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2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials Day 5: Mollie O’Callaghan’s win in the Women’s 100m Freestyle sprint alongside a few first time Olympic qualifiers sums up Day 5 of 6

by Sports Benches

The second final night of the 2024 Australian Swimming Olympic Trials is full of competition, race wins and another few first-time Olympic qualifying moments all happening at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre. First of all, Joshua Yong had a great swim behind Zac Stubblety-Cook in the Men’s 200m breaststroke final. He’s had a really good week in this discipline having also finished 2nd from the opening night during the 50m sprint behind Sam Williamson, so congrats on his official ticket to Paris.

Same goes to 17-year-old Ella Ramsay who beat the experienced Jenna Strauch (she didn’t qualify in that category when she was a second off the qualifying time) in the last half distance by a comfortable margin of around two seconds in the women’s 200m breaststroke Finals meet. So great to see these swimmers to bounce back with a point to prove ahead of their first rodeos in Paris. Can’t promise what specific goals they should look to get over the line when you got heats and then the semi-finals to begin with, but it’s all about being at their best so they can go from there over the next 3-5 years by looking at Top 3 & then the gold at future events – such as the next Australian Swimming Champs, World Champs, Pan Pacifics and Olympics.

Yes, nothing much has happened to set the world alight over in the other men’s races. However, we did see a fantastic women’s 100m freestyle dash where Mollie O’Callaghan still held on with the win despite no new world record. Joining her on the trip to Paris are Shayna Jack – who will finally be on her way there for the first time – after she finished behind Mollie in 2nd off the back of her doping issues that forced her to sit out for a while (2019-21). Then you’ve got Meg Harris (3rd) joining in to back them up in the women’s relay team alongside Bronte Campbell as this is going to be her 4th straight Olympics campaign at age 32. How good is that as she’s not done racing in the pool just yet!! Five days done, one more to go before we wrap things up to finalise our best Dolphins Swim Team before they head off to Paris in the head up towards July 27.

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2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials Day 4: Kaylee McKeown & Ariarne Titmus at their best in respective disciplines alongside Kyle Chalmers as well as qualifying first moments

by Sports Benches

Last night might not be as spectacular as Monday and Wednesday but there’s some really good swims though to watch during the fourth night of the 2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre. 

As we all know, Kaylee McKeown is always best in her backstroke discipline with the Women’s 200m Backstroke Final – despite being 00.15 off her current world record time. Shoutout to 17-year-old Jaclyn Barclay who finished 2nd having done so once before earlier this year during the World Championships in Doha, which was enough for to book her berth to Paris. So two brilliant backstroke swimmers (one seasoned champ & one emerging) we’ve got in the books that will see them challenge and push each other for the best of our Dolphins Swim team like Ariarne Titmus & Mollie O’Callaghan in the freestyle races.

Speaking of Arnie, she was too good in the 800m Freestyle after she had to deactivate instagram for the race and then reactivate it after that. Looks like she wants to do more in order to walk away with record-breaking achievements like winning both the gold and the new world record time that is gonna send a message to both Mollie O’Callaghan and other elite International competitors out there come Paris beginning at the end of next month. Plus, we saw Kyle Chalmers still being the king when he was a really quick finisher in the 100m Men’s freestyle Final dash. And we saw Liz Dekkers at last punched her ticket following her heartbreak a few years ago for Tokyo as she will now compete in her first Olympics with her specialist butterfly discipline after he finished 1st in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final ahead of fellow qualifier Abbey Connor in 2nd.

Four days done, two more days to go featuring another Mollie in the Women’s 100m Freestyle Final sprint later tonight.

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2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials Day 3: Ariarne Titmus tops the headlines with both the win and the new record time in the Women’s 200m Freestyle Final last night

by Sports Benches

We’ve witnessed something special last night that means a lot to the whole of Australia, even though one might have to fall short but at same time we saw someone taking home both the win and that new world record time. It’s the Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus who defeated World Champion and latest world record holder Mollie O’Callaghan in the Women’s 200m Freestyle Final. She posted a breathtaking new time of 1:52:23, which was 0.62 secs ahead of Mollie’s WR at the World Championships last year of 1:52:85. First of all, what a swim we’ve had as this is what competition really looks like so we can conquer the pools of Paris. Arnie had unfinished business to bounce back from finishing 2nd last year to Mollie by beating her through the end of the wall in order to take back both prizes. She continues to be our best swimmers both short and long distance races with more record beating achievements to come including more gold in Paris not too long from now. Meanwhile, it’s not easy looking back when ending up being 2nd best at the Olympic Trials that includes the one Arnie took her world record time in that meet that lasted just under a year. However, we all know Mollie is a top-notch swimmer who continues to push herself and Arnie for the best of our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team. Plus, she can answer back too by picking up as many Olympic gold medals as she can going into Paris- How about that? That’s her goal to take next time.

