The 2021 Australian Swimming Trials continue from 10.30am AEST Thursday at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide.
Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream every second live across 240 countries and territories, at no additional cost to Prime members. Swimming fans can sign up or start a 30-day free trial by visiting primevideo.com.
Bronte Campbell’s personal and emotional journey to the Games in July can be seen in the four-part docu-series Head Above Water. Stream it now, exclusively only on Prime Video. Watch the trailer here.
DAY 6 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS – Thursday, June 17
10.30am AEST
W 200 BACK: Kaylee McKeown, winner of the 100m backstroke and the 200m individual medley at the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials, is the swimmer to beat. The 2019 World Championship silver medallist recorded the fourth fastest time in history with her 2:04.31 swim at the recent Sydney Open meet. McKeown’s main rivals will be three-time world champion Emily Seebohm, who qualified for the team in the 100m earlier this meet, and Minna Atherton.
M 100 FLY: This is the moment so many have been waiting for: Cody Simpson stepping up to swim for his pet event. Simpson, the former pop star and national age champion has received more attention than any other swimmer in the lead-up to these trials. Simpson, who only made his return to the sport a year ago, has his sights set on a finals berth in this race. And he is on target to achieve this after posting some impressive results in the lead-up meets at the Australian Championships and Sydney Open. Will it be enough to make the team this July?
Simpson will have some very tough opponents. David Morgan and Matt Temple had a terrific battle here in the 200m fly. Temple won it, with Morgan second. Can Morgan, a relay bronze medallist in Rio, topple Temple? Or will Bowen Gough, who led all the way in the 200m race earlier in the week, earn an individual swim at the Games? Or will Simpson realise his dream and join sport’s most prestigious club this July?
W 800 FREE: Ariarne Titmus has been the record breaker of these Swimming Trials. She has broken a record in every final she has contested so far, booking her spot on the Games team in the 200m and 400m freestyle. Titmus is the seventh fastest swimmer in history in the 800m freestyle with her 8:15.70 to win silver at the World Champs in 2019. In the battle for the podium, Maddy Gough and Kiah Melverton, who finished one-two in the 1500m last night to book their Games spots, look set to set to push Titmus all the way.
W 50 FREE: It’s the women’s splash-and-dash and it has been the Cate and Bronte Campbell show for the best part of a decade. Cate Campbell won her first Australian title in 2012, the first of her seven National Championship wins in this race. The only other current swimmer to etch their name into the list is her sister Bronte, in 2015 and 2017. Cate started her Olympic career at Beijing 2008, and then won a bronze in this event in 2012. She had been the co-world rankings leader for 2021 along with long-time rival Ranomi Kromowidjojo in 24.11 until the Dutchwoman won the European Championships in 23.97. Emma McKeon (Griffith University) currently sits third in the world rankings on 24.17.
M 50 FREE: Australia’s 50m freestyle sprinters will have to pull out all stops in the men’s splash-and-dash to go under the 21.77 qualifying time. Only one in this field, third fastest Australian of all time, Cameron McEvoy (21.44 in 2016), has ever swum under the QT and he proved he was in fine form by finishing third in the 100m last night. Will Stockwell comes in second on times with his personal best of 22.29, followed by Grayson Bell on 22.30.
M 1500 FREE: Looming as a battle between the old and the new, led by Rio Olympian and Commonwealth games gold medallist Jack McLoughlin, winner of the 800m freestyle here earlier in the week. McLoughlin narrowly missed the final in Rio in this event.
Thomas Neill, who came second here in the 800m but failed to go under the qualifying time, will be striving to qualify for the Games team as the other swimmer. Neill has posted one sub-15 minute swim with a 14:59.19 to finish second in the World Junior Championships in Budapest in 2019. Neill will need a PB here to go under the 14:55.06 QT.
Other contenders include Sam Short who completed an eye-catching national age championship with his personal best of 15:02.48, and a sub-15 minute could be on the cards for him here.
Olympic silver medallist James Magnussen and dual Olympian Meagen Nay will provide commentary for every heats session, with Olympic medallist Sarah Ryan serving as the race announcer and host of the session.
The eight fastest qualifiers from the heats will move through to the evening finals, which are broadcast live and exclusively on Amazon Prime Video with the final of action tomorrow night from 7.00pm AEST. In the multi-class events for heats, the point-score system is in place, with the swimmers who attain the top eight scores progressing through to the final to have another chance to swim under the qualifying time.
Commentating on the finals are Olympic gold medallists Grant Hackett OAM and Giaan Rooney OAM, Olympic silver medallist Nicole Livingstone OAM, and Paralympic gold medallist Annabelle Williams OAM. Sports broadcaster and journalist Matt White will serve as host, with veteran sports caller Jon Harker handling all the action in the pool.
