Australian Short Course Championships, Day One Finals: Leisel Jones Sharpens for Rebecca Soni Duel As Marieke Guehrer, James Magnussen Sprint To Gold

By Ian Hanson Chief Australian Correspondent

ADELAIDE, South Australia, July 1. AUSTRALIA's breaststroke swimming queen Leisel Jones showed she was ready for one of the major duels of the up-coming FINA World Championships in Shanghai in Adelaide tonight.

The 26-year-old produced an eye-catching victory in the 100m breaststroke on the opening night of finals at the Australian Short Course Championships at the glistening multi-million dollar SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre.

Jones, an eight time Olympic medallist and the gold medallist in the 100m breaststroke in Beijing, will go head-to-head with the USA's golden girl Rebecca Soni in a much anticipated 100m breaststroke at next month's Championships.

"I actually felt pretty sharp tonight which is a positive sign for Shanghai," said Jones. "My turns felt amazing which is good because I know how strong a competitor Rebecca Soni is."

Jones stopped the clock at 1:04.02 to again assert her authority on the event she has dominated in Australian swimming for the last decade, as she sets herself for a history-making fourth Australian Olympic team in London.

No other Australian swimmer has ever made four Olympic teams and Jones, a 14-year-old silver medallist in Sydney, the silver and bronze medallist in Athens and eventually the gold medallist in Beijing, is very much in the box seat for 2012.

While Jones stood out she was joined in the winners circle by her fellow 2004 Olympian Marieke Guehrer who won the 100m freestyle in 53.32 and then spearheaded her Melbourne Vicentre 4x100m freestyle relay team to victory in a slick anchor leg of 52.90.

The girl who gained a last minute entry into the Shanghai Championships with her time trial win on Wednesday, sent a clear message to National Head Coach Leigh Nugent that she means business.

"They haven't named me on the team yet," Guehrer said as she goaded Nugent in a poolside interview after winning the 100m final, which saw world record holder and comeback girl, Libby Trickett in sixth place in 54.18.

James Magnussen (SOPAC, NSW) was the pick of the men, adding the short course title to his long course crown from earlier in the year.

Like Guehrer, Magnussen won gold in the individual final (46.98) before spearheading his SOPAC foursome to victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay in 46.79, to signal his intentions for Shanghai.

"I can't ask for much more. It's a nice one to add to the title I won in April. Training has been going really well and I'm actually swimming faster than what I was before the Trials so that's a positive thing. I can't wait for the Worlds."

Here is an event-by-event synopsis of the night one finals.

Women's 50m butterfly:
A strong finish from Commonwealth Games gold medallist Yolane Kukla (25.67) from St Peters Western provided the first upset of the night with the teen queen out-touching world long course champion Marieke Guehrer (25.72) with Alice Mills (26.12) third. Kukla said she knew she had to put together a perfect race. "It's over in a flash, you blink and you miss it. I knew I had to finish hard and finish strongly. I was second last year, so it was nice to grab a win tonight."

Men's 200m butterfly:
Cairns born, Brisbane trained and now Gold Coast based butterflyer Chris Wright (Southport Olympic, Qld) unveiled a new race plan of "go hard or go home" to lead from start to finish to win the 200m butterfly in a slick 1:52.45 (25.07, 53.49, 1.22.75) from former training partner Jayden Hadler (1:53.90) and Lachlan Staples (1:54.91). "My coach Glenn Baker devised a plan to go out from the start and I don't think I've ever gone out that hard in my life but it felt good," said Wright, who missed the Australian Open Championships with a back injury. "I had a few weeks out of the pool, it was a shame to miss the Opens but I believe things happen for a reason. I'm enjoying training outdoor at Southport on the Gold Coast, it's a beautiful thing."

Women's 100m breaststroke:
Leisel Jones (Nunawading, Vic) surprised even herself with a stunning victory in the 100m breaststroke, over-taking early leader Leiston Pickett at the 50m mark and was never headed to win in 1:04.02 (30.68) in a perfect hit out before the World Championships. "I actually felt pretty sharp tonight which is a positive sign for Shanghai," said Jones. "My turns felt amazing which is good because I know how strong a competitor Rebecca Soni is." Pickett (Southport Olympic, Qld) was second in 1:05.83 with emerging youngster Emily Selig (Melbourne Vicentre,Vic) third in 1:06.51.

Men's 50m breaststroke:
Olympian and world long course record holder for 200m breaststroke, Christian Sprenger led from the outset to win his fourth National 50m breaststroke crown in 27.07 from arch rival and fellow world record holder Brenton Rickard (Southport Olympic, Qld), in 27.37 with his club mate Nikolas Pregelj third in 27.70. Sprenger knew he had to be on his game from the outset with the breaststroke field starting to improve. "We have been looking to nail my start and turns, although I started to tire somewhat towards the end. But it's always great to race Brenton."

Women's 100m freestyle:
Marieke Guehrer turned up the heat for her extended family, who live in Adelaide and the 2004 Olympian didn't let them down with a lightning finish to claim gold, just two days after swimming her way on to the World Championship team in Wednesday's time trial. Guehrer took over the lead in the final 25 metres after Yolane Kukla, Cate Campbell and Kelly Stubbins had at one stage all led the race through the first 75 metres. In the end it was Guehrer in 53.32 who added the National crown to her growing repertoire ahead of an all-Victorian podium with her team mate Jessicah Morrison (53.46) second and Stubbins (53.62) third. "I have been working on my 100 for next year's Olympic Trials. With the 50m (butterfly) not on the Olympic program the 100 has been more my focus for next year and I had to put on a good show for my family."

