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Barratt Bravura Breaks The 400m Bunch
Mar 20, 2010 - Craig Lord
After enduring the advance of teenagers Blair Evans and Katie Goldman at Australian Nationals and Commonwealth Games trials week, established Dolphins Bronte Barratt and Kylie Palmer struck back in the 400m today. Barratt put in a bravura performance to retain the crown in 4:05.50, best in the world this year (just inside the 4:05.57 season opener of Federica Pellegrini, Italian world champion), Palmer took second in 4:06.36, with Goldman, 800m winner yesterday, overhauling Evans on the last 100m for third, 4:07.12 to 4:07.76.
In another fine session of tight finals, Andrew Lauterstein dominated the 100m 'fly final in 51.79, and Yolane Kukla, 14, claimed her second crown of the week, in 25.08 over 50m free, an effort that was followed by an appeal for calm from Libby Trickett (see race report below). Brenton Rickard claimed the 50m breaststroke crown in a strong 27.40; Belinda Hocking reaped the rewards of a third-lap break to retain the 200m backstroke crown; Leisel Jones continued to be lethal on breaststroke, claiming a 1:05.79 win in the 100m for a clean-sweep of titles on her speciality stroke; another triple went to Hayden Stoeckel, champion today over 100m back; Leith Brodie retained the 200m medley crown; Emily Seebohm took another gold, over the 50m backstroke. Race reports below.
Australian Nationals and Commonwealth Games Trials, Sydney, Day 5
Men 100m Butterfly
Andrew Lauterstein, Olympic bronze medallist, need fear the textile transition no longer. In 51.79, he regained the Aussie national 100 'fly crown, booked his place in Delhi for a showdown with Jason Dunford, Commonwealth record holder from Kenya and about to start a new training regime in Italy, and surely exorcised the ghosts of a troubled 2009, during which he admitted that he allowed the suits crisis to play on his mind. No signs of that today in Sydney as Lauterstein, coached by Grant Stoelwinder in Sydney, produced the only sub 24sec 50m split (23.76) and only sub 52sec effort at trials. The other Delhi berth went to Chris Wright, on 52.49 (off the best homecoming split in the race, 27.54), and 34-year-old Adam Pine, on 52.57. Just outside the cut were 200m winner Nick D'Arcy, 52.69, and Geoff Huegill, 50m winner, on 53.09, the youngest man in the final, Grant Irvine, 18, 6th in strong 53.19, of the third-best homecoming split in the final, of 27.89. No time close to cracking 51sec, let alone 50sec but that was to be expected at a meet that through the deep ranks is far more comparable to 2007 than the two years that followed.
And look at who came home with the 2nd fastest split, of 27.86: Pine and still going strong and inside his 2006 textile best of 52.71.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Lauterstein is faster than he was at 2008 Olympic trials and has proved to himself that suits are not an issue. He will be competitive.
Women 50m freestyle
Yolane Kukla, 14-year-old poster-girl for a new generation of Australian swim stars in the making at trials rife with teenage breakthrough performances, claimed her second national title of the week in a storming 25.08 ahead of Alice Mills, on 25.13, and Cate Campbell, 17, on 25.15. No chance of getting anywhere near breaking 24sec in the new level-playing field of 2010 race conditions (readers from Sydney are so far reporting widespread use of the same suits, with no availability problems at the helm of the sport). Kula won the race off the blocks: reaction time 0.65 to 0.82 for Campbell, a critical difference of 0.17sec, a gap that would have seen Campbell crack 25sec had she been as swift to react as the 2010 champion. "Yo Yo", as Kukla is called at the St Peters Western squad where she trains with Michael Bohl's assistant Michael Palfery, has size on her side when it comes to explosiveness.
Earlier in the week Kukla won the 50m butterfly ahead of world champion Marieke Guehrer to become the youngest girl to make an international senior Australian team since 13-year-old Jodie Clatworthy made the grade for the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. Too young and inexperienced to have made it on to the list of official Swimming Australia biogs - until now - Kukla was once told by Libby Trickett, shorter than many of her sprint peers, not to be intimidated by the height around here. Palfery told the Aussie media in Sydney: "Libby said to her 'don't panic when you see everyone who is a foot taller than you ... look at me, I held the record at one stage and I matched abilities with girls quite a lot bigger than me' ... and I think Yo got a bit out of that."
Kukla entered the freestyle sprint as 7th best Australian on 25.17. She has a new best time is the best Australian so far in 2010 but remains 7th best Australian on the clock, such are the times we are living through.
Libby Trickett, a world champion and Olympic medallist on sprint free in the past decade and 100m 'fly Olympic champion too, told Tom Wald at AAP that now was not the time to put over-the-top expectations on the youngster.
"Not to at all take down her performance tonight (but) 25.08 is not a fast time," Trickett told AAP. "I won that at trials in 2003 that was the time I went seven years ago. Without taking away from her performance - it is wonderful - but for her to be internationally successful she needs to be faster and that's the bottom line. She knows that and her coach knows that but this is a wonderful stepping stone towards that."
Trickett said Kukla had plenty to improve on: "She has got potential, she has won two national titles and she has the ability to withstand pressure but again she needs some experience internationally.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
The slowest podium and victory for some years, some of that suits, some of that the ebb and flow of careers and the departure from the race pool of Libby Trickett.
