Aussie World Champs Trials
The 2023 Australian World Trials took place at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center from June 13th through June 18th. The competition represented the sole qualifying opportunity for July's World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Australia’s biggest names stepped up to the blocks for their chance at a spot on the Australian team.
West Austrlian teen, Iona Anderson, put on an impressive performance at Trials and she was very happy with her performance with 3rd in the 100m backstroke and 2nd in the 50m. Despite not replicating her PB in the final of the 200m, Iona remained pleased with her overall performance, stating that the meet was necessary for race practice going into World Juniors later this year. Iona's focus now shifts to training, and she will most likely race at the WA State Short Course with her performance proving she is on track for future competitions.
Our F-Teamers dominated the backstroke events with Olivia Lefoe swimming in the finals for all three of her backstroke events, achieving a personal best in the 200m backstroke race. Although not her best race, Liv was still happy with her performance in the 100m backstroke as it was right on her PB. She also had a solid performance in the 50m backstroke race, placing 7th. Liv had fully tapered for the meet and had been preparing for it for a few months, with the goal of making the Aus A team time, which she achieved. Liv is currently waiting to find out if she made the team or not. She will have to wait to see where she will be travelling, competing or training over the next few months depending on her team selection.
Layla Day had an impressive meet achieving personal bests in both the 100m and 50m backstroke events and winning a bronze medal in the 50. Despite finishing 7th in the 100m backstroke and 5th in the 200m backstroke, Layla was pleased with her races and felt that she executed them well. Layla’s goal was to improve the execution of her races and come away with a few PBs, which she successfully achieved. Layla is hopeful to be selected on more teams which will be announced next week.
Breaststoker Mikayla Smith placed second in both the 100 and 200m breaststroke events falling just short of the strict qualifying times. She also won bronze in the 50m breaststroke. Matilda Smith also competed in three breaststroke events. She went into the meet as one of her first tapered meets in almost a year. Her goals were to execute her race plans with a big focus on her skills. While she was a little bit slower than she was hoping for in the 100 breaststroke she felt she improved on her skills during the race.
Sunshine Coast Grammar's Lucy Dring delivered impressive performances in all events she competed in at Trials. With a -0.5sec PB, she was thrilled with her 5th place finish in the final of the 200m individual medley. She was equally pleased with her 200m butterfly, achieving another PB and taking out the B final. Despite coming 5th in the 400m individual medley, Lucy remained humble and focused on what she could improve upon in future competitions. She had been tapered for this meet and was disappointed with her overall performance, but remains determined to reflect on what she can build upon for next time. Excitingly, Lucy has been informed that she will be competing in England next month for QLD.
Abby competed in three events: the 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke, and 50m butterfly. Despite being tapered for the meet, Abby was battling sickness a few weeks prior which affected her final preparations. While her time in the 100m butterfly was on par with her personal best, she was disappointed with he result. She said her performance in the 100m backstroke was rusty, as she had been focusing more on butterfly in her training. In the 50m butterfly, Abby was 4th a swam a fast time. Overall, Abby felt that she had more to give and expressed her hope to improve with better preparations in the future.
Perth-based swimmer, Crystal Edwards, competed at the Trials in the 100m and 50m breaststroke events. Although her time in the 100m breaststroke wasn't a personal best, she felt it was good race practice for future competitions. In the 50m breaststroke, Crystal executed her race plan well and finished close to her personal best. She was tapered for this meet and although her results weren't what she was hoping for, she's taking away lots of lessons and things to work on at training. Crystal's next competition will be the WA Short Course Championships on August 4th, after which she will take a few weeks off for an end of season break.
For this competition Stef McCarthy was really happy with her fly events but was not as satisfied with her freestyle. She was tapered and was feeling well rested going into the trials. Her goals for the meet were to just soak in the atmosphere and try and improve her ranking in each race which she achieved. She felt the meet helped her to see how she is placed compared to the rest of Australia and helped her to work out what she needs to improve on coming into the Olympic year. Stef was really happy with her 50m butterfly race as it was a 0.3 pb which she only recently set at the open nationals earlier in the year. She was happy to see the work she had done on her fly speed in training pay off.
Emily White had a strong performance at the trials, setting two personal bests and achieving her goal of making the final in the 400IM. She was happy to do two PBs in one day and said that it was a really fun race, after placing 8th in the 200m individual medley, and added that she was pleased to have swum faster than her heat swim in the 200m butterfly. Although she didn't PB in the 400m IM final, she still managed to come 7th overall. Emily was completely tapered and rested for the meet and is now taking a well-deserved break before preparing for the short course season. Overall, she had a successful meet and achieved her goals.
Our youngest and newest F-Teamer is Albury's Sienna Toohey who at just 14 swam at this year's trials. Considering her limited access to training facilities, she achieved her goal of getting in the top 20 in Australia for the 100m breaststroke event, finishing 19th. Sienna was aiming for a B final and missed it by only 0.44 seconds. However, she felt prepared and ready for the competition and was comfortable competing against adult swimmers. Sienna's next event will be the All Schools Nationals in Sydney in mid-August.
Swimming Australia will be announcing other Australian teams so be sure to follow our socials to keep up to date with our F-Teamers' achievements.
Instagram: @funkitaswimwear