Aussie Champs Done & Dusted
The Gold Coast played host to Australia’s top swimmers from April 17-20 at the Australian Swimming Championships. For swimmers focusing on World Championship Trials in June, the meet was a chance to hone their race skills without a taper. While for others, this was their chance to qualify for various teams including the Australia A team and the IPC World Championship team, which F-Teamer Jack Ireland secured selection for. Ben Armbruster was a standout performer with 3 incredible swims to announce himself as a future speed machine for Australia. Check out our summary below, including comments from our F-Teamers on their performances.
Ben Armbruster
Event: 50m butterfly
Time: 23.05
Place: 1
Event: 50m backstroke
Time: 25.27
Place: 1
Event: 100m butterfly
Time: 51.96
Place: 2
Event: 50m freestyle
Time: 22.37
Place: 4
Ben had a massive Aussie Champs, achieving personal bests and breaking records. In the 50m butterfly, he was thrilled to have set a huge PB and to have secured the Australian all-comers record, placing him as the second-fastest Australian of all time behind Matt Targett’s 22.73 which was set in 2009 during the supersuit era. The all-comers record had stood since 2009 as well, set by Geoff Huegill in a time of 23.11, another supersuit time broken. Beating out Kyle Chalmers and Cam McEvoy, the win was even more special after Ben was disqualified in the heats but was re-instated into the final. He also won the 50m backstroke, with another personal best time during the heats. Of his 100m fly and 50m free, placing second and fourth, Ben simply said his performances were ‘not too bad.’ Overall, Ben said it was the strongest that he has ever felt and was setting him up for the Olympic trials next year. He will be competing in the Uni Nationals in Sydney in May, so watch out for more from this speed demon.
Brendon Smith
Event: 400m individual medley
Time: 4:16.37
Place: 1
Event: 200m individual medley
Time: 2:03.52
Place: 6
Event: 400m freestyle
Time: 3:56.82
Place: 10
Event: 200m freestyle
Time: 1:54.04
Place: 41
Event: 200m breaststroke
Time: 2:25.74
Place: 9th in B-Final
Australian Record Holder and Olympic Games bronze medalist, Smith showed all class in the Men’s 400 IM at the Australian Championships. In a battle with fellow Olympian Se-Bom Lee, F-Teamer Smith clocked 4:16.37 to edge out Lee (4:16.73) on the back of a blistering last lap (27.94). Smith showed his versatility, also placing 6th in a strong 200m individual medley field, and swam the 400m freestyle final in a contested field.
Isaac Cooper
Event: 50m butterfly
Time: 24.09
Place: 7
Event: 50m freestyle
Time: 22.83
Place: 2nd in Age Final
Event: 100m freestyle
Time: 50.96
Place: 31
Backstroke superstar Isaac Cooper elected not to contest the backstroke events on the Gold Coast, however displayed some versatile sprint form in the freestyle and butterfly events. With under 2 months until the Trials for the 2023 World Championships, Cooper swam his way to 7th in the 50m butterfly and was in the thick of a hot field in the men’s 50m freestyle.
Cameron Jordan
Event: 100m breaststroke
Time: 1:01.95
Place: 8
Event: 200m breaststroke
Time: 2:22.48
Place: 22
Event: 50m breaststroke
Time: 28.45
Place: 7
Cameron raced in the 100m, 200m and 50m breaststroke. Despite having only a drop taper, Cameron was happy with his performances, stating that he was quite happy with his body condition this time of year and was happy to have made his first National long course A Final. Although his 200m breaststroke race wasn't his best, he was happy with some of the technical aspects of the race. Cameron's goal was to swim near his personal bests, and he achieved this in preparation for the Australian Trials where he feels confident that he can swim faster there. In the meantime, he is set to compete at University Nationals and Sydney Opens in May.
Max Giuliani
Event: 200m freestyle
Time: 1:48.8
Place: 6
Max competed in the 200m freestyle smashing out a 1:48.8 and placing 6th overall. Although Max wasn't entirely satisfied with his performance, calling it ‘not a bad in season swim’, he viewed it as a learning experience and saw room for improvement stating, ‘I definitely have heaps to improve and look forward to a big drop at trials when I’m tapered and rested’. Max went into the meet without rest, as it was part of their training process at Miami. He had no specific goals for the meet but aimed to gain more racing experience. Max's next stop will be a training camp in Townsville in May, with Trials following in June.
James McKechnie
Event: 100m breaststroke
Time: 1.03.3
Place: 17
Event: 50m breaststroke
Time: 29.0
Place: 10
Event: 200m individual medley
Time: 2.05.2
Place: 13
James felt the back half of his 100m breaststroke was good, but he struggled to find speed early. When we spoke to James, he provided honest feedback that he felt very average during the meet, but he was still putting his mind and energy into accomplishing small goals during his races, helping him prepare for Trials in June. He will be competing at the Sydney International and attending a training camp in Darwin so we hope he can get back to finding form in time for June.
Elliot Weber
Event: 100m breaststroke
Time: 01:03.09
Place: 13
Event: 200m individual medley
Time: 2:05.41
Place: 12
Event: 50m breaststroke
Time: 29.69
Place: 16
Elliot was very happy with his performance as he managed a 1 second PB in the 100 Breast and placed 3rd in the Age Group Final. In the 200IM, Elliot was really pleased that, although he didn't PB, he got back to the time he set 2 years ago as he hasn't been able to get there recently. He feels that he's back on track and on the right path again. Although he felt happy competing he feels he could do better based on the training he had completed. He was rested and tapered going into the meet, however there were setbacks with injuries in the prep. His goals were to do pbs and make all the finals. Given he made 5 out of 6 Age Group Finals which was better than last year where I only made 1 Age group Final, Elliot came away happy with his performance.
It's back into hard training for our F-Teamers as they prepare for Fukuoka World Championships Trials from June 13-18 and we wish Jack Ireland all the best at the Para World Championships to be held in Manchester from July 31 – August 6.