2024 Australian Olympic Trials: Day 6 Finals Recap

2024 AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TRIALS

Good Morning, Good Evening, and Good Afternoon to wherever you are. It’s the last session, the Final Countdown, if you will, of the 2024 Australian Olympic Trials. After tonight, we should know everyone who has been nominated to take the trip to Paris.

It’ll be an interesting session as we start with the shortest event on the women’s program and end with the longest. Starting us off is the Women’s 50 free, where Shayna Jack will have the middle lane tonight. Her time this morning, 24.02, represented the second fastest time of her career, with her best standing only being .01 faster. For reference, she won the silver medal at the 2023 World Champs in the 50 free in 24.10.

With her swim this morning, Jack improved upon her previous season’s best of 24.09 but remains the fourth fastest in the world.

If she could drop a little more tonight, she could enter the rarefied sub-24:00 territory. Looking to chase Jack down are Meg Harris and Bronte Campbell. Harris had a great 100 prelims swim, qualifying first into finals, but faltered in the final, adding time and placing 3rd. Harris will be looking for her first individual berth at an Olympics after having won two medals for her relay contributions.

Having a resurgence, the 3rd seed for tonight is Bronte Campbell, the younger sister of Cate Campbell. C2’s prelim time of 24.56 was under the Swim Australia Qualifying time of 24.67, but must first pass Harris. As for C1, this represents her last chance of making her 5th Olympic team. Campbell has a season-best of 24.10 but has reportedly been dealing with illness.

The last event swings completely in the opposite direction as Lani Pallister will look to add another event to her 400 and 800 free as well as her expected 4×200 free relay berth. Moesha Johnson is the only other swimmer with an entry time under the standard, and, as the 6th place finisher at the 2023 World Champs, she should be in good stead to book her ticket to Paris.

Sandwiched between the two events are the men’s and women’s 400 IM and the men’s 100 fly. Australian Record holder Brendon Smith took things easy this morning, cruising into tonight’s final in a 4:21.84, 11 seconds slower than his seed. Taking top billing ahead of him this evening will be Will Petric. Petric won the 200 IM but was .31 off the qualifying cut, so will be looking to push it tonight.

The women’s 400 IM tonight will be led by 2023 bronze medalist Jenna Forrester. Forrester has struggled a little this meet, having an off-200 IM on day one and never really getting it going from there. She was 4:43.53 this morning and has a personal best well under the Qualifying time, but she will need to ensure that she’s firing on all cylinders. On the other hand, Ella Ramsay, who got the better of Forrester in the 200 IM, is qualified in second and will look to add another event to her growing list.

With the absence of Kyle Chalmers from this morning’s prelims, the 100 fly feels more open, especially considering that .32 is all that separates 1st from 5th. Leading the charge is Matt Temple, who entered as the # 1 seed but must feel some pressure as Ben Armbruster, Jesse Coleman, Shaun Champion, and Cody Simpson are in such close striking distance.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE – Finals

• World Record – 23.61, Sarah Sjostrom, 2023
• Australian Record – 23.78, Cate Campbell, 2018
• Oceanian Record – 23.78, Cate Campbell, 2018
• Commonwealth Record – 23.78, Cate Campbell, 2018
• All Comers Record – 23.78, Cate Campbell, 2018
• Swim Australia OQT – 24.67

GOLD –  Shayna Jack, 23.99* OLY Qualifier
SILVER – Meg Harris, 24.26  *OLY Qualifier
BRONZE – Emma McKeon, 24.32

Shayna Jack posted the best race of her career in route to the victory here. Jack led the quickest race on the schedule from start to finish, producing a career best of 23.99, dipping under the 24-second barrier for the first time. Her previous personal best stood at a 24.01. With her time, Jack maintains her position as the 4th ranked swimmer in the world this season, moving closer to Kasia Wasick (23.95).

For Jack, this week has been a huge step in completing her comeback from a 2 year doping suspension to make her first Olympic Games. The sprint star was suspended days before the 2019 World Championships for 4 years for a positive drug test result. She later had that suspension reduced to 2 years, but still missed the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games as a result of the suspension.

Meg Harris continued her very strong showing this week to post a runner-up performance of 24.26, earning her first individual event for Paris. Harris already qualified to represent Australia in the 4×100 free relay earlier this week, just missing making the 100 free individually as well with her 3rd place finish.

Defending Olympic Champion Emma McKeon will not have a chance to defend her title as she finished a narrow 3rd behind Harris, posting  time of 24.32 in the process. McKeon will only be swimming the 100 butterfly individualy in Paris.

MEN’S 400 IM – Finals

• World Record – 4:02.50, Leon Marchand, 2023
• Australian Record – 4:09.27, Brendon Smith, 2021
• Oceanian Record – 4:08.70, Lewis Clareburt, 2022
• Commonwealth Record – 4:08.70, Lewis Clareburt, 2022
• All Comers Record – 4:06.22, Michael Phelps, 2007
• Swim Australia OQT – 4:12.50

Top 8:

WOMEN’S 400 IM – Finals

• World Record – 4:24.38, Summer McIntosh, 2024
• Australian Record – 4:28.22, Kaylee McKeown, 2024
• Oceanian Record – 4:28.22, Kaylee McKeown, 2024
• Commonwealth Record – 4:24.38, Summer McIntosh, 2024
• All Comers Record – 4:28.22, Kaylee McKeown, 2024
• Swim Australia OQT – 4:38.53

MEN’S 100 FLY – Finals

• World Record – 49.45, Caeleb Dressel, 2021
• Australian Record – 50.25, Matthew Temple, 2023
• Oceanian Record – 50.25, Matthew Temple, 2023
• Commonwealth Record – 50.06, Joshua Liendo, 2024
• All Comers Record – 50.45, Matthew Temple, 2021
• Swim Australia OQT – 51.17

Top 8:

WOMEN’S 1500 FREE – Fastest Heats

• World Record –15:20.48, Katie Ledecky, 2018
• Australian Record – 15:46.13, Madeleine Gough, 2021
• Oceanian Record – 15:40.14, Lauren Boyle, 2015
• Commonwealth Record – 15:40.14, Lauren Boyle, 2015
• All Comers Record – 15:28.36, Katie Ledecky, 2014
• Swim Australia OQT – 16:01.95

Top 8: