SWIMMING SPECIAL EDITION IN AUSTRALIA PREVIEW PRESSURE SITUATIONS - NO WORRIES! An ultralight, low resistance racing goggle, the Stealth MKII features extended arms and a 3D seal to relieve pressure on and around the eyes. Stealth MKII Immerse yourself in Vorgee’s full product range at vorgee.com © Delly Carr Swimming Australia Trials, tribulations and testing times for Tokyo as our swimmers face their moments of truth in Adelaide ASCTA engaged swimming media expert Ian Hanson to profile a selection of athletes that will line up in Adelaide from June 12-17 for the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, after a frantic and frenetic time where Selection Criteria has changed with the inclusion of contingencies and recent lockdowns, forcing WA and Victorian Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls into Queensland. It will be a testing Trials in more ways than one - for swimmers, coaches and event staff as they work round the clock to give the class of 2020-21 a crack at their Olympic and Paralympic dreams. Here Ian Hanson provides his insight into the events that will seal the Tokyo team for the Games. Please enjoy and we wish the best of luck to all coaches and athletes at the Australian Swimming Trials. WOMEN 2021 © Delly Carr Swimming Australia WOMEN 50m Freestyle WORLD RECORD: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 23.67 (2017) AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Cate Campbell, 23.78 (2018) Olympic QT: 24.46 Preview: An event shared at Australian Championship level by the Campbell sisters from Knox Pymble (Coach: Simon Cusack) since Cate Campbell won her first Australian title in 2012 - the first of her seven National championship wins. The only other current swimmer to etch their name into the list is her sister Bronte Campbell in 2015 and 2017. Cate started her Olympic career in Beijing 2008 earning a bronze in the event, that was first swum in Seoul in 1988, and she has since finished 13th and fifth respectively in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. Cate could well finish her stellar career in Tokyo in this very event at her fourth Games. She had been the co-world rankings leader for 2021 along with long time rival, Ranomi Kromowidjojo in 24.11 until the Dutchwoman won the European Championships in 23.97. If 2015 World Champion Bronte wants to join her big sister again in 2021 then she will have to deal with Emma McKeon (Griffith University, Coach: Michael Bohl) who sits third on the world rankings on 24.17. Others to watch include Holly Barratt (UWA West Coach, Coach: Will Scott), and Madi Wilson (Marion, Coach: Peter Bishop). It will be an upset if anyone else breaks into this trifecta. Did You Know? Before Cate Campbell’s Beijing bronze the only other Australian Olympic medallist was Libby Trickett with bronze in Athens in 2004 and the only other finalist has been Karin Van Wirdum in the inaugural Olympic final in Seoul in 1988, who was eighth. 100m Freestyle WORLD RECORD: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 51.71 (2017) AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Cate Campbell, 52.03 (2018) Olympic QT: 53.31 Preview: Seven-time National champion and former world record holder Cate Campbell (Knox Pymble, Coach: Simon Cusack) went into this year’s Australian Championship final unbeaten since 2013 and came out second to the ever present Emma McKeon (Griffith Uni, Coach: Michael Bohl) who has a best time of 52.41, which places her in the top 25 all time. On current 2021 world rankings it’s Campbell (52.43 swum in her heat at the 2021 Australian Champs) from McKeon on top (with her winning Aust Champs time of 52.46) and the constantly improving Madi Wilson (Marion, Coach: Peter Bishop) 6th on 53.40, Bronte Campbell 11th on 53.62, and enter the 16-year-old “X-Factor” Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall). “Mollie O” lowered Cate AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS Campbell’s QLD All-Comers 16 years 100m Freestyle record of 54.69 to 54.65 in her age group heats of the 2020 QLD State Open Championships – a record that had lasted 12 years – before lowering it again in the final to 54.25 that night. Then to a staggering 53.93 to finish second to Emma McKeon (52.46) the following night in a sizzling open final and she has since bettered that to 53.78 at the Australian Championships – certainly the up-and-comer to watch. Apart from the top two spots for the individual places it will be a red hot go to be part of the defending Olympic gold medal winning relay team. Did You Know? Cate Campbell has recorded a remarkable 13 of the fastest 25 times ever swum (more than half!) And four of the top 10 times – led by her Australian record of 52.03 set at the 2018 Pan Pacs in Tokyo. The next fastest Australian is sister Bronte Campbell the 2015 World Champion and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist who has recorded the equal 11th fastest time – with her 52.27 which won that gold on the Gold Coast. 