Australian Swimming Trials - Day 4 Heats Wrap

LIZZY Dekkers is in da house.

Lining up in her signature event, the 21-year-old executed a perfect race plan to cruise to a 2:08.70 in the women’s 200m butterfly – a perfect aperitif to tonight’s finals.

Dekkers admitted she was curious as to what she will clock tonight and will be under threat from fellow Paris Olympian Abbey Connor (2:09.01), as well as Bella Grant (2:09.85) and Brittany Castelluzzo (2:10.86). But Queenslander Dekkers simply just loves to race.

The greatest triumph of her career so far came at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where she ended a 14-year drought for Australia.

She looked like a solid bronze medal contender in the 200m fly, with American Regan Smith and Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh in superlative form early in the meet. In the final, Smith and McIntosh took the race out quickly, with Lizzy fifth at the halfway mark.

But she pulled off a truly spectacular back half, overtaking Smith and grabbing silver behind McIntosh in a time of 2:05.46.

She became the first Australian to win a medal in 200m butterfly at the world championships since Jessicah Schipper won gold at Rome in 2009.

And tonight, she heads into the final having already gone under qualifying time.

The friendly 6ft 7′ giant Jake Michel (S14) is officially Singapore bound for his efforts in men’s 100m breaststroke multi class heat on the back of a national record this morning. The Brisbane swimmer clocked 1:04.11 breaking his old mark of 1:04.28.

The Paris silver medallist joined fellow Dolphins Lex Leary (S9), Rowan Crothers (S10), Tom Gallagher (S10), Callum Simpson (S8) and Alex Tuckfield (S10) who all doubled down on their Singapore program in their respective 100m freestyle events.

Triple Paralympian Rachael Watson (S3) and Paris relay silver medallist Chloe Osborn (S7) rounded off this morning’s qualifications alongside the limitless Leary, who puts the women’s 100m freestyle multi class race on world record watch every time she dives in.

Women’s 200m Backstroke:
The treble is looming for world record holder Kaylee McKeown who has already claimed the 50m and the 100m backstroke at this meet. A business like 2:10.92 saw McKeown qualify fastest for tonight’s final with Hannah Fredericks (2:13.25) second fastest. Put a highlighter on the name Fredericks. Mollie O’Callaghan may have qualified for the second backstroke spot in the 50m and 100m but given her freestyle program, Fredericks could be in the frame for a senior Dolphins debut.

Men’s 100m Freestyle:
Zac Incerti exploded off the blocks and led at the first turn before Kyle Chalmers swam over the top of the two-time Olympian. Chalmers touched in 48.26, Incerti (48.46) and a tie for third place saw Max Giuliani and Flynn Southam (48.55) touch together. Four into two won’t work at the selection table and for Giuliani and Southam it is last chance saloon for an individual spot.

Incerti couldn’t match the change in gears from Chalmers, and rounding out the field tonight is Kai Taylor, Edward Sommerville, Harrison Turner and Jamie Jack.

Men’s 200 IM: 
David Schlicht is gunning for his first long course Australian senior team and the men’s 200 IM final tonight could just be the ticket. Schlicht, who trained under Bob Bowman, the legendary coach of Michael Phelps and now Leon Marchand, at Arizona State University, qualified second (2:00.29) behind Nunawading’s Will Petric (1:59.54). But don’t rule out hot-off-the-block Gabriel Gorgas from Manly (2:00.97) and dual Olympian Brendon Smith (2:01.78).

Breakout: Maddy’s Moment?

A change of scenery could very well be the change of fortune that distance swimmer Maddy Gough needs to pack her bags for Singapore.

The 26-year-old will line up for the 800m freestyle tonight in a bid to earn pool selection for the World Championships after missing out on the open water team selected in January.

Lani Pallister, Jamie Perkins and Tiana Kritzinger will stand in the way of clear water but after moving from the East Coast to Western Australia to train alongside open water Dolphin Kyle Lee at the Ian Mills-coached North Coast Swim Club, this is Maddy’s moment.

Gough was part of history when she contested the 1500m freestyle in Tokyo, the first time the event had been held at the Olympics for women. Having swum the third fastest time in history to qualify for the Olympic team, she went on to make the final before finishing eighth.

After standing alongside legends like American Katie Ledecky, Maddy has the experience to race smart but will need to lift her stroke rate and speed to match the pool specialists – especially Pallister who is in blistering form at this meet.

At last year’s World Aquatics Championship in Doha, Maddy competed in the 10km open water swim, 800m and 1500m free, but Maddy is fresh and relaxed and coming off the back of an altitude camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.