WA Olympians shine on night 3
Swimming Western Australia
Published: Sep 15, 2012 03:11:48 PM Updated: Sep 15, 2012 03:11:53 PM
London Olympian and dual gold medallist in this event from the 2011 World Cup Short Course Blair Evans put in a crowd-pleasing performance in the final of the women’s 400m freestyle.
The Australian record holder and Perth local showed no signs of fatigue as she cruised through the 16 laps to finish just 0.24 outside of the qualification time, in a time of 4:05.49 – almost three seconds clear of her closest rival.
New South Wales swimmers Amelia Gould and Laura Crockart battled for a minor medal with Gould stealing the silver in 4:08.30, leaving Crockart with bronze in 4:09.12.
Dual gold medallist from the London Paralympics Katherine Downie stepped off the plane and straight into another gold medal in the women’s 100m freestyle multi class final.
Downie defended her 2011 title and put an end to Teneale Houghton’s gold rush when she stopped the clock at 1:02.66, relegating Houghton to silver in 1:01.02. Hellen Haseloff picked up the bronze medal hitting the wall in 1:11.25.
Men’s 50m backstroke
World Championships bronze medallist Bobby Hurley is on track to take the men’s 50m backstroke title for the third time.
The 23-year-old was the only semi-finalist to record a sub-24-second swim, hitting the wall in a time of 23.90, ahead of Beijing Olympian and backstroke specialist Ash Delaney, who will progress through to the finals second in 24.17.
World Championship representative Ben Treffers (24.27) was just 0.10 behind Delaney and will go into the final as one of the medal favourites.
Arena’s Bobby Jovanovich (25.04) has ended his 50m backstroke campaign after he was unlucky to miss a spot in the final by one position.
Women’s 100m Freestyle
World Championship gold medallist Marieke Guehrer is in line for a place on the Australian team for the World Short Course Championships in Turkey after swimming a qualifying time of 52.72 in the 100m freestyle.
Guehrer, who held the corresponding national short course title in 2008 and 2011, held a comfortable lead throughout the race and eased to the wall in a time of 53.68.
London Olympic silver medallist Angie Bainbridge finished second in a time of 53.60 while London gold medallist Brittany Elmslie (53.73) was forced to settle for bronze.
Four time Junior Pan Pac silver medalist Brianna Throssell (54.46) and Holly Barratt (54.66) held their own against a field of high profile names to finish sixth and eighth respectively
Men’s 50 Butterfly
After a slow start, Joseph Carty (23.60) was forced to play catch up in his semi-final of the men’s 50m butterfly. However, skilful underwater work allowed him to catch Olympian Chris Wright (23.64) at the wall and take top spot into the final tomorrow night.
Victorian Phil Butcher snuck into third place in a time of 23.76 – just 0.01 of a second ahead of West Coast local Ben Lindsay in 23.77. Fellow WA star Ryan Steencamp charged into 7th position in a outstanding time of 23.91.
Men’s 200m breaststroke
Victorian Jeremy Meyer led from start to finish to take the Australian 200m breaststroke title, winning convincingly in a time of 2:07.46.
The 21-year-old, who recorded an Australian all-time top 10 result in March this year, came agonisingly close to making the World Short Course Championship selection time, only to miss out by 0.9 seconds.
Despite his best efforts, Nicholas Schafer (2:08.07), bronze medallist in this event at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, couldn’t catch Meyer as he powered through the final 25m.
Bronze medallist from the 100m breaststroke Nikolas Pregelj (2:09.23) kept up with the pace to take bronze. West Coast’s breaststroke prodigy Lennard Bremer was unlucky to finish just out of the medals in a fantastic time of 2:10.31.
Women’s 100m breaststroke
Local product Sally Foster will start from lane four in tomorrow night’s final of the women’s 100m breaststroke.
In her semi-final, Foster trailed Jessica Hansen (1:07.56) to the halfway point before taking the lead to finish in a time of 1:07.01.
Oceanic Championship gold medallist Lorna Tonks (1:07.14), who took out the second semi-final, finished just ahead of 2009 champion Sarah Katsoulis (1:07.31).
Men’s 100m Freestyle Multi Class
Swan Hill’s Liam Smith put up a good fight against World Record Holder Grant Paterson and Sydney Paralympian Jeremy Tidy in the Men’s 100m Freestyle. Smith looked strong throughout the whole race to place in 8th position.
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