Australian Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials, Day Four: All the updates, McKeown narrowly misses world record again, Chalmers qualifies for third Olympics
Kaylee McKeown again challenged the world record line for the third time this week, in the 200 metres backstroke, but there is also race in the court of public opinion that she has joined contested with her Australian teammate Ariarne Titmus. And Cody Simpson too little, too late.
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After Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan’s feats on night three in the 200 metres freestyle, Kaylee McKeown came so close again to what could have been her third world record of the week, if just a little more than half a second faster across all three.
Rio Gold medallist Kyle Chalmers is off to a third Olympic Games, Ariarne Titmus has said no to social media after last night’s 200 metre freestyle world record and booked her spot in the 800m freestyle, while a young Queenslander has put three years of disappointment behind her by qualifying for the Paris team.
And too little too late for Cody Simpson.
McKeown and Titmus in race for greatness
- Julian Linden
The race to Olympic immortality is on.
They won’t be lining up against each on the blocks, but Kaylee McKeown and Ariarne Titmus are competing in their own special race – for the title of Australia’s greatest swimmer.
Just 24 hours after Titmus claimed the 200m freestyle world record, McKeown came within a heartbeat of lowering her own world record in 200m backstroke.
Racing only against the clock because none of her rivals at the Australian trials can keep up with her, reached the wall in 2:03.30, just 0.16 off the world record she set last year and the second fastest time in history.
Live table of day four of the Swimming Trials below and see all the results in our live table.
“It doesn’t bother me at all, to be honest with you, I’m just happy to still be sitting around that time,” McKeown said.
“There’s not many people in the world that are doing that at the moment, there’s one that I can think of (American Regan Smith) and she’s about to get up and race, so I’m nervous to see what she does but I’m excited for the battle that we have in Paris.”
The 22-year-old already holds the long-course backstroke records for 50m, 100m and 200m as well as 200m short-course and now she’s heading to Paris with more records in her sights.
Already a triple Olympic gold medallist – she won the 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and medley relay golds at Tokyo in 2021 – McKeown is on the cusp of greatness.
She may not get the same attention as Titmus but McKeown could turn out to be the best swimmer Australia has.
No Australian swimmer has won more than three individual titles over their entire Olympic career but McKeown already has two in the bag and will fly to Paris ranked No. 1 in the world in three different events, the two backstroke races and the 200m medley.
“This time, I’m adding another 200m individual event so that’s going to be taxing obviously,” she said.
“And then get up for relays and then the two backstrokes. So I’ve done the work, I’ve done the training. I’ve just got to really actually taper for this next meet. So I’m excited for that.”
McKeown’s accomplishments are already legendary yet she remains an enigma to the Australian public.
The first time she really got much attention was not from winning gold but from dropping an F-bomb on television from the pool deck at Tokyo.
Tall and thin and an asthmatic who wears prescription glasses is one of the most talented and determined swimmers to ever wear the green and gold togs even though she admits to suffering bouts of nerves.
“Who wouldn’t be, you’re getting up in front of a crowd, you’re putting your heart on the line,” McKeown said.
“You’ve done months worth of hard training to get up and try to get yourself onto the team. You just want to do yourself proud and with that comes nerves unfortunately.”
Teenager Jaclyn Barclay finished second behind McKeown in 2:07.88 to book her place in the team for Paris at age 17, denying Emily Seebohm her chance to become the first Australian swimmer to qualify for five Olympic Games. Seebom came fifth.
A triple gold medallist in relays, the 32-year-old Seebohm has become a new inspiration for mothers all over Australia after returning to the sport after giving birth last year.
She has been cheered on by her partner, Married At First Sight star Ryan Gallagher, and their baby Samson during all her races and says she’s been inundated with messages from other parents supporting her quest.
“I have had mums from mum’s group that have come out and watch with their bubs which has been really exciting and mums reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook or whatever saying how inspiring this is,” she said.
“And a lot of women I find, especially when I was pregnant. I felt like I lost that athlete that I was. And this is me trying to regain that I once had and proving to other women that it’s possible to not only have kids but achieve your dreams too.
“I’m doing it for myself and I’m doing it to prove to Samson that if you’ve got a dream, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”
Scroll to catch up with all the action from night four of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic swimming trials.
09:51PM BREAKING
Cody Simpson has produced a stunning 100m freestyle swim in the B final of the Olympic trials with a time of 48.67 seconds that would have secured him selection on the team for Paris.
