Preliminary rounds of the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – day three
The morning session of third day of the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships concluded Sunday with the preliminary rounds of four events in the Men’s and Women’s category. The championship is also a trial basis for the selection of the Australian
team to compete at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai this July.
The session concluded with the commencement of the Men’s 50m breast-stroke, 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle along with the Women’s 200m freestyle.
In the Men’s 50m breast-stroke, Canberra’s Max Ireland dominated his way into the semi-finals with the fastest qualification time of 28.77 seconds. Max was only 0.4 seconds away from Southport’s Brenton Rickard, who touched the wall in a fighting time of
28.81 seconds whereas Karl Wurzer secured the third spot in 28.86 seconds. It was an exciting race, as the swimmers are going all out to put in a good performance and possibly qualify for the Australian swimming team.
The next event was the Men’s 200m butterfly event, where the defending champion Nick D’ Arcy failed to appear in the tournament because of his mystery illness just before the championship. The race was dominated by Travis Nederpelt, who touched the wall
in a time of 1:58.00 minutes to qualify for the semi-finals. His time was almost four seconds above Australia’s great D’ Arcy’s 1:54.61 minutes, but still earned him the fastest qualification today. Moreover, Chandler’s Jayden Hadler and Melbourne’s Andrew
Cameron followed Nederpelt for the second and third fastest qualification in a time of 1:59.34 and 1:59.98 minutes respectively.
In the Women’s 200m freestyle, Chandler’s Kylie Palmer emerged as the fastest Australian to qualify for the semi-final in a time of 1:58.34 minutes. The second and third fastest spot was secured by Jade Neilsen and Blair Evans, who touched the wall in a
time of 1:58.54 and 1:59.02 minutes respectively. The competition was fierce, as very little time separated the top three of the event.
Then, the Men’s 800m freestyle was the last event of the morning session, where the current Australian champion Robert Hurley disappointed the arena with his very slow swim. Hurley, who won the title last year in a time of 7:55.36 minutes, demonstrated a
lazy swim by touching the wall in a time of 8:13.68 minutes to qualify, as the fastest swimmer in the semi-final. He was followed by Matthew Levings and Jarrod Poort, who touched the wall in a time of 8:14.71 and 8:14.84 minutes respectively.
The semi-finals of these same events will take place during Sunday’s evening session, where the respective swimmers will only be a step away to claim the titles and book their spots for the 2011 World Championships.
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