With the lure of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Shayna Jack outsprinted a top-quality field to take out the women’s 50m freestyle at the Australian Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast.
After the disappointment of losing to Mollie O’Callaghan in the 100m the night before, Jack touched the wall first in 24.45 secs on Tuesday ahead of Meg Harris (24.55) and Cate Campbell (24.88), who is eyeing a fifth Olympics appearance.
Determined not to repeat her errors from Monday, Jack set down the marker with Australian team selection just eight weeks away.
“Tonight was really good, it was nice to get my hand on the wall first,” said the Queenslander.
“Last night was a bit disappointing because I made the wrong decisions, so it was nice to correct it and get my hand on the wall first.
“The women in Australia are the best in the world and it’s great to have so many people from around Australia that we can verse at these competitions, see where we’re at and then continue to progress forward to (World Championship) Trials.
“Since 2021 and me coming back every strategic plan has been building up to Paris, so every lesson learnt, every race and all those opportunities we get to practise and fine tune it’s all leading up to that trials for Paris,” she said.
Kaylee McKeown won the 100m backstroke in 57.90 beating O’Callaghan (58.42) and Jaclyn Barclay (1:01: 31), while Jenna Forrester took out the the 400 IM in 4:35:05.
In the 200m butterfly, Elizabeth Dekkers powered her way to victory in 2:06:55, beating Brianna Throssell (2:07:08) and Emma McKeon (2:09:40).
Abbey Harkin (1:07:077) was victorious in the 100m breaststroke, followed by Jenna Strauch (1:08:16) and Talara-Jade Dixon (1:08:60).
In the men, 19-year-old Sam Short, who had clinched the men’s 400m freestyle 24 hours earlier by going quicker than Australian all-time great Grant Hackett, was ultra impressive again.
Short took out the 1500m in style, delivering a sub 15 with a time of 14:58.90.
“I’ve never gone sub 15 (minutes) untapered, I did 60 kms last week, three main sets,” said Short, adding he was pleasantly happy with his early form.
“In 48 hours I’ve done two solid 400s (freestyle) and 200 (freestyle) this morning. It’s been a big 48 hours and to go sub 15 after that, I’ll take it.
“It was a surprise, I knew I could go a very good time, I’ve been training really well, I didn’t think I’d PB,” he said.
Kai Taylor clinched the 200m freestyle in 1:46:65 while Zac Stubblety-Cook added the 200m breaststroke title to his 100m win in a time of 2:09:03.
Ben Armbruster, who turned disappointment into triumph in the men’s 50m butterfly on Monday after being disqualified in the heats but was re-instated into the final, was victorious again.
Armbruster won the 50m backstroke in 25.27 ahead of Mark Nikolaev (25.43) and Bradley Woodward (25.44).
With the event doubling as Australian team selection for the Para Swimming World Championships to be held in Manchester from July 31 to August 6, dual Paralympian Katja Dedekind claimed two gold medals to book her spot.
The Australian team for the World Championships will be named on Thursday.
© AAP 2023
