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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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Olympics News: Ariarne Titmus & the Aussie Dolphins Swimming women’s relay quartet dominated Night 1 with two gold in Paris

by Sports Benches

Wow!! The Aussie Dolphins Swim Team are flying high at the Paris La Defense Arena’s Olympic built swimming pool on night one with two gold & two silver medals as we are currently first on the swimming ladder with eight days to go.

Hats off to Ariarne Titmus on what has been a stunning swim for gold in the Women’s 400m Final, having kept herself ahead for this whole time – even if her competitors aren’t far away within her reach. Now Team USA’s Katie Ledecky might have not been a threat this time around but at least Arnie did enough to hold off 17-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh towards the end of the wall. There’s no better way to celebrate other than coach Dean Boxall’s signature moves/celebrations every time he sees their swimmers collect that gold medal as Arnie once again is the defending 2 x Olympic champion in that meet.

Not only that, our women’s relay swim team also done well in the 4 x 100m Freestyle Final consisting of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris. Yes, they may have fired off slowly against the likes of China and Great Britain. However, the way Mollie O finished off her first stint has helped the Aussies take over the lead before the rest of her team stabilised it up front, which was enough to bring it home with another gold medal for the Aussies.

Wow!! Can you believe it Mollie O’Callaghan? She can finish it off from out of nowhere who is 100% established as the queen of freestyle sprints! Message sent Arnie with more to come between these two sometime next week. As said, she gave a great opportunity for her team-mates to get the job done and yet they’ve done it through the very end. Also, what a moment for Emma McKeon as well who is now the all-time Olympic gold medallist of 6 gold, 2 silver & 4 bronze for Australia!

And over in the men, another gold or two would’ve been great. However, we still have a long way to go before we can beat Team USA for the overall Olympics swimming honours like it was at the World Champs in Fukuoka, Japan last year.

Shoutout to Elijah Winnington who finished 2nd behind Germany’s Lukas Mertens the Men’s 400m Freestyle Final & so does the Men’s relay team quartet of Jack Cartwright, Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor & Kyle Chalmers in the 4 x 100m Freestyle Final. We wished they can get over these fast starts but at least the last two shifts by Taylor and Chalmers was enough to bring themselves home into silver behind the winners of this race Team USA.

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2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials Day 6: The stage is set for the Dolphins Swim Team ahead of Paris after a few night qualification moments in Brisbane tonight

by Sports Benches

The sixth and final night of the 2024 Australian Olympic Swimming Trials finished off with a few more first time moments that punched their ticket to Paris while a few others had to miss out. Now the final Dolphins Swim Team Squad is all but set for lift-off to France ahead of their first swim in six weeks time where the next set of gold medal and world record moments will be made at the Paris La Defense Arena, which will have a built-in pool on top of a rugby pitch just for this one-off special event.

Great to see Shayna Jack win that Women’s 50m Freestyle Final sprint with Meg Harris joining her in 2nd and although Cate Campbell couldn’t get what she wanted in 5th, but she had an illustrious career in the pool though for half of her life since age 15 as wish we her all the best on life after the pool. The same can be said for Cody Simpson when he couldn’t make it to Olympics selection after Matt Temple dominated the 100m Butterfly Final. But glad he made the career switch to do what he loves that challenges him well physically and mentally after a great last decade singing songs & acting a bit on TV.

Meanwhile, we saw another few first time moments other than Jack as said with her previous doping ban – such as Brendan Smith (Kaylee McKeown’s boyfriend) and Will Petric (2nd) in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley, Jenna Forrester (2nd) in a similar women’s 400m IM Final event behind 17-year-old Ella Ramsay & Moesha Johnson (2nd & will also compete in the Women’s 10km open water race) in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle Final (last event of the program) behind Lani Pallister.

