Day 1 Finals: Aus Open - Relay riches on display

A RELAXED Mollie O’Callaghan (pictured) took out the women’s 100m freestyle final of the Australian Open tonight in a solid time of 52.66 seconds at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.

The two-time world champion in this event took the Easter chocolates ahead of Meg Harris (53.36) with Olivia Wunsch (53.58) third and Shayna Jack (53.92) fourth.

Early analysis of tonight’s results reveal that the Dolphins most bankable gold medal is in great hands.

Australia’s women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team has been nothing short of extraordinary in recent years – they have not lost an international final since 2017.

“It’s just something that we take great pride in … even when we line up for the individual 100m free, we’re all super excited for each other if we do well because we know it’s a great thing for our relay,” O’Callaghan said.

It was a double dose of Special K that kick started the opening night of finals with Kyle Chalmers and Kaylee McKeown putting down a clarion call for selection ahead of the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships later this year.

Chalmers, the greatest 100m male freestyler to wear the Dolphins cap, stopped the clock at 48.39 to showcase his season remains on track ahead of his quest to defend the same event in Glasgow.

Flynn Southam (48.80) touched second with Kai Taylor third (48.94).

In other results: 

Women’s 200m Back: The world’s premier backstroker Kaylee McKeown, the best in the business, hit the wall in 2:05.66 with Hannah Fredericks (2:08.80) second and Jenna Forrester (2:10.74)  third.

Women’s 800m Free: Lani Pallister take a bow. The St Peters Western athlete has been nothing short of sensational in the past 12 months and tonight won the 800m free with a world-class 8:11.28 – third-fastest of all time.

Men’s 50m butterfly multi-class: Box office Benny Hance made it look too easy when he cruised past the field in the men’s 50m butterfly multi class and set the first world-best time of the meet. The 24-year-old S14 athlete trains under Ash Delany at St Andrew’s and set a VIRTUS world record of 24.17 in the morning heats of the men’s 50m butterfly multi class.(VIRTUS Games is an international competition for intellectually impaired athletes, this event is not a para swimming event).

Women’s 100m Breaststroke: Teen sensation Sienna Toohey started her Australian Open campaign with a gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke. Toohey, 17, touched in first at 1:06.69 and was closely followed by fellow Dolphins Ella Ramsay, 21, in second (1:07.12), and Tara Kinder, 22, third overall (1:07.76).

Multi-Class 400m Freestyle:  In the women’s 400m freestyle multi-class, Patterson won the gold ahead of Japanese visitor Ikuh Nakahigashi and Dolphin teammate Chloe Osborn. In the men’s field, Paris Paralympian Callum Simpson placed first, followed by Commonwealth Games 2022 athlete Harrison Vig and then four-time Paralympian Brenden Hall.