Over in the Men’s races, yes, it’s going to take some time before we hope to see one breaking world records more often in the near future. But we still had some excellent competition like that 800m Freestyle Final where Sam Short was outpaced by Elijah Winnington, particularly in the last 50m dash so that’s not a bad start. We also had Cam McEvoy still going strong at age 30 – who hopes to set the Olympics alight – following another outstanding swim in the 50m Freestyle dash like he did at the World Champs where he got his first gold there last year. And speaking on the men’s feedback a bit earlier where our Freestyle performances isn’t bad but we do lack in other areas however like the Butterfly. Feeling so sorry for Bowen Gough who might have won that Domestic Butterfly Finals race in the 200m. He just couldn’t crack the time he really wanted in order to get to Paris of 1:54:97 after his race form looked a bit slower than the one he did during the heats and you can feel the disappointment of being forced to sit out instead of having the opportunity to have a crack v the best from the world regardless of the result.  Again, it’s going to be a long time coming for someone to be the next best thing in our Butterfly group other than Liz Dekkers who finished 2nd in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final at the World Champs last year.

Three days done, three to go as we are halfway through on filling in our best Dolphins Swim Team squad for Paris.

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2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials Day 2: Superior competition up front across several races including another near world record attempt in Brisbane

by Sports Benches

We had another spectacular night of competition for spots, near world record moments and breakthrough Olympic qualifications for those who punched their ticket to swim in Paris. Like Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown almost broke the new world record in the Women’s 100m backstroke even though she already won that race. Not only that Mollie O’Callaghan and 17-year-old Iona Anderson were right behind her when all three of them were on World Record radar at one stage but still it was a great race though to start night 2.

Then we saw a really great finish in the Women’s 100m breaststroke where Jenna Strauch just closed out 15-year-old Ella Ramsay by 0.04 secs at the end of the wall. Yes, experience is important right now but surely the future would be exciting; so Ramsay can look to first set national records here then internationally (both World Champs & Olympics) after that in the long run – watch this space.

Looking at the men now, they may be nowhere near the world record line but still produced some excellent competition along the way. That 100m backstroke last lap dash between Isaac Cooper and Brad Woodward was really good to watch while 20-year-old Max Giuliani came out of nowhere to upsurge Thomas Neill, Elijah Winnington and Kai Taylor in the 200m Freestyle. Looks like Tasmania has produced another top quality swimmer after Ariarne Titmus that is tipped for world heights & like Arnie, he too also moved to the Gold Coast to better his swimming and it’s so far, so good. Too early to say right now as you never know when looking for gold but he’s 100% off to Paris for the first time soon enough!!

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2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials Day 1: World Records almost broken with excellent competition for 1st in Brisbane

by Sports Benches

We’ve kickstarted the Australian Swimming Olympic Trials last night with a bang with two of our swimmers so very nearly breaking the new world record times while we had some strong competition in the other races that would put the Dolphins in a very good position going into Paris at the end of next month.

Ariarne Titmus was outstanding even though she was on the World Record radar for sometime during her 400m freestyle finals swim. What we hope to see from her is to walk away with both another Olympic gold and another new world record time soon enough. Also a really good moment in that starting race of the night is Lani Pallister finishing behind Arnie in 2nd, who is now on her way to competing in her first Olympic Games campaign. Now there’s some room for improvement having only won just the one 4 x 200m Freestyle team relay race last year at the World Championships in Fukuoka but Lani is there to push her and herself to even better heights. Who knows? We could see a 1-2 finish again after all but at future Olympics & Worlds.

We’ve seen the same for Kaylee McKeown in the women’s 200m Individual Medley where she was too good despite being just under a second off the current world record time being set by Katina Hossku from Hungary back in the 2015 World Championships. More to come from the Queen of backstroke throughout the week including some team relay contributions.

Then in the men’s there’s really huge competition such as that three-way fight in the 100m breaststroke and the 400m freestyle. Yes, Sam Williamson won that race in the breaststroke who finally won a World Championship gold medal off the back of a 50m breaststroke dash earlier this year in Doha. However, Joshua Yong finished just under a second behind Sam in 2nd ahead of Zac Stubblety-Cook in 3rd – this is what we wanted to see in order to for either 2-3 of them to hopefully get a breakthrough Olympic gold medal. 

