Olympians Highlight Competition at Victorian Championships

MELBOURNE, Australia, January 17. OLYMPIANS Leisel Jones and Matt Targett provided the highlights this past weekend at the Victorian long course state championships.

Jones, the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 breaststroke, only swam the 100 breast last weekend, winning with a 1:07.66 over Sarah Katsoulis, who touched in 1:08.50. Katsoulis would win the 200 breast in 2:27.53 over Emily Selig's 2:27.61, and was second in the 50 breast with a 31.95 behind Natasha Waitzer's 31.50.

Also of note in the sprint breaststrokes was the presence of Olympian and world champion Linley Frame, now 39 years old. Frame, the winner of the 100 breast at the 1991 world championships held in Perth, Australia, was 10th in the 50 breast last weekend with a 33.87 and 16th in the 100 with a 1:15.38.

Matt Targett, now training in Melbourne after finishing his collegiate eligibility at Auburn University, put himself at the top of the very early world rankings in the 100 freestyle in 2011 with a 49.70. That swim was a hair faster than Brent Hayden's 49.91 swum on Sunday at the Austin Grand Prix and makes those two and Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands the only swimmers under the 50-second barrier in the early days of the new year. Targett also won the 50 freestyle in 22.60, third-fastest in the world behind the 22.59 of Jason Lezak and 22.59 of Josh Schneider swum in Austin.

Also swimming fast was Ellen Gandy, a British Olympian in the 200 butterfly. Gandy won that event in 2:08.02.

Link to results from Victorian championships

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