Records Shattered on Final Night and Team Announced



One Commonwealth record and three Australian records were broken on the final night of the Australian Swimming Trials in Adelaide, with Kaylee McKeown, Matthew Temple and Ariarne Titmus all etching their names into the record books.

 

It was McKeown (USC Spartans) who kicked the night off in impressive fashion as she continued her sensational form at the Trials in Adelaide, smashing the Commonwealth and Australian record in the Women’s 200m Backstroke to secure yet another individual swim in Tokyo. Her time of 2:04.28 sees her currently ranked number one in the world in FINA’s top 25 and makes her the fastest Australian ever in the event. Griffith University’s Emily Seebohm – who is off to her fourth Olympics – also qualified in the 200m backstroke after clocking a time of 2:06.38, under the required 2:09.40.

 

Nunawading’s Matthew Temple – who has already booked himself individual swims in the 200m fly and 100 free – took the honours in the Men’s 100m Butterfly ahead of TSS Aquatic’s David Morgan on night six. Hitting the wall in 50.45, his impressive time saw him claim the Australian record, which had been held by Andrew Lauterstein’s (50.85) since 2009. Morgan also booked himself another lane in Tokyo, posting 51.67 – 0.03 of a second under the qualifying time.

 

Australian records continued to tumble at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, as St Peters Western’s Ariarne Titmus took to the blocks in the Women’s 800m Freestyle. Diving in from lane four, Titmus powered home in 8:15.57 to break her own record of 8:15.70 which she set in 2019. Coming in easily under the qualifying time of 8:29.70, the 20-year-old will be joined by TSS Aquatic’s Kiah Melverton who clinched second spot in a personal best time of 8:19.05.

 

In the Women’s 50m ‘splash and dash’ Emma McKeon (Griffith University) pulled out a personal best time of 23.93 to edge out Knox Pymble’s Cate Campbell by the smallest of margins – just 0.01 of a second. After going head-to-head in the 100m freestyle on night five, it was the pair who once again battled it out in lanes four and five to achieve the qualifying time.

 

In the final event of the night – the gruelling Men’s 1500m Freestyle – Chandler’s Jack McLoughlin came out on top to post a qualifying time of 14:52.69. He’ll now add this distance event to the 800m freestyle he qualified for earlier in the week.

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