Swimmers from all over the country rejoiced as they dived back into the pool in five different states to compete in the Hancock Prospecting Australian Virtual Short Course.
Kicking off in Melbourne with session one on Thursday night, followed by Perth and Sydney on Friday, the results became apparent as the first events were concluded in Hobart and Brisbane on Saturday morning.
World records were falling like dominos as Kaylee McKeown, Madeleine McTernan (S14), Katja Dedekind (S13), Braedan Jason (S12), Jacob Templeton (S13) and Blake Cochrane (SB7) all rocketed out of the blocks to claim world records during the first session in Brisbane.
USC Spartan’s McKeown knocked off Hungarian Katinka Hosszu’s 2014 world record (1:59.23) when she set a blistering time of 1:58.94 in the Women’s 200m backstroke. Moreton Bay’s Minna Atherton (2:03.64) claimed the second spot and Griffith University’s Jessica Unicomb (2:07.07) touched in third.
“Short course is something we don’t get to very often so I was excited to see what I could put up after some solid training this year,” said McKeown.
“I headed over to my teammates and my coach and they said, you just got a world-record, and I was like, what? I didn’t actually know till a few minutes later.”
It was excitement central as two world records fell in the first race of the session in Brisbane – the Women’s 400m Freestyle Multi-class – as St Hilda’s McTernan (S14) took out first place in a world-record time of 4:35.56 and USC Spartan’s Katja Dedekind (S13) in second, also in a world record time of 4:30.66. Knox Pymble’s Ellie Cole claimed third, swimming a personal best time of 4:39.94.
USC Spartan teammates Jason (4:05.05) and Templeton (4:06.62) both picked up world records in the Men’s 400m Freestyle Multi-class – Templeton breaking his teammates world record from 2016. Jason, who is now in the S12 class, winning the event on points with Templeton second and Kawana’s Waters Liam Schulter (S14) picking up third in 4:03.29. In the same race in Sydney, SLC Aquadot’s Alexander Tuckfield (S9) swum a world record time for the 200m with his split of 2:03.06, finishing the race in a time of 4:14.95 to have him sixth overall. Not to be outdone, veteran Brenden Hall split 2:02.88 in the Brisbane race to claim the S9 200m world record time. Hall finished in 4:11.91 in fifth place.
It was a very successful session for USC Spartans as Cochrane also claimed a world record in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke Multi-class in a time of 34.45. The three top spots all came from the Brisbane leg of the meet as Central Cairns Grant Patterson (SB2,1:01.03) and Carina League’s Jake Michel (SB14, 30.00) touched in second and third, respectively.
“I wanted to post a pretty good time, my goal for this race was to focus on the things we have been targeting for the last couple of weeks,” said Cochrane.
“A world record is one of the unique things you get to experience as an athlete and I have been very grateful that I have been lucky enough to achieve a couple of the years.
“Short course is certainly a completely different beast to what long course is, so to be able to step up this weekend after all the things that have happened this year – we wanted to post really fast times and we have been able to do that.”
Young gun Lani Pallister (Cotton Tree) knocked off her own Australian record when she won the Women’s 800m Freestyle in a time of 8:10.12. She was joined in the podium positions by current Olympic team member Kareena Lee (Noosa) and Phoebe Hines (USC Spartans) who swam 8:14.13 and 8:16.32 respectively.
In the Women’s 100m Freestyle, Griffith University’s Emma McKeon (51.17) claimed top spot while Marion’s Madison Wilson – swimming a personal best time of 51.74 – and Knox Pymble’s Cate Campbell (51.79) claimed second and third respectively swimming out of Sydney on Friday night.
Matt Temple’s (Nunawading) time of 1:52.25 from Thursday night in Melbourne wasn’t able to be beat as he took out the Men’s 200m Butterfly, followed closely by his Nunawading teammate Bowen Gough, as Nicholas Brown claimed third place following his swim in Perth on Friday.
Full results of all raced in the first session from all five states can be found here.
