Horton, Chalmers hijack 200m freestyle final

Mack Horton and Kyle Chalmers hijacked the 200m freestyle final to throw the world championship selection process into turmoil.

Mack Horton, right, is congratulated by Kyle Chalmers after winning the national 200m freestyle final in Brisbane last night

Olympic gold medallists Mack Horton and Kyle Chalmers combined to hijack the 200m freestyle final and throw the world championships selection process into turmoil at the national championships in Brisbane last night.

In a stunning turn of events Horton, the Olympic 400m freestyle champion, and Chalmers, the Olympic 100m freestyle champion, swamped defending national champion Cameron McEvoy in the last lap to lock him out of selection for one of his pet events.

McEvoy had hoped to swim the 50m/100m/200m freestyle treble in Budapest in July but will now have to content himself with the pure sprint events after he faded to fifth last night.

He was still smiling after the race, brushing off his disappointment with a shrug and an “it’s OK’’.

Horton seemed more surprised by his victory. He was the last man to qualify for the final and had hoped only to secure a place on the 4x200m freestyle relay.

However drawn in the lane next to Chalmers, he stalked the teenager through the race and used his superior endurance to snatch victory in the last stroke, setting a personal best time of 1min 46.83sec.

Chalmers in second also set a personal best time (1:46.87), while McEvoy’s training partner Alex Graham completed the podium (1:47.39) just ahead of 18-year-old Jack Cartwright (1:47.57) and McEvoy (1:47.60).

Horton, Chalmers, Graham and Cartwright will be selected for the 4x200m freestyle relay, while McEvoy is already on the team for the 50m freestyle.

But none of them breached the tough qualifying standard for the individual 200m event (1:46.45) leaving selectors in a quandary.

Horton was as bemused as everyone else as to what this result will mean for the world titles.

“I’m not sure what’s going on,’’ he exclaimed.

“I felt pretty good in the water this afternoon so I thought I would give it a fair crack and I thought there was a chance of getting on the podium and securing a relay spot but I think I was in a really good position in lane eight, with Kyle and Cam (inside him).

“Cam led Kyle out and I just went with Kyle and then Kyle knows how to bring it home and if I can bring it home over him then that’s a good place to be.’’

He has already qualified for the national team by winning the 400m freestyle on Sunday night so would have first priority to swim the individual 200m but he is not certain that he wants to do it, given that his focus is on the 400m and 1500m.

“I’d like to be able to do it one day and do the 2, 4 and 15 but I think this is probably not the year, but I do want to do the relay,’’ he said. “I don’t know what happens now. That was a bit of a surprise. I haven’t done any 200 work either. It was literally rock up and have a crack.’’

Chalmers is also undecided about contesting the 200m at the world titles.

One man who did reach the selection standard last night, was 18-year-old Matt Wilson, who confirmed his place on his first national senior team by winning the 200m breaststroke in a personal best time of 2:09.29.

The world junior silver medallists has twice missed selection by hundredths of a second in the last year and was an emotional winner as he realised he had finally broken through.

“Last year knocked me around a bit, missing the Olympic team and then the short course by a combined margin of less than half a second, so I’m stoked that I’ve finally done it,’’ he said. “There was a lot of relief. That slap on the water was not pre-planned.’’

World 100m backstroke champion Emily Seebohm bounced back from her horror Olympic campaign to set her fastest time since she won the world title in 2015, winning her 10th consecutive national 100m backstroke in 58.62sec.

Seebohm, who had surgery twice in December and January to remove endometriosis and her wisdom teeth, said her improved health had led to a return to form.

Perth’s Holly Barratt, 29, won selection for her first national team by finishing second in a personal best of 59.66sec.

The multi-talented Emma McKeon has now booked four events for the world championships after winning the 100m butterfly (57.27sec) last night, 24 hours after sealing her place in the 100m freestyle.

She will also do the 4x100m freestyle and medley relays in Budapest.