Mitch Larkin Breaks Commonwealth, Australian 100 Back Records In Adelaide

Photo by Delly Carr

ADELAIDE – Mitch Larkin has been on a roll this short course season, and the 21-year-old continued his great fall season with an Australian and Commonwealth record in the 100 backstroke on the first night of the Australian nationals. The meet is serving to select the squad for next month’s short course world championships.

Larkin blazed through the semifinals with a 49.44, erasing Bobby Hurley’s 49.92 that had stood since last year as the fastest swim recorded by any citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations. That gives Larkin the Australian record in two out of the three backstroke distances, as he set the national record in the 200 back two weeks ago in Beijing with a 1:48.69.

Larkin is exactly a second off Nick Thoman’s world record of 48.94 from 2009, and could begin chipping away at that gap in tomorrow’s final. No one else was close to Larkin in tonight’s semifinal, with Ashley Delaney and Ben Treffers tying for second-fastest with times of 52.20. Hurley will race in the final as well, qualifying sixth with a 52.63.

Hurley was part of the night’s first championship final, the men’s 200 free, and placed fifth with a 1:43.84. Cameron McEvoy took the title in 1:43.09, claiming Hurley’s meet record of 1:44.24. Thomas Fraser-Holmes, the Pan Pac champion in the 200 free, elected to skip the meet but has the world’s fastest time with a 1:41.92 from the Doha World Cup meet. David McKeon was second in tonight’s race with a 1:43.43, while Daniel Smith and Kurt Herzog picked up likely spots for the 800 free relay with times of 1:43.50 and 1:43.58.

With star Ellen Gandy sitting out the meet, Brianna Throssell had a clear path to winning the women’s 200 fly with a 2:04.73 and sit sixth in the world standings. Jordan White was well back in second with a 2:08.88 and Nicole Mee took third with a 2:09.85.

Keryn McMaster blasted through the meet record of 4:35.95 in the women’s 400 IM with a 4:29.24 that puts her fifth in the world. Ellen Fullerton held McMaster’s pace through the entire race but couldn’t match the blistering final 50 meters and finished second with a 4:31.15. Jessica Pengelly was third in 4:37.06.

Brittany Elmslie led off St. Peter’s 800 free relay with a strong 1:54.72, putting her fifth in the world rankings. St. Peter’s would win the event handily with a 7:52.90 to break the Australian All-Comers record (the fastest time done in Australia by a swimmer of any nationality) of 7:55.12 by Albany Creek in 2007. The Australian record still stands at a blistering 7:37.57.

Two national records were threatened in other semifinal action tonight. Jake Packard gave Christian Sprenger’s national record or 57.57 in the 100 breast a scare with a 58.07. Packard has broken through in a big way this year, transitioning from also-ran to Pan Pac finalist in a matter of months while Sprenger sat out to heal an injured shoulder. That’s the eighth-fastest swim of the year. Tommy Sucipto also broke 59 seconds to qualify second with a 58.85.

Madison Wilson nearly took down Emily Seebohm’s national record of 56.58 in the 100 back, posting a 56.75 in semifinals. Wilson, who stepped in for Meagan Nay at the Commonwealth Games, also will have the Commonwealth record of 56.56 set in 2009 by South Africa’s Channelle Van Wyk on her mind. She will face off in tomorrow’s final against Seebohm, who cruised to a 57.36 in semis for the second seed.

Jayden Hadler broke 51 seconds in the men’s 100 fly semifinals with a 50.93 for the top seed, while Tommaso D’Orsogna (51.07) and Nathaniel Romeo (51.40) qualified second and third.

Leiston Pickett took the top seed in the women’s 50 breast semifinals with a 30.21, with Georgia Bohl (30.32) and Sally Hunter (30.55) right behind.

Results: Australian short course national championships

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