Men's 100m freestyle:
James Magnussen (SOPAC, NSW) added the short course 100m freestyle to his long course title win in Sydney in April in a time of 46.98 after defending champion Matt Abood (SOPAC, NSW) led at the first turn, Kenneth To (Trinity, NSW) at the 50m and Abood again at the 75m mark. But a powerful final 50 was enough to hold off Kyle Richardson (Chandler, Qld) 47.16 with Abood and To sharing third in 47.59.
Magnussen said he was "pretty happy" with his swim saying: "I can't ask for much more. It's a nice one to add to the title I won in April. Training has been going really well and I'm actually swimming faster than what I was before Trials so that's a positive thing. I can't wait for the Worlds."

Women's 400IM:
Australian record holder and 2009 World Championship team member Ellen Fullerton (Chandler, Qld) took control of this event from the opening butterfly leg and was never headed as she swam towards the gold medal in 4:31.93 ahead of South African visitor Jessica Pengelly (4:37.32) and Aisling Scott (Brothers, Qld) third in 4:40.89. Fullerton's move to Stephan Widmer at Chandler is starting to pay dividends as the IM-freestyler continues her build up for next year's Olympic Trials.

Women's 200m backstroke:
National Age group star, 16-year-old Mikkayla Sheridan (Chandler, Qld) timed her finish to perfection to claim her first senior championship in the 200m backstroke in a personal best of 2:07.11 from a brave Haileybury Waterlions 17-year-old Samantha Wilkins, who led for most of the race second, also in a pb of 2:07.66 with Norwood's Jenni O'Neil third in a pb time of 2:08.17.

Men's 50m backstroke:
Olympic silver and bronze medallist, the prodigal son, Hayden Stoeckel (Melbourne Vicentre, Vic) returned home to Adelaide to claim a last gasp win in the 50m backstroke in a slick time of 24.24 ahead of Daniel Arnamnart (Aquaburn, NSW) 24.25 and Mitchell Dixon (SOPAC, NSW) third in 24.50. Stoeckel overcame a sluggish start to nail his turn and finish in a masterful display that will set him up for a strong showing in Shanghai.

Men's 400m freestyle:
Robert Hurley (Wests Illawarra, NSW) timed the back end of his 400m freestyle to perfection to swim away from club mate David McKeon to give the Wollongong-based club the quinella in the 400m freestyle, Hurley touching in 3:42.15 and McKeon in a personal best time of 3:43.95, with Jarrod Killey (Hunter, NSW) rounding off an all NSW finish in 3:48.57. The taller but less experienced McKeon led through the 200m in 1:51.62 to Hurley's 1:52.02. It was Hurley's longer turns that started to give him the edge between 300 and 400m. It was a great result for Wests Illawarra coach, Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ron McKeon who will now set his "big two" for next year's Olympic Trials.

Women's 800m freestyle:
Olympic relay gold medallist and Australia's premier middle distance freestyler, Kylie Palmer showed why she will be one to watch at the World Championships in Shanghai with a solid time of 8:16.55 (2:03.84, 4:09.31) to record a comfortable win in the 800m over her Chandler, Qld training partner rising star Mikkayla Sheridan (8:25.90) and 1500m winner Erin Killey (Hunter, NSW) third in 8:29.29. Palmer will contest the 200, 400 and 800m freestyle in Shanghai and will form an intricate part of the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Men's Multi-Class 50m freestyle:
Popular Central Cairns swimmer Grant Patterson (S3) won the 50m freestyle for the Multi-Class swimmers in a provisional world record for his class of 55.53 from S14 swimmer Mitchell Kilduff (SLC Aquadot, NSW) 25.11 with Paralympic golden boy Matthew Cowdrey (Norwood, SA) third in 25.02 in front of his home crowd.

Women's Multi-Class 50m freestyle:
S14 Paralympian Kayla Clark (Woogaroo) clocked 29.04 to out-touch fellow S14 swimmer, 16-year-old Taylor Corry (Nelson Bay, NSW) who finished second in 29.08 from 32-year-old Eltham, Vic S8 swimmer N Latham in 32.09.

Men's Multi-Class 100m freestyle:
Grant Patterson added gold medal number two and a second provisional world record for his class when he won the 100m freestyle in 1:56.10 ahead of Matthew Cowdrey (54.76) and Matthew Levy (1:02.09).

Multi-Class 100m freestyle:
West Australian Katherine Downie set a new world record for her class earlier in the day and then took gold in the women's 100m freestyle in a time of 1:02.54, just 0.10 of a second slower than her provisional world record from this morning. Ellie Cole and Jacqueline Freney won silver and bronze respectively.

Men's 4x100m freestyle relay:
The SOPAC foursome of Geoff Huegill (49.96), Eamon Sullivan (49.34), Mitchell Dixon (48.23) and newly crowned Australian champion James Magnussen (46.79) had to come from behind to win the 4x100m freestyle relay, stopping the clock in 3:14.32. It was the McEvoy brothers Hayden (49.29) and Cameron (48.66) who edged in front of their internationally acclaimed rivals Huegill and Sullivan to give Southport Olympic a handy lead at the half-way mark. Breaststroker Brenton Rickard (49.55) then held off Dixon to give Southport 0.03 at the final turn before Magnussen was too strong for the brave Nick Ffrost (47.98) in the final leg. SOPAC won in 3:14.32 to Southport's 3:15.48 with Melbourne Vicentre third in 3:18.42.

Women's 4×100 freestyle relay:
A sizzling 52.90 by girl of the moment Marieke Guehrer was enough to give Melbourne Vicentre "B" the gold medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay as they dueled with their club mates in the Melbourne Vicentre "A" in an exciting finale to the opening night's finals. Guehrer held off her silver medal winning team mate from the individual 100m final, Jess Morrison (54.11) to steer the "B" team to victory in 3:42.08 ahead of the "A" team's 3:43.86 with Carlile third in 3:43.86.

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