Ariarne Titmus, Zac Stubblety-Cook and Shayna Jack Headline Dolphins Commonwealth Games Team; Kyle Chalmers Misses Team Announcement

Shayna Jack
SMILE SAYS IT ALL: Shayna Jack was named on the Australian Team for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games after winning the 50m freestyle in the fastest time in the world this year. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

Australia’s latest world record holders Zac Stubblety-Cook and Ariarne Titmus will be joined by pop star Cody Simpson and a determined world number one Shayna Jack in Australia’s 46-member able-bodied swim team named tonight in Adelaide for this year’s Commonwealth Games.

One of the strongest teams in recent memory will join the previously named 27 Para-swimmers, to complete the 73-strong Australian team for the 22nd Games in Birmingham.

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QUEEN OF THE POOL: Ariarne Titmus salutes the crowd after her world record swim in Adelaide. Photo Courtesy:Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

In a drama charged night at the SA Aquatic And Leisure Centre, Titmus (St Peters Western) broke her first long course world record – lowering Katie Ledecky’s 2016 time by just 0.06 in a heart-stopping 400 metres freestyle with her 3:56.40.

“I’m very excited about the Commonwealth Games – we’ve got a great team going in with all our girls in the freestyle going so well it’s insane,” said Titmus, who chased the red world record line right till the last gripping stroke.

“I’ve just loved swimming the past six months. I’ve been going to training and enjoying the sport – which is so underestimated.”

It came after Stubblety-Cook started the week on night one with a new world mark of 2:05.95 – the first man under 2:06 in the 200m breaststroke.

While 25-year-old Simpson makes his international debut after his third-place finish in the 100m butterfly – a major step forward in his goal for the Paris Olympic Games.

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Jack, a relay gold medallist on the Gold Coast four years ago, re-affirmed her position on the team, winning her first National crown tonight in the fastest time in the world this year, stopping the clock in a personal best of 24.14 and coming after her second-placed swim in the 100m freestyle.

And in the final race of the evening Rackley Swim Team teenager Sam Short stopped two laps short in the1500m, touching the wall and stopping at the 1400m mark before the pool deck lane judge kept ringing the bell in his ear to make him push off, eventually finishing the race outside the qualifying time for Birmingham.

Short, who narrowly missed selection on last year’s Tokyo Olympics clocked 15.05.55 – just outside the qualifying time of 15:04.64.

Sam Short 1

BUDAPEST and BIRMINGHAM BOUND: After a non-stop week of racing, Sam Short deserves a breather. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

But after a nervous wait Short was quickly reassured by head coach Rohan Taylor that his time from last year’s Trials – 14:57.22 would qualify him for the team.

While Australia’s Olympic gold and silver medallist Kyle Chalmers was missing when the team for Birmingham (which he had pre-qualified for with his Tokyo silver medal in the 100m freestyle) was read out, saying he was concerned for his mental health following negative media attention.

Head Coach Taylor confirmed that Chalmers would also be included in the 39-strong World Championship Team for Budapest (also announced tonight) after originally declaring he was unavailable for the Worlds.

Chalmers was pleasantly surprised after finishing second to Marion team mate Matt Temple in the 100m butterfly  and swimming under the Budapest qualifying time – Taylor having no hesitation in welcoming Chalmers into the team and supporting his decision to stay in Port Lincoln with the support of his family

A concerned Chalmers posting on Instagram: “The past few days have been really challenging for me mentally and emotionally and it’s taken a massive toll on me. I need to look after my mental health and get myself right as I prepare for a massive year in the pool.

“The negative media attention surrounding my decision to compete at Worlds and the made-up story lines surrounding my personal life have been more than I can handle.

“After giving my all to the sport and being so welcoming to the media all my career it’s a shame to see them publish storylines questioning my integrity all for the sake of extra clicks and money.”

