Preliminary rounds of the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships - Recap
The morning session of the first day of the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships concluded with the dominating performance of Alicia Coutts in the 100m butterfly and the 200m individual medley. The championship also provides a platform to the swimmers
to enter the Australian Swimming Team for 2011 Shanghai World Championships.
The first day of the championship concluded with the preliminary rounds of the Women’s 100m butterfly, 200m Individual Medley and 400m freestyle along with the Men’s 400m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m breast-stroke events.
The day started with the Women’s 100m butterfly, which included the ferocity of Alicia Coutts, Yolane Kukla and Stephanie Rice. Coutts conquered the preliminary round in a time of 58.83 seconds to qualify, as the fastest swimmer into tonight’s final while
Yolane Kukla touched the wall in second place 59.15 seconds ahead of the Alice Mills, who touched home in 59.80 seconds. Rice finished eighth in a time of 1:00.77 minutes.
In the Men’s 400m freestyle, 18-year-old David McKeon emerged as the fastest qualifying swimmer in a time of 3:50.79 minutes and was comfortably ahead of the Robert Hurley and Holmes Fraser, who touched the wall in a time of 3:51.48 and 3:51.63 minutes respectively.
Next was the Women’s 200m individual medley, where Alicia Coutts once again defeated Rice with a considerable difference. Coutts reported in with a timing of 2:15.38 minutes and was ahead of the Elle Fullerton and Tessa Wallace, who finished their swims
in 2:15.55 minutes and 2:16.05 minutes. The event was considered very competitive, as Rice was attending her first major event since her shoulder surgery last year. She was disappointed with a timing of 2:18.42 minutes that placed her seventh.
In the Men’s 50m butterfly, Matt Targett claimed the fastest qualification in a time of 23.76 seconds and was slightly ahead of the Geoff Huegill and Joseph Carty, who finished second and third in 23.89 and 24.03 respectively.
In the Women’s 400m freestyle, Kylie Palmer touched the wall first in 4:09.20 minutes and was followed by Katie Goldman and Bonn Macdonald, who posted a time of 4:09.72 and 4:09.87 minutes respectively.
The last event of the session was the Men’s 100m breast-stroke, where Chris Sprenger dominated his swim in a time of 1:01.17 minutes to finish ahead of Brenton Rickard and Nikola Rickard, who reported in 1:02.49 minutes and 1:03.22 minutes respectively.
The semi-finals of these events will be conducted today in the second session, where the respective swimmers will be a step away to book their spots for Shanghai.
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