Trials Night 3 Preview: It's all on the line

SHE might be the 50m world champion but Meg Harris (pictured) has revealed the women’s 100m free is the one she has been training for.

Harris, 24, had the fastest split in the field on both 50s to lead home Olympic silver medallist Mollie O’Callaghan – Harris clocking 52.71 to O’Callaghan’s 52.90.

The excellence of Australia’s 100m stocks have been vividly on display in relays over the past decade and tonight’s final will feature three of four that won gold in the women’s 4x100m free relay in Paris – Harris, O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack.

Also lining up will be Olivia Wunsch, who swum the heat in Paris, and World Junior gold medallist Milla Jansen.

Throw in versatile butterflyer Alex Perkins, Hannah Casey and Chloe Rowe-Hagans and that is one red-hot final. Lani Pallister took 9th, just one spot out of the final, with her lifetime best 54.44.

Harris said: “I’m really happy with how I executed the heat swim this morning.”

“I put it together properly … which isn’t something that I can say for the 200m so happy with that and hopefully I can work on it tonight.

“Tonight’s 100m free is going to be something special. This is the one I have been training for. There’s a lot of good girls coming through, so hopefully we can put on a show.”

In other finals tonight:
>It’s all on the line in the men’s 200m breaststroke tonight with all finalists, including Tokyo Olympic champion and Australian record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook, yet to firm their selection for Glasgow.

Stubblety-Cook’s final chance for selection is tonight, however, fastest through was St Peters Western’s Bailey Lello who is gunning to make his Dolphins debut. Lello has a second to shave off his heat swim (2:10.61) to hit the qualifying time of 2:09.32. Stubblety-Cook was next fastest at 2:11.73, followed by Paris Olympian Josh Yong (2:13.48) from Highlanders.

> Bendigo’s 17-year-old Henry Allan is already under consideration for the relay after he claimed the men’s 100m backstroke in 53.52 but tonight is his chance to make his selection a lock-in in the 200m backstroke.

> In the women’s 200m breaststroke, Ella Ramsay went out hard and qualified fastest. Her time of 2:25.00 over two seconds faster than Melbourne Vicentre’s Tara Kinder (2:27.13). Teen sensation Sienna Toohey, who dropped a massive PB to win the 100m breaststroke, snuck into tonight’s final as seventh fastest (2:31.37).

> Back-to-back Paralympic champion Ben Hance, S14, cruised to wall in the 100m backstroke multi-class heats and with a simple nod acknowledged his 59.06 that secured him a ticket to California.

Unlike their able-bodied counterparts, internationally classified multi-class athletes can qualify in the heats. Birmingham 2022 champion Tim Hodge, S9, and triple Paralympian Jesse Aungles, S8, also qualified for Para Pan Pacs in their respective classifications this morning. Knox Pymble’s Declan Budd, S14, and Liam Togher, S9, came close to their QT and will get another shot in tonight’s final.