Day four preliminary rounds of the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championship
The 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championship continues on its fourth day in Sydney. The event will decide who will be the Australian swimmers for the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai this July. The championships is taking place under the supervision
of Australian Head Coach Leigh Nugent, who claims to take only those swimmers to Shanghai that will post a time under the top 12 world timings.
The session contained the preliminary rounds of the men’s 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley along with the women’s 50m backstroke and 200m butterfly.
The session started with the women’s 50m backstroke where the top three swimmers of the heats distinguished themselves from the rest by clocking a time less than 29.00 seconds, while the remaining top 14 clocked a time less than 30.00 seconds. The heats
were dominated by South Shore’s Adelaide Hart, who completed his laps in a wonderful time of 28.88 seconds, which was 0.35 seconds faster than her seed time. The fastest swimmer was followed by Melbourne’s Sophie Edington and Albury’s Belinda Hocking, who
touched the wall in second and third place with a time of 28.92 and 28.97 seconds respectively.
The next was the men’s 100m freestyle where the Australian comeback king, Ian Thorpe, is keeping an eye on the event’s toppers, as he will face them later at the trials for the 2012 London Olympics. Sopac’s James Magnussen and Melbourne’s Matt Targett posted
a time well under the FINA qualification standard time of 48.76 seconds. Magnussen qualified as the fastest swimmer in a time of 48.68 seconds ahead of the Targett, who came in 48.70 seconds. The third fastest qualification spot was secured by Matthew Abood
in a time of 48.84 seconds, whereas the five-time Australian champion, Eamon Sullvian, qualified as the fifth fastest swimmer in a time of 49.60 seconds.
Next was the women’s 200m butterfly that had the 2008 Beijing’s triple gold medallist Jessicah Schipper, who is competing in her first major meet after her shoulder surgery in 2010. Kawana Waters’s Samantha Hamill occupied the top qualification spot for
the today’s final in a time of 2:12.05 minutes while Hunter’s Leah Bird touched the wall second in 2:12.99 minutes. Then Norwood’s Jackie Staples reported in for the third fastest qualification spot in a time of 2:13.51 that helped her defeat Schipper’s 2:13.59
minutes.
The last event of the session was the men’s 200m individual medley where the City of Perth’s Travis Nederpelt emerged as the fastest swimmer in a time of 2:03.20 minutes. Nederpelt’s timing was slightly away from the second finisher Nunawading’s Jeremy Saunders
and Daniel Lester, who posted a time of 2:03.37 and 2:03.87 minutes respectively.
Today’s second session will involve the semi-finals of the same events and the top eight swimmers will proceed to the finals to qualify for the 2011 World Championships.
Tags: