Day 6 Finals: The penultimate night of Aus Age Champs

THREE national records, numerous PBs and one pool brimming with prodigious talent.

On the penultimate night of the Australian Age Championships in the open air of the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre it was almost impossible not to dream of Brisbane 2032.

In another night of stellar racing, Australia’s budding swimmers Henry Allan, Lilla Ribot-De-Bresac, Lucy Ma and Molly Young dominated.

For some, it was their first step up to the national stage, for others an opportunity to be considered for selection for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Canada later this year.

In short:

• Backstroke sensation Henry Allan snatched another national record from Olympian Isaac Cooper;
• One of the most famous names in rugby league history hit the water;
• And Lucy Ma and Molly Young both claimed their seventh gold medal.

National youth coach Simon Cusack had flagged the 16 years’ 100m breaststroke as compulsory viewing and Lilla Ribot-De-Bresac delivered with a classy 1:08.02.

Ribot-De-Bresac, the granddaughter of former Brisbane Broncos CEO John Ribot, architect of the Melbourne Storm and a member of the 1982 “Invincibles” Kangaroo squad, won gold to claim the breaststroke triple.

And by doing so almost certainly cemented her place in the Junior Dolphins team to compete in Vancouver.

The Newmarket Racers swimmer, of which there are only 13 at this meet, said: “I started at Newmarket when I was about eight and Lizzy Dekkers was training there,” she said.

“And they she went on to swim in Paris and that’s pretty cool to think we shared the same pool.”

Speaking of cool, a calm and collected Leny Grigor (pictured) cashed in on his underwater proficiency and timed his 200IM to perfection to claim his second national record of the meet.

A hush fell over the crowd as Grigor shared the blocks with Lukas Dunn, Christopher Montana and Lincoln Wearing but it was Grigor (2:00.53) that touch first ahead of Dunn (2:01.30) who also went under the old mark of 2:02.17. Montana held on for bronze (2:03.39).

For Grigor it was his second monster swim of the week after shattering the 16y boys’ 400m IM national age record set in 2010 by Dolphin Mitch Larkin.

From the old mark of 4:20.48 to 4:16.15, Grigor has been on fire this week and showing the benefits of the specialist coaching from the likes of master coach Leigh Nugent.

SNAPSHOT:

SEVENTH HEAVEN:
Ma (MLC Aquatic) and Young (Carlile) both claimed a sensational seventh national title tonight in their respective age groups.

For Ma, she her seventh gold was awarded after her performance in the 14-year girls’ 200m breaststroke. Ma finished in 2:33.25, almost five seconds ahead of the field. Zoe Durbridge (Norwest – 2:37.74) claimed silver just ahead of Tess Izard (Yarra Plenty – 2:38.45) in third.

Young picked up her seventh in the 13-year girls’ 800m freestyle with another dominating display. Young stopped the clock at 8:55.83, well ahead of her Carlile clubmate Mia Hoo (9:11.41) and St Peters’ Sienna Teevan (9:25.98)

BACKWARDS TO MOVE FORWARDS

After smashing out an all-comers record of 24.89 in the heats, Henry Allan (24.51) doubled down and took Isaac Cooper’s Australian age record (24.59). New Zealand’s Bruce Shen was second to wall (26.21), followed by Thomas Garbanzo (Brisbane Grammar – 26.28) and Jett Burke (Maclean – 26.63).

Allan opened up the championships with a national age record in the boys’ 17/18yr 200m backstroke heat of 1:57.56 where he smashed Mitch Larkin’s old mark of 1:59.09 from 2011. Later that day in the finals, he went even quicker and broke USA Olympian Aaron Peirsol’s all-comers record (1:57.35) that stood for almost 26 years.

STROKING THE FIRE:

Quinn Richards underlined his name again for selectors with a second national record this meet. Richards lowered the 14-year boys’ 50m breaststroke national age record of 29.52 (held by Koa Stotz) to his 29.28. Noah Ellison placed second (29.83) with visitor Zavier Tay third (29.91). Earlier this meet, Richards became the first 14-year-old Australian to break 1:04 in the 100m breaststroke, clocking 1:03.65 to break Koa Stotz’s old mark (1:04.21).