And we should be in good shape in the Men’s 400m Freestyle and also the long-distance races to come where Elijah Winnington just closed out Sam Short through the end of the wall on what has been a spectacular race to see these two battling hard all along side-by-side. Yes, it would’ve been better if that race would have meant seeing either of them looking to break that world record time. However, competition is what we need for them to test themselves as if they’ve competing v the best of the best swimmers in Paris.

Day 1 done, six more to go on the Road to Paris with the heats in the morning followed by the Finals to decide at night.

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Carlos Alcaraz stuns Alexander Zverev after the third set to an unreal comeback through the 5th & final set sprint with his 1st Roland Garros Men’s title at Court Phillipe Chatrier

by Sports Benches

What a way to wrap up the 2024 Roland Garros Tennis tournament at Court Phillipe Chatrier thanks to an top-notch five-set showdown between Carlos Alcaraz from Spain and German Alexander Zverev. The Spaniard benefited from Zverev’s slow start with the opening set lead but Zverev eventually got himself really quick from the set down at 1-1 apiece before he was leading for the first time after another close 3rd set nettle going into the 4th set, 2-1. But Zverev unfortunately slipped away where not only Alcaraz brought the 5th and final set decider, he also fell short on his 2nd ever grand slam final despite showing A-game performance. Gotta say the poor start serves while unable to arrest Alcaraz’s restart past the 3rd set really cost him as job isn’t done yet for Zverev to hopefully win a major title on his third attempt at whichever might be next time.

At the end of the day, Alcaraz has just won another first ever major this time on the courts of clay in the year 2024 – having first done so at the US Open two years ago followed by Wimbledon last year. He too never gave up to reset himself both from that 2nd set disappointment and also the close 3rd set play where Zverev was on top for a while by quickly nailing his opponent down before he found a way at last to close things out also so quickly towards the very end after a long afternoon out on-court. What’s next for him is to defend his Wimbledon crown going into next month, don’t forget the Olympics gold too if possible & winning back the US Open in early September that would mean finally winning the Aussie Open like Rafa Nadal at least by January next year. The final score was 3-6 to Alcaraz, 6-2 to Zverev, 7-5 to Zverev, 1-6 and 2-6 to Alcaraz.

And on the Aussies here on show, it might be a long way away for someone to thrive in the women’s singles draw but we did so well however in the men with Thanasi Kokkanakis up until the 3rd round by American Taylor Fritz while Alex De Minaur got his breakthrough past the Round of 16 by shocking World No.5 Daniil Medvedev before he was eliminated a few days later by the eventual runner-up finalist in Zverev. Wished we could see more of De Minaur’s fightback where he was usually so good from the set down but upon playing his 2nd grand slam finals here, he just needs to be a bit more patient and we shall see him doing so well on a regular basis as hope De Minaur will go even deeper next time around sooner rather than later.

Australian Open already done at the end of January to kickstart 2024 followed by the Roland Garros tournament just now after another 15 days of play, even though we had some wet weather delays on the outside courts in the early rounds. Next stop, London, England for The Championships on the grass courts at Wimbledon starting Monday July 1st to Sunday July 14th. Then it’s a week-long off before we return to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics from Friday July 26th to Sunday August 8th,

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Thoughts on TNT Sports becoming the new home of Roland Garros Tennis in the US on a ten-year contract to begin from 2025-2034

by Sports Benches

There will be a brand new TV home of Roland Garros Tennis in the United States from next year as Warner Bros Discovery/TNT Sports through TNT, TBS and TruTV will take over the rights off NBC on a 10-year contract worth $650 million US dollars from 2025-3034 after several decades on the air that goes back to 1975-1979 as well as 1983-2024 in between a short three year stint by CBS. The expected announcement also coincides with the parent company’s renewal of its existing Pan-European rights package through Eurosport who also has been airing the annual tournament since 1989 including a few years now in the UK following a 10 year stint by ITV from 2012-2021 as well as the BBC beforehand for over several decades. So tomorrow will be the last time NBC airs its last Roland Garros match between Carlos Alcaraz v Alexander Zverev with Noah Eagle on the call for the one & only time after Dan Hicks stepped down recently alongside John McEnroe and Mary Carillo & also Maria Taylor too hosting the pre and post-matches as always from the semi-finals to the big finals weekend over the last three years.

