Chalmers sets sights for fly gold; Lani puts on a clinic

AUSTRALIA, get set for Lani Pallister to be crowned Princess of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games’ pool.
Pallister went from sublime on the opening night of finals to supreme as she added another gold to her Australian Open form – adding the 400m free to her 800m golden haul at Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.
The 23-year-old crushed an international field to win in an astonishing 3:59.36 – her second fastest time ever in a field which included New Zealand’s first ever swimming world champion in the 400m Erika Fairweather (4:02.09).
Brazil’s Maria Costa (4:03.41) touched third.
But it was King Kyle who had the crowd on its feet early.
Chalmers, buoyed with the introduction of form strokes to the LA Games, shocked the crowd and himself when he went within 4/100ths of a national record set almost 16 years ago.
The 27-year-old clocked 22.77 and said the one thing that excites him in swimming is doing a personal best time after 11 years on the Australian Dolphins team.
“It’s about swimming PBs and the 50m butterfly is the event that I first medalled in, back in 2014 and so to have this event in the 2032 Olympics is exciting,” Chalmers said, adding the 50m fly win to his gold medal in last night’s 100m freestyle.
“I think I have a body that is best suited to butterfly so to turn the clock back to when I first started is amazing. I am really looking forward to it.
“Any PB is a good PB and to do it in a stroke that I really loved swimming as a junior is kind of special – I have actually been working a lot on my butterfly and it may be on the cards for LA28. But there’s a lot of work to do first.”
Chalmers still holds four national age records in the butterfly and was in flying form as he claimed an all-comers  record.
Ben Armbruster finished second (23.46) with Isaac Cooper (23.57) third.

In other results:

• An unwell world champion Meg Harris was a late withdrawal from the women’s 50m free and in her absence,  Shayna Jack clocked 24.60 to win ahead of Olivia Wunsch ( 24.84) and Mollie O’Callaghan (24.89).
• Kaylee McKeown cruised to victory in the women’s 100m backstroke clocking 58.06, great mate O’Callighan next best in 58.98 and Hannah Fredericks third (1:00.19).
• Rowan Crothers (S10), fresh from an altitude training camp in the US with Sam Short and the Rackley squad, won gold in 51.18 in the men’s 100m free MC. A resurgent Alex Tuckfield (S10), took silver with Callum Simpson third (59.36).
• Tara Kinder (2:24.19) defended her 200m breaststroke crown in a scintillating display of dominance. Ella Ramsay (2:26.81) set the pace early but was mowed down by teen sensation Sienna Toohey (2:26.43) who bolted home from in lane 2.

See Aus Open full results: here