Commonwealth Games, Day Six Finals: Brittany Castelluzzo Goes Wire-to-Wire in the 200 Fly
Lizzy Dekkers of Australia was a huge favorite coming into the women’s 200 fly, but in the end, it was all Brittany Castelluzzo, her Australian teammate. Castelluzzo swam to a time of 2:06.56, a lifetime best. After coming ninth at the World Championships last year and fourth in the 100 fly earlier this meet, Castelluzzo finally got her moment.
It was a tight race the whole way. Castelluzzo and Keanna MacInnes of Scotland were within half a second of each other at every mark. They were within three hundredths at the 100-meter mark, with Castelluzzo 0.03 ahead. Castelluzzo pulled away slightly, but even in the end, the difference between first and third in this race was less than four tenths.
The time of 2:06.56 for Castelluzzo keeps her ranked fifth in the world this year. Her new best time does move her up in the all-time Australian rankings, where she now ranks ninth.
MacInnes also swam a new best time. Her 2:06.76 moves her up to sixth in the world rankings this year. MacInnes finished second in the 100 fly earlier in the meet and used her speed to her advantage.
Dekkers, the defending champion in this event, had a disappointing result. With a best time of 2:04.95, good for second in the world this year, expectations were high coming in. Dekkers’ best time was well ahead of anyone else in the field. She started the race going out much slower than she did in her best time. Her split of 1:00.9 was almost a second slower than the split from her best time. Dekkers likes to have a strong back half; she had the fastest back half of the field, but she was too far back to catch up in the end.