2021 WOMEN 200m Freestyle WORLD RECORD: Federica Pellegrini, Italy, 1:52.98 (2009) AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ariarne Titmus,1:54.27 (2019) Olympic QT: 1:56.82 Preview: Led by three-time Australian Championship winner and 2019 World Championship silver medallist Ariarne Titmus (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall) and four-time winner and Rio bronze medallist Emma McKeon (Griffith University, Coach:Michael Bohl) will top the bill here – in the race for individual places and to be part of the 4x200m Freestyle relay team that won the 2019 World Championship in world record breaking time. Throw those relay girls Madi Wilson (Marion, Coach: Peter Bishop) and Brianna Throssell (UWA West Coast) and heat swimmers Leah Neale (Chandler, Coach: Vince Raleigh), Kia Melverton (TSS Aquatics, Coach: Chris Nesbit), Carla Buchanan (Rackley, Coach: Shaun Crow) and Mikkayla Sheridan (USC Spartans, Coach: Chris Mooney) the Pan Pac (2018) 4x200m freestyle gold medallist. Then there are young guns Lani Pallister (Griffith University, Coaches: Michael Bohl/Janelle Pallister), Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, Coach: Dean Boxall) and Backstroke’s new wonder girl Kaylee McKeown (USC Spartans, Coach: Chris Mooney) and it will be a race for the ages. Did You Know? Australia has won this event (first swum in 1968 in Mexico City) twice at the Olympic Games – the first time in 1972 in Munich by Shane Gould and the next in 2000 by Susie O’Neill. Gould, at 16, set a new world record of 2:03.56 to beat the previous record holder Shirley Babashoff, taking almost two seconds off her previous time. Twenty-eight years later, with Gould watching on in the grandstand, O’Neill repeated the feat in 1:58.24. 400m Freestyle WORLD RECORD: Katie Ledecky, USA, 3:56.46 (2016) AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ariarne Titmus, 3:58.76 (2019) Olympic QT: 4:07.10 Preview: The Australian Championships on the Gold Coast in April saw world champion Ariarne Titmus make her return to win the event (4:01.34 – second in the world in 2021) she also won at the 2019 World Championships. She had spent four months re-habbing from a shoulder injury that flared during the 2020 QLD State Championships. At the World Championships in Gwangju, Titmus recorded Australia’s only individual win in a new Commonwealth, Oceania and Australian record time of 3:58.76. Her winning time on the Gold Coast of 4:01.34 already ranks her second to USA AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS super swimmer Katie Ledecky (3:59.25). World junior champion Lani Pallister, Kiah Melverton, Maddy Gough, Leah Neale and the major contenders for the second individual spot. Melverton finished 5th in the 400m Gwangju final in 4:09.64; Did You Know? That the first Australian to win Olympic gold in the 400m Freestyle, Lorraine Crapp, was also the first woman in history to break five minutes for 400m freestyle –clocking 4:50.8 in the lead up to the Games. Crapp clocked 4:54.6, a new Olympic record in Melbourne to beat Dawn Fraser with third Aussie Sandra Morgan in sixth. The trio would later combine with Faith Leech to win gold in the 4x100m Freestyle relay. 2021 800m Freestyle WOMEN WORLD RECORD: Katie Ledecky, USA, 8:04.79 (2016) AUSTRALIAN RECORD: Ariarne Titmus, 8:15.70 (2019) AUST ALL-COMERS: Katie Ledecky, USA, 8:11.35 (2014) Olympic QT: 8:29.70 Preview: Ariarne Titmus is the 7th fastest swimmer in history over 800m freestyle with her 8:15.70 to win silver at the World Champs in 2019. A four-time Australian champion and three- time winner of the coveted 200, 400 and 800m National Championship treble. In what will be a competitive battle for the podium, Kiah Melverton, Lani Pallister, Maddy Gough, Kareena Lee, Moesha Johnson and Phoebe Hines provide the best depth in women’s distance in recent times. Melverton is the 25th all time fastest swimmer on 8:22.24 – the time she swam at the 2019 Tokyo World Cup – making her the third fastest all-time Australian. Pallister, the reigning World Junior Champion from Budapest in 2019 with her personal best of 8:22.49 – makes her the fourth fastest all-time Australian, while Gough showed she will be more than ready with her personal best of 8:24.17 at the Sydney Open to stay in touch with Titmus, Melverton and Pallister. Johnson (TSS Aquatic) and Hines (USC Spartans) also clocking personal bests in Sydney with 8:29.17 and 8:31.27 respectively.