Simpson missed the 100m finals in the morning heats by just 0.15s, but his B final swim would’ve finished sixth in the final earlier on Thursday.
The pressure will now be on Australian selectors to see if they can bend their rules to pick the former singer in the Paris Olympic team.
09:26PM:
Titmus adds third swim to the Paris programme
– Todd Balym
Ariarne Titmus secured her third individual swim of the Paris Olympic Games, winning the 800m freestyle in Brisbane in 8:14.06 ahead of Lani Pallister in 8:14.06.Titmus will add the 800m to the 200m and 400m freestyle in an exact replica of her program from Tokyo.
The time was not her fastest, but given the stacked nature of these trials and coming off the back of a 200m freestyle world record just 24 hours earlier, the time was pleasing. Titmus had been under the world record pace in the opening 300m, but faded over the second half of the race.
“To be completely honest I am a bit disappointed with the swim but I know I get another chance in Paris,” Titmus said.
09:24PM Ariarne Titmus adds the 800 metres freestyle to her repertoire for Paris in a swim that looked like threatening Katie Ledecky’s world record until she slightly backed it off and comfortably ensuring qualification along with Lani Pallister.
09:12PM:
Dekkers wipes away three years of heartache
– Julian Linden
Lizzie Dekkers wiped away three years of heartache to qualify for her first Olympics on Thursday.
Another victim of Swimming Australia’s cruel qualification policy, Dekkers missed the chance to go to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 despite winning the 200m butterfly final at the national trials.
But the now 20-year-old Queenslander made sure of it on Thursday when she won the 200m final again in a swift time of 2:06.01, well under the standard needed to get to the Paris Olympics,
Teenager Abbey Connor also secured a seat on the plane to France when she finished second in 2:06.82.
8lace set the fastest heat time of 2:06.43 while Lizzy Dekkers edged closer to her first Olympics by winning her heat in 2:07.71.
“It was really rough,” Dekkers said. “(But) that swim at trials changed me as a swimmer.
“It gave me the drive to be a better swimmer.
“Missing the team made me realise how much I love swimming.”
Dekkers has been a regular in the Dolphins team since missing out on the last Olympics, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 then silver at last year’s world championships.
She faces some tough opposition in Paris, including Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh but is looking ahead to the challenge.
“Absolutely. Last time I was vying for my first team, so there was so much excitement and sort of unknown whereas this. I’ve been here for a couple of years now, so that was more just relief of just getting the job done,” Dekkers said.
“I really love racing, and I’m just really excited to sort of put myself in that final hopefully and just have a really fun race with those girls who are swimming so fast.”
09:06PM: After the despair of missing Tokyo when hot favourite to qualify Queensland’s Lizzie Dekkers qualifies for the Paris Games in the 200 metres Butterfly.
“All their support getting me through the tough times, (can’t thank them enough)”, Dekkers said told channel nine post-race. The result giving her parents tremendous relief.
08:51PM Rowan Crothers and Tom Gallagher add the 100 metres freestyle to their Paralympic program, while teenager Callum Simpson qualifies for his first games.
08:39PM: Rachael Watson qualifies for the Paris Paralympics, and Alexa Leary qualifies for another event, in the 100m women’s multi-class freestyle.
Chalmers to carry three-year winning streak into Paris
– Todd Balym and Julian Linden
Kyle Chalmers will carry a stunning three-year winning streak into Paris as the King attempts to reclaim his Olympic throne.
The last time Chalmers was beaten in a 100m freestyle race was the 2021 Tokyo Olympics when he was beaten by a fingernail in a thrilling final with US star Caeleb Dressel.
Since then Chalmers has won the 2023 world title, 2023 world short course title and the 2022 Commonwealth Games title on the international stage in a supreme winning streak that proves why the 25-year-old is a huge gold medal threat in Paris.
At a national level he is undefeated for over a decade, a reign he extended again on Thursday night as he led home the Olympic trials in Brisbane in a time of 47.75 seconds.
Chalmers won the race ahead of William Yang (48.08s), Flynn Southam (48.11s), Jack Cartwright (48.49s), Kai Taylor (48.57s) and Zac Incerti (48.73s).
Jamie Jack, brother of women’s sprinter Shayna Jack, missed the relay team selection in seventh in 49.01s.
“It is very special, very very happy with that,” Chalmers said of making his third Olympic team.
The time was well outside Chalmers’ best performance and almost a full second shy of China’s Pan Zhanle world record of 46.80s which means despite his winning streak the Aussie champion will head to Paris as somewhat of an underdog.