First of all, we didn’t see that coming when NBC was so attached to the Roland Garros for so long, especially when they were able to get some extra matches through their Peacock streaming service back in 2021 thanks to the added retractable roof and much-needed flood lights at Court Phillipe Chatrier and now Court Suzanne Lenglen. But the way they show in the semis later during the weekdays didn’t change that much unfortunately that still frustrated the West Coast viewers – even when NBCSN was shut down at the same time before the start of 2022 by choosing not to air the early hours on USA Network & all they had to do is either stream on Peacock, go to the Tennis Channel or wait until the tape-delayed airing starts on the main channel. All of that is now gone where you can tune in all on the one place from start to finish without any interruptions and delays on the main TNT cable channel alongside some other matches across TBS, TNT as well as continuing to stream on Max and Bleacher Report (thinking it’s the add-on sports package so Max might throw some on the two basic subscription tiers).

It looks like there won’t be any free-to-air coverage going forward at the bare minimum like weekend matches as well as the semi-finals and finals since WBD and TNT Sports doesn’t have a free-to-air connection, not even a sublicensing deal to CBS would be good to keep some of the Roland Garros action in front of a paywall over in the US. We thought that was going to happen in the UK when Eurosport took over from ITV a few years ago but it still hasn’t yet happened & surely we won’t see that coming anytime soon unless a Briton is doing so well and might be appropriate for them to open up a bit on free-to-air.

And lastly, who will be there front and centre for TNT Sports? Yes, viewers should expect to receive Eurosport’s English-language European broadcast feed for some of the time such as the early round matches. However, they would still like to have a US-focused commentary since they paid a lot of $$$ to make this happen by having them on-site including some of the new faces onboard with some coming over from NBC like John McEnroe, who also appears on Eurosport’s existing Tennis coverage for their European viewers. While the chances of retaining the NBA appears to be slim with NBC looking to take their place for the first time since 2002, they are least adding up a couple of new sports into the menu such as a return to NASCAR during the mid-summer over the next seven years starting next season as well as some College Football Playoffs off ESPN.

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Iga Swiatek too good to seal her 3rd straight and 4th overall women’s singles Roland Garros over Jasmine Paolini in straight sets

by Sports Benches

Another year, another triumph at Court Phillipe Chatrier for Iga Swiatek from Poland as she was just good to wrap this women’s final in an hour and eight minutes against World No.12 outsider Jasmine Paolini from Italy in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

This is her fourth Roland Garros title and third straight championship-winning campaign here since the start of the decade where she dominated the court left, right and centre from start to finish. Known as the Queen of Clay, there’s a bit of weaknesses she would like to work on having endured an inconsistent run mainly in the grass courts at Wimbledon. Although Swiatek did win big on the hard surfaces once two years ago at the US Open but did nothing much though since then as this is something she would do in the hope of winning all other grand slams on a regular basis next time that would show she can stay World No.1 for a very long time. Other than that, congratulations to Iga with another French Open win at the age of 23.

Meanwhile, Paolini came in there hoping she would be the one to finally be the next Grand Slam singles champion after a breakthough run here at 28 which was really tough entering her first final as an outsider to the seasoned champion. She actually got away really well from the beginning where the Italian was able to get ahead for a bit but lost her way for the majority other than the odd glimpses here and there such as that brilliant ace serve straight through past her racket. So bummer to see Paolini settle as 2nd best when Swiatek has been always been outstanding at Roland Garros every year but her stunning run doesn’t stop here as she and her doubles compatriot Sara Errani will take on seasoned Finalists of Coco Gauff (also semi finalist to Swaitek in the semis the other day) & Katalina Siniakova just before the Men’s singles Final tomorrow.

Speaking of the Men’s Final to round off 15 days of play, bring on two-time Grand Slam champ Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) v regular semi finalist who is set for his 2nd main event Alexander Zverev (Germany) tomorrow night (AEST time). There will be a new winner either way as whether or not if 2024 is the year Alcaraz will add the Roland Garros onto his trophy cabinet after he first done that two years ago at the US Open followed by Wimbledon nearly a year ago. If not, will Zverev break his duck from his 2020 US Open disappointment by finally winning his first ever grand slam trophy on the courts of clay at 27? We shall see.

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Carlos Alcaraz comes out strong v Jannik Sinner out of a five-setter where he will be joined by Alexander Zverev in a bid to win the Men’s Roland Garros Final this Sunday 

by Sports Benches

What a semi final to remember on clay last night by the young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz who is now on his way to Sunday’s big Roland Garros Final at Court Phillipe Chatrier after overcoming Australian Open champ Jannik Sinner in a long five-set contest.

Yes, he had a really poor start with Sinner winning the easy first set’s play. However, Alcaraz finally got the ball rolling where he managed to equalise his opponent at 1-1 apiece. Although Sinner never backed down in the hope of getting the job done following his 3rd set rebound, but at the end of the day, Alcaraz is the man that showed the best physical and mental toughness through the very end of that semi-final. The Spaniard rolled out the 5th and final decider following another close equalising set before he eventually found a way to close things out so quickly after a long afternoon on-court.

