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Rice & Sullivan Strong On Teen Day At Trials
Mar 19, 2010 - Craig Lord
Double Olympic medley champion Stephanie Rice woke the crowd up in the first final on day four at Australian Nationals and Commonwealth Games trials with a 57.71 100m butterfly victory ahead of 'fly aces Felicity Galvez and Jessica Schipper. Rice's former partner Eamon Sullivan confirmed himself as a sprint force to watch with a dominant 48.52sec win in the 100m free several weeks after a fifth hip operation.
But if the above and the likes of Geoff Huegill, making another final at 31 the day after victory in the 50m 'fly, reflect one aspect of a maturing sport, then the day of the teenager is far from over if Aussie trials are anything to go by.
Thomas Fraser-Holmes, 18, claimed a 4:16.81 victory in the 400m medley ahead of two 16-year-olds, Jayden Hadler, of Commercial, on 4:20.79, and Mitchell Larkin, St Peters Western, on 4:21.54.
Australia's days of distance misery among women may soon be over: an excrutiating 0.02sec split the Aussie 800m free record of 8:22.81, by Kylie Palmer in 2008, and the victory march of 17-year-old Katie Goldman, coached by Grant Hackett mentor Denis Cotterell at Pro Ma Miami. Less than three seconds back, on 8:25.74 was 18-year-old Blair Evans, winner of the 200m free earlier in the week, while the third berth for Delhi went to Palmer, 20, on 8:29.57.
No mistakes from towering teenage talents in the 50m free semis (at least not as far as qualification went): Cate Campbell, 17, set the pace on 25.13 to claim lane 4, with Sally Foster, 24, on 25.21, 0.05sec ahead of Yolane Kukla, 14.
Race reports below.
Australian nationals and Commonwealth Games trials, Sydney - Day 4
Women 100m Butterfly
Double Olympic medley champion Stephanie Rice upset the fly crew in the 100m final as the day-four showdown got underway in Sydney. A fraction behind Jessica Schipper and Felicity Galvez at the half-way mark, on 27.44, Rice, double Olympic medley champion coached by Michael Bohl at St Peters Western, showed that her fitness work is going well, with a 30.27 homecoming winner.
The clock stopped at 57.71 for the champion, just outside shiny suit best but a big personal best. Galvez and Schipper claimed the 2nd and 3rd berths for Delhi in 58.20 and 58.41. Shipper, who finished second in a world titles final last year in Rome that saw seven women race between 56.06 and 56.96 (all shiny times), recently got engaged to Brett Gillan. The flyer accepted her beau's proposal during a romantic getaway in north Queensland last weekend. He popped the question by a waterfall - very appropriate - in the picturesque Paronella Park, near Innisfail. The couple have been an item for just over a year, and live together in Wynnum, close to Schipper’s training base at Chandler.
The time on the clock will have delighted Rice: her 2009 marker stood at 57.67, while 59.18 from way back in 2005 was her pre-February 2008 best. In words that will have provided little comfort for the 'fly specialists, Rice told reporters in Sydney that she had raced the 100m just for "a bit of fun ... It just sort of brings to the fold more than anything that I am in really good shape."
Schipper just made the grade for Delhi: Alicia Coutts came in 4th, on 58.61, with Samantha Hamill the last in the final to crack the minute, on 59.87. Yolane Kukla, 14, withdrew from the race to focus on the 50m free semis later in the session (and made it to that final in 25.26, not far from her 2009 best of 25.17).
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Rice tops the early 2010 world rankings (inside 58.42 by Dana Vollmer, USA) with a time that would have ranked her 9th best ever of the eve of the LZR launch 2008. In 2009, the time would have ranked her 19th in that year alone.
Men 100m freestyle
Eamon Sullivan has had his health troubles down the years and continues to suffer pain after a fifth hip operation but today he looked capable of hip-hopping with the swiftest of 'em around the world, a dominant 48.52 blast sending a clear message to sprint rivals: shiny days are over, times may be slower, there's a fine line on health among us thoroughbreds ... but on my day, gold is the colour of ambition. His time is the best in the world this year and only sub 49sec effort - though these are, of course, very early days, with world champ Cesar Cielo on a 49.13 at a regional first outing in the States.
The title was sealed with a 23.02 half-way split, the youthful enthusiasm of two 18-year-olds in the final marking the only two homecoming splits that topped Sullivan's 25.50. The battle behind Sullivan was a crunched affair, with 0.38sec splitting all seven men. Silver went to Tommasso D'Orsogna, 19 and on 49.35, with another teen challenger, James Magnussen, 18, making his first senior Dolphins team in 49.43 (25.12 on the way home).
Nothing like 47.05, of course, for Sullivan, but the makings of his first sub-48sec textile swim are there. On the eve of the LZR launch in 2008, Sullivan, now coached at the Sydney super squad of Grant Stoelwinder, had a best time of 48.47 and has reason to be cheerful with a 48.52 now, given that the journey to the race pool led him through the operating theatre.
Sullivan rated his performance as one of his best ever. "It is right up there," he told AAP. He had swim through the pain in his hip, shunning painkillers for fear of causing more damage. The sprinter will take a cautious approach to the future and is minded to skip the Pan Pacific Championships, in the US this summer (and a world-without-Europe meet according to the invitation list) if he suffers any further setbacks in his recovery.
"If something is not right in the next couple of months I have a lot of time to take a step back if I need to," he said. "And worse case scenario pull out of Pan Pacs and just do Comm Games. It gives me more options to make sure I don't push myself too hard." Sullivan will race the heats of the 50m free tomorrow morning.