But as Chalmers has proven time and again, international meets are won not by the fastest man in the pool but the best racer.
And when it comes to Paris, Chalmers is putting it all on the line in the pursuit of a second 100m freestyle Olympic crown to bookend his career.
That is why he did not enter the 200m freestyle at the trials, despite being a contender for the 4x200m relay team that will be a gold medal contender, because the relay is on the same night of the 100m semi-finals and he is taking no risk in gassing himself before the big dance.
“If the team needs me, I’m always there, I’ll always put my hand up for a relay, for the team and for my country but, I didn’t put myself in that situation this year just knowing with my scheduling for the 100m freestyle but if Rohan knocked on my door and says if they need me to swim in the pool by two, then I’m just happy to do it for them,” he said.
“But there’s some guys in there that swam amazingly the other night deserve their spot, deserve their opportunity, and I don’t want to take it away from anyone.
“I think I have to be at my absolute best for the 100m freestyle final. So I don’t want to dampen that too much swimming so many relays prior to it.
“Obviously Tokyo just coming off my shoulder surgery, I definitely wasn’t nearly at my best.
“And then swam the heat and the final of the 4x100m free, swam the heat and semi-final of the 100m free, and 4x200m final before I had the 100m freestyle final, so compared to the other guys that I was racing against, definitely was a lot more fatigued than someone like Caeleb who just had the 4x100m freestyle final then the 100m freestyle to worry about.”
08:33PM:
Titmus deletes her social media accounts
– Todd Balym
Ariarne Titmus has deleted her social media accounts as she looks to shut out all the distractions in her countdown to Paris.
Titmus has been trending on social media since her 200m freestyle world record on Wednesday night, but 24 hours later she’s decided now is the time to close the walls around herself and stay grounded.
“I actually deleted Instagram and social media off my phone today because it was quite a lot,” Titmus said.
“I just tried to stay as relaxed as possible.”
Titmus will be back in the water in under an hour for the 800m freestyle final.
08:22PM: ‘King’ Kyle Chalmers has booked his ticket to Paris with a win in the 100 metres freestyle final. His third Olympic Games.
08:19PM: Another two qualifying times for the Paralympics, with Jake Michel booking his ticket and Tim Hodge again securing entry into another event in the 100 metres multi-class breastroke.
07:54PM:
Melbourne’s William Petric has been denied a spot on the Paris Olympic team despite winning the Olympic trials in the 200m medley.
Petric swam the race of his life to win the race in 1:57.54, but that was just 0.18s outside the ridiculously tight qualifying time for the Australian team. Petric’s time was actually 0.4s ahead of the official World Aquatics qualifying time. “I feel pretty disappointed, it’s a personal best,” Petric said.
07:51PM: Will Petric another victim to the qualifying standards in the 200 metres individual medley. In the hands of selectors, but lowers his personal best by couple of seconds.
07:48PM:
McKeown narrowly misses another world record
– Julian Linden
They won’t be lining up against each on the blocks, but Kaylee McKeown and Ariarne Titmus are competing in their own special race – for the title of Australia’s greatest swimmer.
Just 24 hours after Titmus claimed the 200m freestyle world record, McKeown came within a heartbeat of lowering her own world record in 200m backstroke.
Racing only against the clock because none of her rivals at the Australian trials can keep up with her, reached the wall in 2:03.30, just 0.16 off the world record she set last year and the second fastest time in history.
07:45PM: “I hope I can (hold it together). I lost my Dad to brain cancer in 20220 (just before the Olympics). If I can do my little bit, I am proud to represent (the Mark Hughes Foundation),” – Kaylee McKeown speaking to channel nine post-race as a Mark Hughes Foundation ambassador.
07:40PM McKeown just misses a world record yet again, 16 hundredths of a second outside her own world record. She was half a second outside the 200 individual medley world record and even closer to the 100 metre backstroke mark. Jaclyn Barclay is off to her first Olympics.
07:36PM: Just moments away from the first final of the fourth night. The women’s 200 metres backstroke final featuring super star Kaylee McKeown.
Titmus and O'Callaghan break the world record for the 200m freestyle. 👀
— CODE Sports (@codesportsau) June 12, 2024
READ MORE | https://t.co/B4ezcnQKERpic.twitter.com/lGSjJ8LP6U
MCKEOWN SET FOR WORLD RECORD TILT
Kaylee McKeown has set herself up for a crack at breaking her world record after cruising into the final in 2:08.83.
