Day 1 Finals Wrap 2025 Australian Open Championships

WELCOME to Aussiewood!

A boulevard of hopeful LA-bound stars hit the water at Brisbane Aquatic Centre on the opening night of the Australian Open Swimming Championships with the competition pool glittering with big name talent.

McEvoy, C.

Cooper, I.

Temple. M.

Ambruster, B.

And that was just the men’s 50m butterfly final.

Throw in Italian Olympic backstroke gold medallist Thomas Ceccon, a red-hot Mollie O’Callaghan, Paralympians Col Pearse and Tim Hodge, rising star Hayley Mackinder and the $20 entry ticket was the best value blockbuster entertainment in town.

This meet is not the selection meet for the 2025 World Championships to be held in Singapore later this year and most athletes were expected to use the four-day competition as a tune up for the World Trials in June.

But you can’t stop excellence.

Men’s 50m Butterfly Final:
Cam McEvoy secret sauce training program continues to deliver outstanding results. Back in the water just weeks ago, McEvoy’s heat swim of 23.09 was just 0.02 off a PB and backed it up with a 23.18 in the final.

After heats, the early money was on 2023 50m fly World Champion Ceccon for the final but the re-energised Italian withdrew from the race to concentrate on the 200m backstroke.

With only clear water in front of him, McEvoy touched first with Isaac Cooper second (23.63) and Matthew Temple third (23.76).

“I’m trying a new approach again this season, similar but just done in a different way. I only got back in the water three weeks ago, after just doing gym work for a long time,” McEvoy said.

“Today was the third time I’ve swum a 50m since Paris. So … it feels weird being back, despite almost doing a PB this morning. This is the first 50m butterfly I’ve done since finding out it was going to be on the Olympics program and it’s crazy because all of sudden, pure 50m specialist training is in hot demand.”

Women’s 200m Individual Medley:
How to beat the post Olympic blues? With a change of club and your first national title.

Ramsay, 20, threw down a 2:10.05 in her first hit out under new coach Mel Marshall to win gold with Tara Kinder winning silver (2:11.29) and Isabella Boyd third (2:13.13).

Defending titleholder Kaylee McKeown, and five-time Olympic gold medallist, had scorched a 2:08.58 in her heat to be the fastest qualifier but then scratched for the final leaving the door open for fellow Dolphin Ramsay, Tara Kinder and Isabella Boyd.

For McKeown, who had snatched bronze in this event in Paris thanks to a dramatic DQ after USA’s Alex Walsh, it was her first IM since the Games but by her own admission, is not at her fittest at this meet.

Ramsay said: “I’m loving training with Mel (Marshall) and … that swim was pretty good, It would’ve been nice to dip under the 2:10 minute mark but I can’t ask for much more at this point in the season.”

“Having my Olympic Games cut short due to COVID I was questioning a lot of things like whether I actually wanted to stay in the sport or whether I had more to give. But I knew I had a really good training camp leading into the Olympics, so I knew I still had a lot more to give and I just needed to get the preparations right and not get sick. And I couldn’t be happier.”

Men’s 100m Breaststroke:
Olympian and 50m world champion Sam Williamson led from the 20m mark to hit the wall in 1:00.46 but the 27-year-old was almost mowed down by a fast-finishing Bailey Lello (1:00.66) with Josh Yong third (1:01.15).

Williamson said: “This event was all about coming in and practicing the process. I’m still carrying a lot of fatigue from all the training we’ve been doing. Before we know it, it’s Trials and that’s when everything matters.”

“(But) The 50m breaststroke being added to the LA Olympic swimming program has given me a burst of excitement that I didn’t realise was there. The 100m had always been my focus but just knowing that the 50m is there, which is something that I’ve been relatively good at in the past, is an opportunity for me in the next three years to step up.

“And it’s really exciting to see that we’ve got young guns like Bailey Lello, Josh Collette and Haig Buckingham starting to step up and push us older guys along, reminding us that we can’t get complacent.”

Men’s 200m Backstroke:
Re-energised Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon – a gold medallist in the 100m backstroke in Paris – has added some European flair to the four-day meet and tonight claimed the 200m back (1:55.71) ahead of Josh Edwards-Smith (1:58.23) and Kane Follows (NZ, 1:58.96).

Ceccon is currently training with Dean Boxall and is using this meet to qualify for the World Championships after receiving permission to compete here instead of last week’s Italian National Championships.

“We will see what happens for the 100m but I am feeling refreshed. It’s completely different training here, because at home I train alone or maximum with three people … basically all my career. So I enjoy the group here, like with 20 people, it is a family,” he said.

“And on the weekend, I can take the car for a surf at the Gold Coast.”

Women’s 100m Freestyle:
In the women’s 100m free, it was go-go-go Mollie O.

O’Callaghan led from start to finish and was the only swimmer to go sub 54 – stopping the clock at 53.12 with Meg Harris (54.03) second and Alex Perkins (54.21) third.

The 21-year-old was relaxed post race after a “testing” few months in which she admitted she had struggled with knee problems that had flared after returning to the pool.

For Perkins, tonight’s result continued her strong form from December Budapest World Short Course. Still working her way back from her time in the jungle, Olympic champion Shayna Jack touched in fifth (54.56).

Honourable mention goes to Bond University’s up-and-comer Hannah Casey. The 18-year-old posted an impressive time of 54.52 to finish fourth.

Men’s 50m Butterfly Multi-Class:
Victorian country boy Col Pearse is no stranger to adversity. The dual Paralympian had his right foot amputated after an accident when he was two years old and since then has worked his way up the Paralympic podium winning bronze in Tokyo and silver in Paris.

In the men’s 50m butterfly multi-class final, S10 swimmer Pearse placed second overall.

“I was hoping for a slightly faster time in the finals but we’ll go back to the drawing board and see what we did technically correct in that race and determine where we can work on,” Pearse said.

“There’s no such thing as a perfect swim. I believe that every time you race you’re always trying to look for bits that went wrong in the race, never really what went right. So it’s good to have that healthy mix.

“I’m resting tomorrow ahead of the 100m butterfly on day three and 200m IM on day four. It will be nice to have a small reset in the middle of the competition to refocus on my races to come.”

Albany Creek’s Dylan Logan (S15) won gold in the men’s 50m butterfly multi-class and Paris Paralympic bronze medallist Lewis Bishop (Rackley, S9) won bronze.

In other events:

Paris silver medallist Elijah Winnington followed his purpose and defended his national title in the men’s 400m freestyle with 3:45.97.

Sticking with him until the end was St Peters Western teammate Ben Goedemans (3:47.03) who only made his Junior Australian Team debut in 2022 at Junior Pan Pacific Championships. Placing third was SOPAC’s Matt Galea with a time of 3:51.42.

> Heats start 10am.
> Finals from 6pm AEST.
Full results here: https://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2025Opens/ 

Pictured: Cam McEvoy & Isaac Cooper