Grant Hackett Clears 3:50 in 400 Free Prelims at Australian Swimming Championships

Photo Courtesy: Bob Donnan - USA Today Sports

SYDNEY – The 2015 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships got the Easter holidays underway this morning with all eyes on the return of Grant Hackett and the men’s 400m freestyle heats.

The three-time Olympian lined up on the blocks at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre for his first Australian Championships in seven years, and exceeded all his expectations.

The 34-year-old was second in his heat in a time of 3:49.47, nearly five seconds faster than his best time since returning to the pool last year. With the time fast enough to move through as fourth fastest qualifier for tonight’s final.

Hackett, who retired after the Beijing Olympics in 2008, only started training six months ago and came into the Championships with no performance expectations.

“I just can’t believe I’ve gone sub-3:50 off six months training after six years off,” an elated Hackett said after the race, “that’s just pretty crazy at this stage.”

Hackett said he raced “pretty conservatively” and is looking forward to racing his younger rivals in tonight’s final.

“I just made sure I had enough in the last lap to be able to step it up coming home…The more I race, the faster I get.”

The fastest qualifier from the heats was David McKeon who swam 3:46.49, well under the FINA qualifying time required to make the Kazan World Championships team. While Melbourne Vicentre’s Mack Horton was second fastest in 3:48.12 and Hackett’s Miami squad mate Jordan Harrison was third fastest in 3:49.94. Needing a top-two finish and a qualifying time to make the Worlds team, a tonight’s final will be fast.

Making a comeback of a different kind was Christian Sprenger, competing in his first race since the 2014 Commonwealth Games after undergoing ground-breaking shoulder surgery. The Australian title holder won his heat in 1:00.99 and was the second fastest overall behind Pan Pacs representative Jake Packard (1:00.68).

Sprenger said the shoulder was giving him no trouble but it was missing the training block that has set his times back.

“I’ll see if I can take it up a little in the semis and then bring whatever I can to the final,” Sprenger said.

“I just need to go in and take a lot of confidence from my past years and know I have the capability. I am not where I was 12 months ago so I have to really work for it this time and that’s just how the game is.”

Matthew Treloar was the third fastest in 1:01.97 while Nicholas Schafer will also progress in 1:01.98.

In the women’s 400m freestyle, the fastest finisher was New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle (4:03.88), who will contest the B final tonight. Indooroopilly’s Leah Neal was the fastest Aussie in 4:10.80 and the 19-year-old will going into tonight’s final as the fastest qualifier ahead of Jessica Ashwood (4:11.27) and Kylie Palmer (4:11.32).

In Other Events

Women’s Multi Class 100m Backstroke
Paralympian Ellie Cole (S9) proved she is in fine form as she dived in for the heats of the women’s 100m Multi Class backstroke this morning. The 23-year-old clocked a 1:11.33 (917 FINA points) and looks on track to qualify for her third IPC World Championship team despite having some time off in 2013 and 2014 with a shoulder injury. Moving through in second place was Paralympic Games silver medallist in this event Taylor Corry (S14, 1:11.41) with the always competitive Jacqui Freney (S7, 1:28.82) ranked third.

Women’s 100m Butterfly
After winning a bronze medal in this event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Emma McKeon will move through to the semi-finals of the women’s 100m butterfly as the top contender with a time of 57.68 from the heats. Reigning Australian Champion and silver medallist from the 2013 World Championships Alicia Coutts (58.12) will progress in second spot with Brittany Elmslie third in 59.29.

Women’s 200m Individual Medley
Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs representative Emily Seebohm has had her first swim of the meet in the women’s 200m individual medley. Seebohm hit the wall in a time of 2:13.32 to progress fastest through to the semi-final tonight. Sixteen-year-old Lucy McJannett (2:13.62) who last year represented Australia at the Junior Pan Pacs was the second fastest qualifier with breaststroker Taylor McKeown third in 2:14.03.

Men’s 50m Butterfly
Papua New Guinea’s Ryan Pini was the fastest qualifier in the men’s 50m butterfly, heading into the semi-finals with a heat time of 23.85. Jayden Hadler (23.90) and Kenneth To (24.16) were the fastest Aussies.

Men’s 100m Backstroke Multi-Class
Dual Paralympian Michael Anderson (S10) took out the men’s 100m Multi Class backstroke heats with a time of 1:02.10. The 27-year-old from Flinders of Buderim edged out his fellow Queenslander Daniel Fox (S14) who has qualified second in 1:03.29. Jeremy Tidy (S10) was third in 1:04.4.

The finals will commence at 6:30pm AEST and will be available LIVE via www.tenplay.com.au and on delay on Network Ten’s ONE HD.

Tickets are available at www.proticket.com.au

Dropbox link to Media Guide, race highlights and event information here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bmz6cambe1skfi4/AADNovo20SaZaWwOqtfxXCtDa?dl=0

How to watch: http://tenplay.com.au/sport/australian-swimming-championships/schedule
TENplay: Tenplay.com.au/AustralianSwimmingChampionships
Direct Live-Stream: Tenplay.com.au/liveswimming

Social Media

Australian Dolphins Swim Team – Facebook

@DolphinsAUS – Twitter and Instagram

Hashtags – #AusChamps15 #OurTeam #TeamGreenAndGold

Finals DAY 1

Evening Session (Commencing at 6.30pm) AEST

W 100m Butterfly Semi-finals

M 400m Freestyle Final

W 200m IM Semi-finals

M 50m Butterfly Semi-finals

W 400m Freestyle Final

M 100m Breaststroke Semi-finals

W 100m Backstroke Multi-Class Final

M 100m Backstroke Multi-Class Final

W 4 x 100m Freestyle Club Relay Final

M 4 x 100m Freestyle Club Relay Final

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworl d .com.

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