In the wake of the top three, Kyle Richardson, 22, on 49.47, Luke Kerswell, 18, on 49.95 (homecoming 25.49), and Andrew Lauterstein, 22, on 49.62, fill the relay spots, with Matthew Abood and Cameron Prosser, on both on 49.73, likely to be locked out.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
The suits slowdown in sprint events will translate to slower relays, of course, but Australia will remain competitive at Commonwealth level. At Pan Pacs? Much work to do.
Men 400m medley
The shiny suits era left its mark almost every where at international, national and regional levels but Justin Norris's 4:15.20 Aussie 400m medley record of 2004 was among the few national records left standing come 2010. It survived another assault today in Sydney but its days may well be numbered. The new national senior champion is the national age-group champion, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, 18, racing for Hunter and coached by Vince Raleigh at the AIS "Olympic medallists" squad. And in the wake of a 4:16.81 victory for Fraser-Holmes were two 16-year-olds, Jayden Hadler, of Commercial, on 4:20.79, and Mitchell Larkin, St Peters Western, on 4:21.54. That locked out another teenager, 18-year-old Daniel Tranter, of Liverpool, on 4:22.92. The Australian men's team is a young work in progress.
Fraser-Holmes trailed Hadler 57.51 to 56.66 on butterfly but crushed the opposition on backstroke, turning in 2:01.81, to 2:05.89 for Larkin and 2:06.59 for Hadler. And that is more or less where the race stayed at the top end, the champion in the making turning into freestyle on 3:16.24, while Hadler overhauled Larkin with a much stronger breaststroke leg and then had to fight to fend Larkin off on freestyle.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Australia has not been a global player when it comes to challenging for podium places over 400m medley for a while now but the progress of a crew of young chaps on the move suggests brighter times ahead.
Women 800m freestyle
Australia's days of distance misery among women may soon be over: an excrutiating 0.02sec split the Aussie 800m free record of 8:22.81, by Kylie Palmer in 2008, and the terrific winning effort of 17-year-old Katie Goldman at Aussie nationals today. Less than three seconds back, on 8:25.74 was 18-year-old Blair Evans, winner of the 200m free earlier in the week, while the third berth for Delhi went to Palmer, 20, on 8:29.57. Coached by Grant Hackett mentor Denis Cotterell, Goldman controlled the race from beginning to end, swimming alongside Evans and Palmer until the three split the 400m respectively in 4:10.85, 4:11.61 and 4:11.60. Goldman, one of many Aussie teenagers to list Susi O'Neill as their inspiration, piled on the pressure over the following 200m, placing a little more clear water between herself and Blair, just as Blair fought to shake off Palmer. The 7th 100m was decisive: with two laps to go, Goodman had given her rivals the slip, 2.90sec ahead of Blair, with Palmer almost 2sec further adrift. On the way home, Evans managed a 1:03, Palmer a 1:05 ... and Goldman a 1:01.93. The title and debut Dolphins selection were hers.
You can see how delighted Goldman and Evans were at the end of their race in these pictures, here and here.
In 2008 and more so in 2009, nationals records had a ten-a-penny feel. No longer. When Palmer's 8:22.81 is cracked, Australia and the new holder will know that a better day has dawned. Goodman's better day has dawned, of course, and the same is true of Evans. In 2009, they were on best times of 8:33.93 and 8:27.13 respectively.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Cotterell develops a thrilling prospect as Australia steps up in a place beyond the stretch of suits.
Semi-finals
Brenton Rickard and Christian Sprenger continued to show the way on breaststroke, with respective efforts of 28.02 and 28.28 to claim lanes 4 and 5 in the 50m final.
Emily Seebohm moved closer to another victory at these trials with a 28.11 sprint in the 50m backstroke ahead of Grace Loh, on 28.67.
Leisel Jones set herself up for another breaststroke clean sweep of Aussie titles with a 1:07.76 100m effort that granted her lane four in the final next to 17-year-old Samantha Matrshall, another of a whole raft of teenagers breaking through the ranks at these trials, on 1:07.85. Sarah Katsoulis claimed a place on the other side of her training partner Jones, in 1:08.22.
Hayden Stoekel was another to place himself in line for a triple. In the 100m back semis, he claimed lane 4 for the final in 54.09, ahead of a 54.11 from Ashley Delaney.
No mistakes from towering teenage talents in the 50m free semis (at least not as far as qualification went): Cate Campbell, 17, set the pace on 25.13 to claim lane 4, with Sally Foster, 24, on 25.21, 0.05sec ahead of Yolane Kukla, 14. The final will be a tight affair, with Alice Mills on 25.32, Marieke Guehrer on 25.46, Emma McKeon, the daughter of 1980 Olympian Ron McKeon, on 25.53, and Sophie Edington on 25.66 and Britta Elmslie, 15, on 25.72.
The 200m 'fly crew set the pace for the 100m men in the two-lap semis, with Nick D'Arcy claiming lane 4 in 52.72. Either side of him will be Mitchell Patterson, 52.85, and Chris Wright, 52.90, with the other two sub-53 qualifiers among those favoured to claim berths for Delhi tomorrow, training partners and Olympic bronze medallists Geoff Huegill, on 52.94, and Andrew Lauterstein, on 52.99, the splits indicating that they eased back on full throttle on the way home. Huegill's 51.96 best from 2000 remains the fastest time by an Australian wearing a textile suit.
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