That is well outside the world record of 2:03.14 she set last year but McKeown was taking it easy so will have plenty in the tank for Thursday’s final.
She is already in great form, having nearly broken her 100m backstroke world record and qualifying for the 200m individual medley.
New mum Emily Seebohm won her heat to be fourth overall as she looks to become the first Australian swimmer to qualify for five Olympic Games.
The 32-year-old has been cheered on by her partner, Married At First Sight star Ryan Gallagher, and their baby Samson and says she’s been inundated with messages from other mothers supporting her quest.
“I have had mums from mum’s group that have come out and watch with their bubs which has been really exciting and mums reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook or whatever saying how inspiring this is,” she said.
“And a lot of women I find, especially when I was pregnant. I felt like I lost that athlete that I was. And this is me trying to regain that I once had and proving to other women that it’s possible to not only have kids but achieve your dreams too.
“I’m doing it for myself and I’m doing it to prove to Samson that if you’ve got a dream, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.
“A lot of people when I announced that I was coming back were like, ‘Oh, that’ll never happen and you won’t be able to do it’.
“I breastfed for eight months solid. And I was able to do that and go to training and pump and go to gym and be home with Samson and make it to swimming lessons, make it to gymnastics … I was able to do that, it was super hard but it’s doable.”
MEN’S 200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Teenager William Petric led the way by swimming the fastest heat time of 1:59.23.
Se-Bom Le, who competed at the Tokyo Olympics, was second fastest in 2:00.95.
Tommy Neill, who was the top seed, pulled out before the heats.
He has already qualified in the 200m freestyle.
WOMEN’S 200M BUTTERFLY
Teenager Abbey Connor set the fastest heat time of 2:06.43 while Lizzy Dekkers edged closer to her first Olympics by winning her heat in 2:07.71.
Dekkers controversially missed the team for Tokyo despite winning the event at the trials but is expected to make it this time.
She is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and silver medallist from last year’s world championships.
Chalmers quest for swimming immortality begins
– Todd Balym and Julian Linden
IT is the Olympic equivalent of the overused footy cliche “best preseason ever.”
But in the case of sprint king Kyle Chalmers, it is a statement of intent that is worth putting in the memory bank as he begins his quest for swimming immortality.
“I would say I’m absolutely in the best shape I have ever been and I’m just super relaxed,” Chalmers said after the 50m freestyle heats on Wednesday.
Let the mind games begin.
Chalmers has today launched his campaign to reclaim the Olympic 100m freestyle crown.
A gold medallist at Rio in 2016 and then narrow silver medallist in Tokyo in 2021, Chalmers now has the chance to bookend his remarkable career with another gold medal.
In what is looming as potentially the fastest sprint freestyle race in history, Chalmers is likely to confront China’s current world record holder Pan Zhanle, the former world record holder David Popovici and current Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel on his path to gold.
So over the next six weeks swimming pundits and the athletes themselves will decipher every interview, analyse every race and question every movement of the sprint quartet looking to gain insight or a mental edge before the race.
For Chalmers, everything is exactly as it needs to be on his runway to Paris.
He has posted a handful of 47 second swims this year already but when the whips are cracking tonight it will be interesting to see what time flashes up on the scoreboard and the message that sends to his rivals watching around the world.
Knowing he has been on this journey twice before he is supremely confident with his current progress.
A bit like his rookie Games in Rio, he will enter Paris knowing there is zero pressure on his shoulders and he won’t carry the burden of defending champion.
“I think as you get older the pressure is off a little bit, I’ve kind of achieved everything I’ve set my mind to achieve in swimming,” he said.
“Now I can just enjoy it and everything is a bonus.
“As you get older you don’t have as many competitions to look forward to so I’m just slowing down and enjoying every little part of it.”
The interesting factor will codebe just how many of Australia’s sprint men can also venture in 47 second territory.
As the reigning relay world champions from 2023, Australia will want four swimmers under 48 seconds.
Flynn Southam and Jack Cartwright have both done it before, but each is coming off disappointment in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday so there may be question marks over their form at these trials.
William Yang was a standout performer at the Open nationals on the Gold Coast earlier this year, while Kai Taylor, Zac Incerti and 200m champion Max Giuliani also rank as contenders for the podium and chasing sub 48 second swims.
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Originally published as Australian Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials, Day Four: All the updates, McKeown narrowly misses world record again, Chalmers qualifies for third Olympics
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