The 2021 Australian Swimming Championships took place from the 14th to 18th of April at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre. Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Queensland, WA was represented by the smallest contingent in recent years with 19 swimmers taking to the water.
Although there was a lot of uncertainty around the event, there was a sense of familiarity as UWA-West Coast’s Brianna Throssell (c: Michael Palfery, WAIS) was once again a shining star. Throssell took to the water in the Women’s 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle and 200m Freestyle claiming a gold, a silver, and a bronze.
The gold medal came in the 200m Butterfly and was Throssell’s maiden Australian title, a well-deserved achievement. Throssell led from start to finish in an impressive performance, that saw her hold off rising star, Elizabeth Dekkers, to stop the clock in 2:07.20. This time sees Throssell swim under the Olympic Qualification time and put her in good stead to be selected for the 2021 Australian Olympic Team.
In addition to her fantastic result in the 200m Butterfly, Throssell was extremely fast in the 100m Butterfly, finishing second in 57.76 as well as a strong back end in the 200m Freestyle to claim bronze in 1:57.29.
Adding the medal tally was Holly Barratt (Rockingham, c: Will Scott) who had perhaps the most dominant swim of the Meet, claiming Gold in the Women’s 50m Butterfly in 25.75. The time sees Barratt rank 12th in the World this year and was an incredible 1.17 seconds ahead of second place.
In the minors, Ben Popham (Arena, c: Simon Redmond), Kieren Pollard (North Coast, c: Ian Mills), Kate Harrison (Westside Christchurch, c: Jon Harrison) Liam Smith (Perth City, c: Eoin Carroll) and Blair Evans (UWA-West Coast, c: Will Scott, WAIS) all stood strong.
In a unique year, Popham, Pollard, Smith and Harrison were able to win their medals through the 2021 April Bonanza, racing their eastern states counterparts virtually.
Popham’s swim was particularly impressive, claiming silver in the Men’s 100m Freestyle Multi-Class, scoring 900 MCPS in a time of 57.82. The time saw Popham, improve his personal best which he set at the 2019 IPC World Para Swimming Championships, in which he claimed silver. With the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics approaching quickly, Popham seems to be finding fine form and will be looking closely at a podium possibility.
In addition to the extraordinary swims by our open swimmers, our age swimmers also stood up with several finalists across the competition. Ashton Brinkworth (UWA-West Coast, c: Michael Palfery, WAIS) led the way with a strong performance in the 100m and 200m Freestyle, taking home a bronze and silver respectively.
On the other end of the distance spectrum, Alec Mander (Perth City, c: Eoin Carroll) and Kyle Lee (North Coast, c: Ian Mills) stood up racing at the 2021 April Bonanza. Mander, competing at his first National Championships took silver in the Boy’s 18-21 1500m Freestyle, with Lee claiming bronze.
With a range of fantastic results from our swimmers, it is shaping to be a very exciting 2021, with Olympic trials on the horizon.