The final score was 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and 6-3 at Court Phillipe Chatrier.

Alcaraz has unfinished business off the back of his Wimbledon triumph last year despite some disappointments along the way. But he’s stepped up well into the next level at Roland Garros where it will be first big final there in the hope of winning his 3rd grand slam title. He first won the US Open two years ago before Wimbledon last year as 2024 could be the year he wins here and then come January he finally wins at Melbourne Park in 2025 – how about that? For now, he’s never backed down all along to stay in the game as just need to get that ball rolling right from the word go in the first set & he’ll get what he wants.

And Sinner unable to grasp the best out of Alcaraz when he just couldn’t close the game out despite leading a few times. He got straight into it to begin with where the Italian had some good moments to keep in check but then began to slip away once Alcaraz settled in after some time when pressure began to mount on him big time including the 5th set decider before it was too late in the end. It’s gutting to see him fall short after an outstanding last half year as said with the Davis Cup win for Italy & the Australian Open, but this was his first breakthrough (semis) on clay as he will surely look to rebound next time.

Alcaraz’s next opponent for Sunday’s men’s singles final will be joined by Alexander Zverev from Germany who defeated Alex De Minaur the other day during the Quarter-Final. Like the Spaniard, he too have bounced back so fast from the opening set down including a tight 3rd set battle v Norwegian Casper Ruud to book his 2nd major grand slam Final since the 2020 US Open. Having still yet to win a grand slam trophy at 27 following his first time loss to the now retired Dominic Thiem (Austria), can he really break his duck other than winning an Olympic Gold by defying the 21-year-old wonderkid? If not, will see unfinished business by seeing Alcaraz winning another first time major on clay who still has a big future ahead? It all comes down to this come Sunday night (our time) where it’s okay to stay up now going into overnight since the King’s Birthday public holiday (depending on where you live mainly in most states except WA and QLD) takes place the next day on Monday.

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Roland Garros, Iga Swiatek off to her 3th straight Final with Jasmine Paolini chasing her first major breakthrough in both the women’s singles & doubles competition

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Roland Garros women’s singles semi-finals saw two players heading up north for Saturday’s big final while the other two had to fall short and then walk through the exit door across back-to-back matches at Court Phillipe Chatrier. The first semis match was between 3 x Roland Garros winner and defending champion Iga Swiatek (Poland) and current US Open winner Coco Gauff (USA), with Swiatek off to a flying start where she was absolutely too good throughout the first set before she took her time well against such a difficult opponent (who had some moments to stay in the game at times that late to try & give herself a lifeline) that ensured her berth on what is going to be her 3rd straight Final here in straight sets (6-2 and 6-4).

For Gauff, it was good seeing her add another semi grand slam appearance off the back of her US Open triumph last year v Australian Open specialist Aryna Sabalenka. However, she still needs more time before she can hopefully dethrone Swiatek next time around who isn’t an easy opponent to face, especially from someone who knows a whole lot better on clay. Looking at Swiatek, she’s the queen of clay as we all know who was not only too good but also never lost in a big final before as who is going to be there to stop her in its tracks come Saturday? There’s one opponent we shall find out from the 2nd semi-final tie.

That next semi straight after Swiatek v Gauff was the battle between the first-time Roland Garros semi-finalists of Italian Jasmine Paolini and Mirra Andreeva. The first set was close to begin with where Paolini had the upper advantage and Andreeva showing some fight to hold her opponent back. In the end, Andreeva just couldn’t hold on a bit longer to try and turn things her way as Paolini got the job done with the 1-0 lead and then she was too good to bring the match to a quick close in straight sets (6-3, 6-1). She is now one step closer in hopefully ending Iga Swiatek’s winning Roland Garros hoodoo with the hope of winning her ever first singles grand slam trophy at the age of 28 which is a long, long way from here.

Not only that she’s still in the running alongside fellow compatriot Sara Errani in the women’s doubles semi-final later tonight (our time) v Elena Gabriela-Ruse & Marta Kostyuk, so looks like there’s going to be a bit of extra preparation. Who knows? She could win both the women’s singles and also women’s doubles trophies at the same time in Roland Garros history. And on Andreeva, she too also had a great run here including the 4th round earlier in the year at Melbourne Park having gone from 1-0 down to upset Sabalenka the other day during the Quarter-Final. She’d hoped she could do the same v Paolini where she did the best possible to stop the Italian from reaching the first set but just wasn’t her day unfortunately with the semis elimination on-court. At 17 years old, there’s more to come from Andreeva if she can keep it in the 2nd half of this season.

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