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RELIEF: If anyone deserved a spot on the Australian Swim Team this year it was Lizzy Dekkers. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

Commonwealth Games Australia also naming a host of emerging stars who have won selection including Queenslanders Mollie O’Callaghan 18, Flynn Southam, 16, Jenna Forrester, 18, Isaac Cooper, 18, Lani Pallister, 19 and Lizzy Dekkers 18.

O’Callaghan dominated in Adelaide this week, winning six medals, including two golds in the 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke and will be invaluable in Birmingham.

The St Peters Western teen, who will be making her Commonwealth Games debut, will arrive in Birmingham familiar with the sensation of representing her nation in a big international meet. She already has two Olympic gold medals to her name from Tokyo, as a member of Australia’s 4 x 100 freestyle and 4 x 100m medley relay teams.

This week she put the world on notice, swimming the fastest 100m freestyle in the world in 2022

“I sometimes doubt myself a little, so I am really surprised that it was such a big jump. Before I was kind of like the underdog, but this year … it is quite crazy,” she said.

The youngest member of the Dolphins squad for the Birmingham Games is Bond Swimming’s schoolboy sensation, Southam, who produced outstanding swims in the 100m and 200m freestyle events.

While Pallister, a three-time World Junior champion in the 400, 800 and 1500m freestyle, is following in the footsteps of her mother, Janelle Elford. Elford who was a triple medallist at the Auckland 1990 Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. And it was a fitting finale for Dekkers who like Pallister left Adelaide with shattered dreams, but who returned tonight to set the record straight with a stunning victory in the 200m fly, clocking 2:07.62 to gain spots for both Birmingham and Budapest

By virtue of their success in Tokyo, winning individual medals, Titmus, Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown, Chalmers, Stubblety-Cook and Brendon Smith were granted automatic selection for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The others in the green-and-gold Dolphins squad were selected on their performances at the Australian Swimming Championships.

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IN FULL FLIGHT: Brendon Smith on the fly in Adelaide IM dominance. Delly Carr (Swimming Australia). Photo Courtesy:

Gold Coast-based McKeon has a phenomenal Commonwealth Games record, having claimed eight gold medals in two appearances in Glasgow (2014) and the Gold Coast (2018).

Kaylee McKeown, who is also based on the Gold Coast, will be making her Commonwealth Games debut after winning three gold medals in an astonishing performance at the Tokyo Olympics. She’ll take to the blocks alongside her sister, Taylor McKeown who won the 200m breaststroke gold in Glasgow in 2014 after missing the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and Tokyo Olympic teams.

Rio de Janeiro gold medallist Mack Horton, 26, will hit the pool again in both individual (200 and 400m freestyle) and relay events.

Commonwealth Games Chef de Mission, Petria Thomas OAM, herself a nine-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist in swimming, is rapt with the calibre of the Dolphins squad.

“This is an exceptional line-up of athletes, reflecting the high standard of swimming talent we have in Australia right now,” Thomas said.

“The incredible results at the National Championships will send a strong message to the Commonwealth that our Aussie athletes are the ones to watch. I know all team members will embrace our mantra of ‘Greater Together’ and strive to be bold, brave and brilliant in Birmingham.”

Australian 2022 Commonwealth Games Swim Team, Birmingham.

Men: Ben Armbruster (Bond Swimming, QLD) Grayson Bell (Somerset, QLD), Kyle Chalmers (Marion, SA), Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD), Joshua Edwards-Smith (Griffith University, QLD), Bowen Gough (Griffith University, QLD), Mack Horton (Griffith University, QLD), Zac Incerti (Marion, SA) Mitch Larkin (Chandler, QLD), Se-Bom Lee (Carlile, NSW), Thomas Nowakowski (Somerset, QLD), Kieran Pollard (North Coast, WA), Sam Short (Rackley Swim Team, QLD), Cody Simpson (Griffith University, QLD), Brendon Smith (Griffith University, QLD), Flynn Southam, Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD), Matt Temple (Marion, SA), Brad Woodward (Mingara, NSW) Sam Williamson (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC), Matt Wilson (SOPAC, VIC), Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD), Josh Yong (USC Spartans, QLD), William Yang (Loreto Normanhurst, NSW).

