James Magnussen, Cameron McEvoy Lead 100 Free Prelims in Australia

Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia

Reigning World Champion James Magnussen has set the fastest heat time in the men’s 100m freestyle on day four of the 2015 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships, clocking 48.76 seconds to cruise into tonight’s semi-finals at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

“Everything feels pretty connected,” Magnussen said. “Probably a few things to tweak but I feel good.”

Magnussen will go into the semi looking for a little more speed but doesn’t intend to change his game plan too much.

“I’ll go a little bit faster again, no need to go crazy fast because they were reasonably ordinary heats,” he said of his plans.

“So I’ll just drop down a little bit more, raise my intensity a little bit more and build towards that final.”

Defending champion Cameron McEvoy was second fastest in 49.07 followed by Tommaso D’Orsogna in 49.45. It was a three-way tie for fourth fastest with Kenneth To, Luke Percy and Blake Jones all touching in 49.49.

After his impressive results in the 200 and 400m freestyle events, Grant Hackett set a personal best time of 50.25 in his heat, just outside the time needed to see him progress to the semi-finals.

Hackett’s training partner Thomas Fraser-Holmes has bounced back from what he described as a “bitterly disappointing” night in the pool to qualify for the 100m freestyle and the 200m individual medley semi-finals.

Fraser-Holmes was the number one ranked 200m freestyle swimmer in the world last year and, after finishing third in last night’s final, missed out on the opportunity to contest the individual event at the World Championships.

Showing true professionalism, mate-ship and focus, Fraser-Holmes has not let the result affect his attitude or performance.

“I didn’t want to dwell on the result last night,” the 23-year-old said. “That’s not going to do me any good, or my teammates. So I’ve put it behind me and hopefully I’ll make the final of the 100 and do well in the IM.”

Fraser-Holmes qualified in second spot for the 200m IM semi-final in a time of 2:02.34 with Nunawading’s Travis Mahoney the fastest qualifier in 2:01.92.

In other events:

Women’s 200m Butterfly

World Short Course representative Brianna Throssell has qualified fastest for the semi-finals of the women’s 200m butterfly. The 19-year-old from Perth swam 2:10.80 leaving plenty in the tank for her semi tonight. Commonwealth Games representative Keryn McMaster, 21, was second fastest in 2:13.05 with Madeline Groves, third fastest in 2:13.20.

Women’s 100m Breaststroke Multi Class

Prue Watt (SB9) from Cranbrook has qualified in top spot for the women’s 100m breaststroke multi-class with a time of 1:21.54. West Australian Madeleine Scott (SB9) took second spot I n 1:22.90 with Paralympian Tanya Huebner (SB6) ranked third in 1:44.47.

Men’s 100m Breaststroke Multi Class

Blake Cochrane (SB7), the defending champion in the men’s 100m breaststroke multi class, will head into tonight’s final as the top qualifier having finished his heat in 1:20.42. Matthew Levy (SB7) and Ahmed Kelly (SB3) qualified in second and third respectively. Grant Patterson (SB2) qualified in fourth and will be looking for his fourth title in the event.

Women’s 50m Backstroke

Silver medallist from the 100m backstroke Madison Wilson has continued to show good form, setting the fastest heat time in the women’s 50m backstroke with 28.01 seconds. The 100m champion Emily Seebohm was second fastest in 28.19 with Holly Barratt (28.65) and rising star Minna Atherton (28.72) third and fourth fastest respectively.

Women’s 400m Freestyle Multi Class

Paralympian Jacqueline Freney (S7) swam 5:02.37 in the women’s 400m Multi Class freestyle heats to qualify in top spot for this evening’s final. The 22-year-old qualified ahead of Monique Murphy (S10) in 4:47.72 and Jade Lucy (S14) in 5:03.02.

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

2015 Australian Swimming Championships, Live Results – Results

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