Aussie F-Teamers Take On Nationals

The Gold Coast played host to Australia’s top swimmers from April 17-20 at the Australian Swimming Championships. For swimmers focusing on World Championship Trials in June, the meet was a chance to hone their race skills without a taper. While for others, this was their chance to qualify for various teams including the Australia A team and the IPC World Championship team, which F-Teamer Lakeisha Patterson secured selection for. Check out our summary below, including comments from our F-Teamers on their performances.

Crystal Edwards

Event: 100m breaststroke
Time: 1:12.15
Place: 5 (Age Final)

Event: 50m breaststroke
Time: 32.54
Place: 2 (Age Final)

Crystal performed exceptionally well in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke. Despite not being tapered, Crystal swam a PB in the 100m, which she was very happy with, and the time set her up well for Trials in June. She was satisfied with her 50 time too. Crystal said hers main goal for the event was to get back into the swing of national racing and practice her race plans, which she achieved. Her next competition is the June trials.

Matilda Smith

Event: 50m breaststroke
Time: 32.36
Place: 8

Event: 100m breaststroke
Time: 1:09.12
Place: 5

Event: 200m breaststroke
Time: 2:27.26
Place: 5

Matilda’s time in the 50m breaststroke final was a little slower than her heat swim but she was happy to place 2nd for 18-19 year olds. In the 100m breaststroke, she was close to her PB and happy to win gold for 18-19 year olds. She believes she is on track for Trials, with a big block of training scheduled between now and June. Matilda’s next training camp is in Townsville at the start of May.

Tiana Kritzinger

Event: 800m freestyle
Time: 8:43.89
Place: 7

Despite not being tapered, Tiana told us that it was great to see where she was mid-training block and gain guidance for what to work on leading into Trials. She is also hoping to secure a spot on the World Juniors which will be competing in Israel in September.

Stefanie McCarthy

Event: 100m freestyle
Time: 56.83
Place: 5 (Age Final)

Event: 50m butterfly
Time: 27.61
Place: 5 (Age Final)

Event: 50m freestyle
Time: 26.10
Place: 3 (Age Final)

Event: 100m butterfly
Time: 1:01:32
Place: 2

Stefanie had a strong achieving PBs in every race. She felt that her training had been productive and was excited to test her abilities at the meet. Although she was not tapered, she felt happy with her performances and thought that she was on track for Trials.

Lucy Dring

Event: 200m individual medley
Time: 2:16.20
Place: 5

Event: 400m individual medley
Time: 4:48.59
Place: 5

Event: 200m freestyle
Time: 1:59.90
Place: 12

Lucy had a strong performance setting personal bests in both the 200m and 400m individual medleys. She expressed her satisfaction with these swims, noting that her freestyle leg was particularly strong. Despite not achieving her expected times, Lucy viewed the meet as a useful indicator of her progress leading up to Trials in Melbourne. Her goals for the next few months are to focus on improving her backstroke and breaststroke and to qualify for the Australian A team with the possibility of competing in America.

Izzy Vincent

Event: 100m breaststroke
Time: 2:17.80
Place: 15

Event: 100m backstroke
Time: 1:37.87
Place: 12

Event: 50m backstroke
Time: 45.42
Place: 5

Event: 100m freestyle
Time: 1:24.19
Place: 25

Despite recovering from surgery, Izzy was pleased with her performances, stating that she was very happy with her time in the 100m breaststroke, which was six seconds faster than her time at NSW States. In the 50m backstroke, Izzy was happy with her performance which improved on her previous time by around 5 seconds. For her overall performance, Izzy's goal was to swim at least one event and improve on her times from the previous meets this year, which she achieved.

Iona Anderson

Event: 100m backstroke
Time: 1:01.42
Place: 4

Event: 200m backstroke
Time: 2:17.07
Place: 8

Despite not being fully rested and dealing with recent illnesses and low iron levels, Iona was pleased with her performance given the circumstances. She aimed to go as close to her personal best time as possible and gain experience racing now that she is in opens. Additionally, she was hoping to secure a spot on the Junior World Championships team heading to Israel in September. Iona's next focus will be on Trials in June after receiving an iron infusion to get back on track.

Olivia Lefoe

Event: 100m backstroke
Time: 1:02:10
Place: 10

Event: 200m backstroke
Time: 2:13:43
Place: 5

Liv wasn't overly satisfied with her performance, stating that she has been training to go faster however she did not go into this event rested or tapered, as her focus is on the upcoming trials in June, where she hopes to make the Australian A team. However she is happy to have competed so that she can work on areas that didn't go as planned and will be traveling to Sydney in a few weeks to compete in the Sydney Open Invitational.

Abby Schoorl

Event: 100m freestyle
Time: 57.61
Place: 33

Unfortunately for Abby she had bronchitis prior to Champs and felt terrible racing. She ended up withdrawing from her other events to focus on recovering and will be back for Sydney Open and University Games before World Champs Trials.

Emily White

Event: 200m individual medley
Time: 2:20.6
Place: 14

Event: 400m indiviual medley
Time: 4:51
Place: 4

Although Emily was just off her PB in the 200IM, she was satisfied with her swim given it was the fastest time she's swum the event this season. For the 400IM Emily managed a PB, coming 4th in her age group and 9th overall which she was very happy with. She had a short taper before the meet so had a bit of a rest, and was wanted to hit season pbs which she did i all of her events except one!! Emily feels on track and is super excited for world champs trials in June.

Isabella Boyd

Event: 200m individual medley
Time: 02:14.30
Place: 1

Event: 50m butterfly
Time: 00:26.73
Place: 1

Event: 100m butterfly
Time: 00:59.18
Place: 1

Event: 50m freestyle
Time: 00:25.73
Place: 2

Isa was really happy with her 200IM given her time was a PB and under Aus Junior World qualifying time. She managed PBs in all of her swims which made for a great meet. She had a slight taper going helping her achieve her goals of setting new PBs, following processes and getting on the Aus World Junior team..
This meet was great preparation for World Trials in under 8 weeks and for the World Junior team later this year.

It's back into hard training for our F-Teamers as they prepare for Fukuoka World Championships Trials from June 13-18 and we wish Lucky all the best at the Para World Championships to be held in Manchester from July 31 – August 6.