So there we have it, we’ve now got our best Dolphins Swim Team assembled that is ready to send the message to the world’s best – the message is that we’re on and we are ready to smash both lots of gold medals and new world records too. Bonjour Paris, here we come that’s going to last the last first week’s Olympic sports schedule before the Athletics/Track and Field events take over to wrap things up and it all starts on Saturday July 27th 2024 – one day after the Opening Ceremony.

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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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Day 4 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships, Dolphins finally got the gold off the back of Sam Williamson’s breakthrough gold in the 50m breaststroke

by Sports Benches

The Dolphins have got the gold at last halfway through this week’s World Swimming Championships as what a moment by Sam Williamson – the 26 year old from Mount Waverley in Victoria – who wowed everybody in the Men’s 50m breaststroke sprint Final. He might have fired off the bat from behind but had a brilliant last 25m form to lock out Italian Nicole Martinenghi at the end of the wall by just 0.07 of a sec at 26.32 – how good!! This is his first World Championship gold medal as let’s hope he will kick on for more throughout this year including the Summer Olympics in Paris this July-August.

Other than that, we were also oh so close where Elijah Winnington was two seconds behind Daniel Wiffen from Ireland in the Men’s 800m Freestyle Final & also in the 4 x 100m Mixed Medley Relay Final to Team USA. Elijah was outstanding from the start with the early lead where he was on the World Record radar at one stage but just couldn’t stay ahead when he lost the lead towards the last 400m. He did get back a spot back that late towards the very end though – just not enough time to challenge Wiffen there a bit longer. Meanwhile in the Mixed Medley race, slow start but Williamson (Breaststroke) organised a great springboard for his female team-mates to bring it home from 3rd where Brianna Throssell (butterfly) & Shayna Jack (freestyle) did their best during the last half shift – even though it wasn’t possible to catch down Team USA for 2nd.

And shoutout to Throssell again with the 200m Freestyle in bronze. Now the race for gold may be out of reach by Siobhan Haughey from Hong Kong while Jack’s good start has quickly faded not far from the end down in 7th, but she too has a brilliant swim all along on what has been her first individual World Championship medal other than lots of team relays.

Another four days left to go despite the chances of topping the medal charts may be out of reach since most of our top swimmers are choosing the Olympics over this World Championships, but there will be at least 1-2 gold medal opportunities coming up tomorrow such as Iona Anderson in the 50m backstroke sprint and the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Team Relay.

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Looking back at the Women’s 10km Open Water Swimming Final 2024 World Championship Race with Sharon Van Rouwendaal as the winner via a photo finish, Moesha Johnson 4th & Maddy Gough in 18th

by Sports Benches

The swimming pool leg may be only a week away on what is going to be another Swimming World Championships edition in Doha, Qatar with just six months out from the Summer Olympics in Paris, France as there has been a number of postponements in the last few years including Australia’s outstanding campaign half a year ago during the last World Champs in Fukuoka, Japan, due to COVID. But yesterday we saw such a thrilling end to the women’s 10km Open Water Swimming race Final where a few frontrunners were vying side-by-side for that one and only gold medal including two of our Aussies such as Moesha Johnson and Maddy Gough. The gold has ultimately went to Sharon Van Rouwendaal though from the Netherlands who defeated Spaniard Maria De Valdes by just 0.001 of a sec at the finish line, but Johnson swam really well & was oh so close too despite falling just outside the medal spots to Angelica Andre from Portugal by just 0.002 & 0.004 off Van Rouwendaal in 4th. Now Gough just couldn’t hold on a bit longer down as she would’ve liked that would give us the best chance down in 18th but great seeing her working together and backing up her team-mate Johnson out of a 70-odd field which wasn’t easy. Well done to both as it’s the men’s turn later today from 5.30pm AEDT before the race distance will be halved by 5km going into Tuesday for the Men’s and Wednesday for the Women’s respectively. Let’s hope we can see an odd Aussie medal there or even a gold one better by Chelsea Gubecka in the 5km race after she finished silver at the previous WC.

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