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Liz Dekkers

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Olympics Swimming News Day 6: Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold having fend off Team USA & China in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final

by Sports Benches

So happy to see our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold thanks to an excellent team relay effort in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Final. Love seeing Mollie O’Callaghan fire off comfortably into first while the returning Lani Pallister and Brianna Throsell held onto top spot along the way before Ariarne Titmus staved off a huge threat from Team USA & China en route towards an Aussie team gold. It might not be world record which was close but at least they did so well to keep their good lead intact, with Arnie unpacking the outstanding fire she really needs like to bring it home like her team-mate Mollie O.

Looking at the swimming Olympics medal tally now, we’re still first by one gold at a total of five so far ahead of Team USA with three days to go. Shoutout also to Liz Dekkers, who might have been languishing through the mid-pack for the most part off the back of a poor start, but the way she finished off the race wasn’t bad though where she moved her way up to 4th place towards the end in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final. Sure there’s more to come from the 20-year-old to hopefully chase gold someday at future World Championships that can really translate into an Olympics gold come 2028 in Los Angeles, USA.

Now what have we got in stall to stop Team USA from winning this swimming medal tally tomorrow? We got Kaylee McKeown in the Women’s 200m butterfly Final as well as Cameron McEvoy in the Men’s 50m sprint after being the equal fastest alongside Team GB’s Ben Proud during his semi-final 2 meet earlier this morning. So two gold medals up for grabs as sure the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team can hang in there with McEvoy & our Queen of Backstroke in McKeown going into this weekend. 

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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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Another silver for the Dolphins Swim Team on Day 5 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships with three potential gold medal races to bounce back tomorrow

by Sports Benches

Another day, another silver medal for the Dolphins Swim Team after Day 5 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Let’s start with 18-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan who endured a fantastic day once again in the pool. Not only she was too good all along in the lead up to tomorrow night’s Women’s 100m breaststroke final, but she also brought home another silver for the Dolphins with Madi Wilson, Leah Neale & Kiah Melverton in the Women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay.

Although Neale has the most credit when she briefly led the field at one point going into Stage 3/4 – but Katie Ledecky came in at the same as Melverton where she was proved too good for Team USA that sets up Bella Sims to finish off comfortably in 1st. As Bobby Hurley said on commentary, O’Callaghan will need to build on the early momentum in order to stay ahead. It’s the one weakness she couldn’t nail down China’s Junxuan Yang just before the finish line yesterday in the Women’s 200m Freestyle Final.

Then we look at Jenna Strauch over in the Women’s 200m breaststroke as she never looked out of place – especially when she came 1st in the semis before she ended up being the overall fastest out of the Top 8 for tomorrow night’s final. So does Zac Stubblety-Cook who smashed it in the Men’s 200m breaststroke where he came first as well in both preliminaries that sets up another potential gold to take home.

And shoutout to two other swimmers who couldn’t quite finish at least in the Top 3 but did their best nonetheless; Kaylee McKeown P6 in the Women’s 50m backstroke, as well as 18-year-old Liz Dekkers P5 in the Women’s 200m butterfly on her first International final – with a personal best time of 2:07:81.

Keep an eye on O’Callaghan, Stubblety-Cook and Strauch in the finals tomorrow that would hopefully put the Dolphins back to 2nd with three days left – even though it’s nearly impossible to catch up to their arch-rivals – Team USA.

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