconds split the top three and just 0.10 seconds split the top 5.

All three men will have their work cut out for them at both Commonwealths and Pan Pacs with England's World Record Holder Liam Tancock and USA's World No.1 this year Matt Grevers lying in wait for them.

Women's 50 LC Meter Breaststroke Final

Leisel Jones continued her strong start to 2010 with victory in the 50m Breast. Jones took victory in 30.87 with Leiston Pickett second in 31.06 and Sarah Katsoulis third in 31.12.

Jones was already ranked no. 1 in the world this year with 30.99 and has now extended her advantage over the rest of the world. She remains the only woman to have broken 31 seconds this year.

Men's 200 LC Meter Freestyle Final

Nicholas Ffrost caused somewhat of an upset by taking the 200m Free title in a time of 1:47.50. Thomas Fraser-Holmes, 18, continues his rise up the ranks of world swimming with a strong second place time of 1:47.66. Kenrick Monk, 5th at the Worlds in Rome last year, had to settle for third in 1:47.83. Patrick Murphy, Australia's other representative in Rome, took the final relay spot with 1:48.30.

Men's 50 LC Meter Butterfly Semi-Final

Geoff Huegill's remarkable comeback has just one more step to go. Huegill qualified fastest for the 50m Fly final with a time of 23.60. He goes in 0.29 seconds ahead of Andrew Lauterstein with Matt Targett and Adam Pine also joining him in the final.

Men's 100 LC Meter Breaststroke Semi-Final


Brenton Rickard posted the world's fastest time this year to qualify first for tomorrow's final in a time of 1:00.80. The final looks to be a head to head with Christian Sprenger who qualified second in 1:01.18 (4th in the world this year).

Women's 100 LC Meter Freestyle Semi-Final

The 100m Free semi's were more notable for the big names missing out on the final than for the times swum. Cate Campbell and Felicity Galvez tied for 9th place on 55.47 and Marieke Guehrer was 11th with 55.48. That's not to say the final is lacking in talent with Alicia Coutts (54.95), Emily Seebohm (55.01) and star of the night Yolane Kukla (55.06) qualifying in the top three spots.

Women's 100 LC Meter Backstroke Semi-Final


Emily Seebohm will go into tomorrow's final ranked first and heavy favourite for the title. Seebohm, 17, swam 1:00.26 in tonight's semi. Belinda Hocking (1:00.79) and Sophie Edington (1:01.16) rounded out the top three qualifiers.

Seebohm is ranked first in the world this year with a stunning 59.25 from the NSW Championships in February. That was the first textile best time to be recorded in 2010. Seebohm's best time, recorded at Worlds last year, was 58.88.

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