Women: Minna Atherton (Bond Swimming, QLD), Holly Barratt (Rockingham, WA), Abbey Connor (Revesby Workers, NSW), Elizabeth Dekkers (Newmarket Racers, QLD), Jenna Forrester (St Peters Western, QLD), Abbey Harkin (St Peters Western, QLD), Meg Harris (Marion, SA), Chelsea Hodges (Southport, QLD), Shayna Jack (St Peters Western, QLD), Bronte Job (Rackley Swim Team, QLD), Emma McKeon (Griffith University, QLD), Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University, QLD), Taylor McKeown (Griffith University, QLD), Kiah Melverton (St Peters Western, QLD), Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, QLD), Lani Pallister (Griffith University, QLD), Alexandria Perkins (St Peters Western, QLD), Ella Ramsay (St Peters Western, QLD), Jenna Strauch (Miami, QLD), Brianna Throssell (USC Spartans, QLD), Ariarne Titmus (St Peters Western, QLD), Madi Wilson (Marion, SA).

Head Coach: Rohan Taylor

Coaches: Peter Bishop (Marion, SA), Michael Bohl (Griffith University, QLD), Dean Boxall St Peters Western, QLD), Sean Eels (Southport), Damien Jones (Rackley Swim Team, QLD), Chris Nesbit (Carlile, NSW), Michael Palfrey (USC Spartans, QLD), Janelle Pallister (Griffith University, QLD), Vince Raleigh (Chandler, QLD).

Staff: Jess Corones, Kieran Marsh, Tim Rawlins, Tamara Sheppard, Mel Tantrum, Kirsty West.

Australian Dolphins Swim Team, World Championships, Budapest, HUN

Men: Grayson Bell (Somerset, QLD), Kyle Chalmers (Marion, SA), Jack Cartwright (St Peters Western), Isaac Cooper (Rackley Swim Team, QLD), Joshua Edwards-Smith (Griffith University, QLD), Bowen Gough (Griffith University, QLD), Mack Horton (Griffith University, QLD), Zac Incerti (Marion, SA) Mitch Larkin (Chandler, QLD), Se-Bom Lee (Carlile, NSW), Thomas Nowakowski (Somerset, QLD), Sam Short (Rackley Swim Team, QLD), Brendon Smith (Griffith University, QLD), Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD), Matt Temple (Marion, SA), Matt Wilson (SOPAC, VIC), Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western, QLD), William Yang (Loreto Normanhurst, NSW).

Women:  Abbey Connor (Revesby Workers, NSW), Elizabeth Dekkers (Newmarket Racers, QLD), Jenna Forrester (St Peters Western, QLD), Abbey Harkin (St Peters Western, QLD), Meg Harris (Marion, SA), Moesha Johnson (Griffith University, QLD, Chelsea Hodges (Southport, QLD), Shayna Jack (St Peters Western, QLD), Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University, QLD), Kiah Melverton (St Peters Western, QLD), Leah Neale (Chandler, QLD), Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, QLD), Lani Pallister (Griffith University, QLD), Ella Ramsay (St Peters Western, QLD), Jenna Strauch (Miami, QLD), Brianna Throssell (USC Spartans, QLD), Madi Wilson (Marion, SA).

Head Coach: Rohan Taylor

Coaches: Peter Bishop (Marion, SA), Michael Bohl (Griffith University, QLD), Dean Boxall St Peters Western, QLD), Vince Raleigh (Chandler, QLD), Ashley Callus (Somerset, QLD), Adam Kable (SOPAC, NSW), Richard Scarce (Miami, QLD).

Staff: Jess Corones, Kieran Marsh, Tim Rawlins, Tamara Sheppard, Mel Tantrum, Kirsty West, Clare Burns, , Cat Croghan, Terry Downes, Luke Eggleston, Katherine Grellman, Ivan Hooper, Deb Jones, Dean Sullivan.

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