Men 50m breaststroke
The 27sec mark was far from danger but Brenton Rickard, world 100m champ and record holder in 2009, swept to a strong 27.40 victory in the 50m ahead of Christian Sprenger, 200m world record holder in 2009, on 27.93, with Karl Wurzer taking third in 28.40. Rickard will be buoyed by the fact that his 2010 winning time if 0.28sec faster than his 2009 winning time, through just outside his 2008 winning time.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Rickard remains strong in an event that is likely to witness a sizeable shift from 2009 in the names that make the best grade in 2010 and beyond
Women 200m backstroke
Belinda Hocking, 19 reaped the rewards of a courageous break on the third lap of the 200m backstroke on her way to victory in 2:07.89 ahead of Meagen Nay, 2:08.02, and Emily Seebohm, 2:08.19. At the half-way mark, Hocking, coached by Shannon Rollason at Albury, turned in 1:02.18, just 0.11sec behind Seebohm, with Nay on 1:02.85. As Seebohm and Nay let the pace slip to 33sec-plus splits down the third length, Hocking piled on the pressure with a 32.59 effort. It was Hocking who slipped into 33sec territory on the way home and Nay, Aussie record holder in 2009 on 2:07.41, who produced the best homecoming effort, of 32.12, but the damage had been done and Hocking retained her crown in a swifter time than her 2009 win.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
No need to fear the textile transition here either
Women 100m breaststroke
Leisel Jones, woman breaststroke swimmer of the past decade, shows no signs of easing off at the start of the next 10 years. In 1:05.79, equal to her 5th best textile time ever, the 24-year-old coached by Rohan Taylor at Nunawading had effectively retained her crown with a 31.09 first lap split. She was swiftest back to the pads too, on 34.70. Silver went to Samantha Marshall, 17, on 1:07.45, with Sarah Katsoulis on 1:07.89 for the third berth in Delhi. Marshall is the granddaughter of former Australian prime minister, Malcolm Fraser.
The time, best in the world this year and the second time Jones had cracked 1:06 this year, was a touch faster than that in which Jones claimed the crown in her down year of 2009, when she opted to bypass what turned out to be a circus of shiny suit times in Rome. The Sydney race today marked Jones's 22nd national title. A fabulous count in a rich treasury of success built along the length of a career characterised by consistent world-class standards for more than 10 years.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
That 1:05.09 from 2006 - wow!
Women 400m freestyle
After enduring the advance of teenagers Blair Evans and Katie Goldman at trials this week, established Aussie team members Bronte Barratt and Kylie Palmer struck back in the 400m today. Evans showed courage by setting a fast early pace, turning first throughout the first 250m of the race, on 58.73 at 100m and 2:01.37 at 200m. But by 300m the heat was on, the race on a thread. Barratt and Palmer had made decisive moves, on 3:03.69 and 3:04.90, to 3:05.11 to Evans, Goldman on 3:05.63. on 3:04.90 to 3:05.11.
Barratt retained the crown in 4:05.50, best in the world this year (just inside the 4:05.57 season opener of Federica Pellegrini, Italian world champion) and a heartening time that compares to a 4:08.59 title win last year and a 4:04.16 50% poly best from 2008. Palmer took the second berth in 4:06.36 and Goldman, 800m winner yesterday, managed to overhaul Evans for third, 4:07.12 to 4:07.76. Australia's distance events among women look brighter than they have for a while, with 2009 a poor year in the midst of shiny suit mayhem.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Australian women's distance is back on track with some healthy competition down through the ranks
Men 100m backstroke
Hayden Stoeckel sealed a triple of backstroke triumphs at these trials with a 53.61 victory that kept title holder Ashley Delaney at bay by 0.46, on 54.07. Third place went to 18-year-old Ben Treffers, on 55.00. Stoeckel, coached by John Fowlie at the Canberra AIS centre and racing for Norwood, won the race on both laps, with the best splits of the race, of 26.03 and 27.58.
In his Dolphins biog, when asked to described himself in three words, Stoeckel says "Always on time". He certainly was this week as far as making sure he got to the pad ahead of the pack.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Stoeckel had an off year in 2009 but his future looks bright.
Women 50m backstroke
Odd programme that holds finals of the 50m and 200m on the same stroke in the same session, but that what happened today in Sydney. And Emily Seebohm claimed yet another gold medal, in 27.95 down one length. She had already claimed third place in a 200m final won by Belinda Hocking. Hocking took 4th in the 50m, in 28.84, with the two other berths for Delhi beyond Seebohm going to Sophie Edington, 2009 Commonwealth record holder on 27.51, second in Sydney in 28.20, and Grace Loh, 18, on 28.52.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
As expected, about 0.5 or more out on a 50m race compared to 2009 times
Men 200m medley
That Commonwealth record of 1:56.69 in a shiny suit was of a different sport, of course, but holder Leith Brodie, coached by Michael Bohl at St Peters Western, retained the 200m medley crown in 1:59.60, 0.13sec quicker than his 2009 win in a 50% poly number. A good result. Brodie led from start to finish, with splits o 25.77; 55.91 (30.14); 1:30.92 (35.01) and victory off a 28.68 free split.
Second and third berths for Delhi went to teenagers: 400m medley winner Thomas Fraser-Holmes, 18, on 2:00.84 and Tommasso D'Orsogna, on 2:00.90. That locked out Travis Nederpelt (2:01.97), whose age-group records were replaced by Fraser-Holmes of late.
The Times Transition (Aussie trials, 2008, 09, 10 and Rome 2009 top 2 Aussies):
Here is a race in which the difference between LZR and textile LZR and the difference between LZR and 100% poly is shown to be stark indeed
Semi-finals
Ashley Callus, 31, showed his hand in the 50m free to claim lane four in a swift 22.16, ahead of Cameron Prosser, on 22.36, with former world record holder Eamon Sullivan through in 5th on 22.61.
Championship results:
Championship coverage archive:
The trials end Sunday March 21.
Best of Newspaper coverage Down Under
The Australian
Huegill's loss, swimming's gain
Sydney Morning Herald
