What You May Have Missed At 2021 Queensland Championships | SwimSwam

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2021 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, December 11th – Friday, December 17th
• Brisbane Aquatic Centre
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entries
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
• Results
  • Individual Events
  • Club Relays

The end of the Queensland Championships overlapped with this year’s FINA Short Course World Championships which means you may have missed some of the key swims which took place down under. We’ve highlighted several notable performances from the week-long Aussie meet here so you can be in the know on all fronts.

Women’s 50m Freestyle

17-year-old Olympic medalist Mollie O’Callaghan reaped gold in her age category’s 50m freestyle race with a mark of 25.19. She owns a personal best of 24.80 from the Olympic Trials as a point of reference.

Taking the open category for the women’s 50m free was 23-year-old Shayna Jack, the woman who is competing for the first time since having served a two-year suspension to having tested positive for a banned substance in 2019.

Jack put up a time of 24.41 to beat the field, a result which stands as the 2nd fastest time of her career. The St. Peters Western athlete owns a PB of 24.38 from the 2019 Australian Championships, so tonight’s effort falls just .03 outside of that standard.

Men’s 16-Yr-Old 50m Freestyle

16-year-old sprint ace Flynn Southam clocked a time of 22.67 to win his age category’s 50m free title. Southam’s effort shaved .07 off of the Queensland All Comers Record previously held by New Zealand swimmer Michael Pickett at 22.74 from 2019.

Women’s 200m Freestyle

O’Callaghan snagged the 200 free victory on the first night of individual swims at these Queensland Championships. She  posted a time of 1:56.51, good enough to beat out teammate and reigning 400 free and 200m free Olympic gold ,medalist Ariarne Titmus.

We reported how, as of September, the Dean Boxall-trained star hadn’t swum a lap since her Tokyo success, giving her mind and body time to rest and take stock of what she accomplished this summer. 21-year-old Titmus took silver in the 2free here in 1:57.36.

Women’s 400m Free

Titmus was in total control of the 400m free, posting a super solid return effort of 4:04.64 to take the race by about 3 seconds. St. Peters Western training mate Kiah Melverton was next in line in 4:07.63 while Griffith’s 24-year-old Moesha Johnson was good enough for bronze in 4:08.00.

For perspective, Titmus’ 4:04.64 time here would have placed 6th in that Tokyo final as a testament to how dangerous the Dean Boxall–trained swimmer is in this distance.

Men’s 100m Free

The men’s 100 free open category saw Southam bust out a time of 49.40 to check-in as the newly-minted Queensland Age Record holder over icon Ian Thorpe.

Southam masterfully split 24.62/24.78 to notch a lifetime best and get the edge over Olympian Tommy Neill who touched in 49.43.

Here is the video of Southam’s 49.40 race.

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