Brooke’s Look At Day One of the Telstra Australian Championships: Blair Evans, Stephanie Rice, Nick D’Arcy Lead The Way
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SYDNEY, Australia, March 17. THIS week, 2004 Olympic silver medallist BROOKE HANSON will provide Swimming World with her exclusive look at the 2010 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
Australian Swimming has been through some turbulent times in recent months with big changes out of the pool since the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome.
The Australian team has a new head coach in Leigh Nugent after the unfortunate departure of respected National Head Coach Alan Thompson AND A NEW High Performance Manager in David Crocker.
Swimmers have moved on; started in new programs; others have been through injuries and operations; there have been engagements, weddings and retirements.
But this week the stars of Australian swimming are all looking to show they can move on from the turmoil that besieged the sport in 2009.
The opening night of finals saw some close, tough racing as the swimmers chased places on the Commonwealth Games team for Delhi India in October and the Pan Pacific Championships to be held in Irvine, California USA in August.
Women's 200m freestyle
We started with the final of the women's 200m freestyle, with Western Australian teenager Blair Evans causing the first major upset of the meet.
The 18-year-old distance freestyler from Perth (1.57.38) touched out the three women who were members of the gold medal-winning Olympic relay team Bronte Barratt (1.57.46), Kylie Palmer (1.57.69) and Stephanie Rice (1.58.13).
Evans, Barratt and Palmer clocked the three fastest times in the world this year.
Rounding out the top six positions for relay selection were Felicity Galvez (1.58.23) and Meagen Nay (1.58.62) – giving the Dolphins another promising squad.
Not even Evans could believe she won the event after aiming for a top five position saying, "I got excited for this event…my coach Matt Magee and I have been working hard on my sprints to help my 400 and 800.
"It's an amazing feeling… I got the shock of my life, it's a massive personal best and can't believe I won."
Men's 400m freestyle
The men's 400m freestyle saw defending champion Robert Hurley win in a time of 3.47.67 (25.91; 54.64; 1:53.18; 2:51.42) ahead of Ryan Napoleon 3.48.70 and dual Olympian Patrick Murphy 3.49.43.
Hurley's move back to his home program in Wollongong on the NSW South Coast from the AIS in Canberra to link up with coach, 1980 and 1984 Olympian Ron McKeon proved to be a master stroke.
The tall, lanky "card shark" who loves nothing more than a game of Texas Hold-em, put all his cards on the table in a brilliant performance.
He went out in 54.93, just behind the experienced Murphy and the pair turned together in 1:53.18 at the 200m before Hurley took control over the backend.
As hard as they tried Napoleon and Murphy could not catch Hurley in a frantic final lap.
200m Individual medley
Triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice bounced back from the disappointment of not placing in the 200m freestyle earlier in the night to win the women's 200m individual medley, clocking 2.10.07 (27.85; 1:01.17; 1:39.45).
The fast paced race was taken out hard by Australian team mate and fastest qualifier, Emily Seebohm who powered to a commanding lead at the half way mark with a strong split of 59.89 and she led into the final breaststroke turn before Rice's signature freestyle finish proved too powerful over the final lap to claim the win.
Backstroking specialist Seebohm's 2.10.75 (27.21; 59.89; 1:39.17) showed why she will be one to watch in this event leading into London while 2008 Olympian Alicia Coutts claimed the bronze in 2.11.97.
With coach Matt Brown steering her along Seebohm will be one of the big improvers in an event that I'll tip she will win at the 2012 Olympic Trials.
"I tried to stay as close as I could to Seebohm, it was really good to have someone to catch in the breaststroke it helped to spur me along," said Rice.
"I wasn't happy with my 200m free so I'm glad to have a swim that I'm happy with."
Men's 200m butterfly
What a night for Nick D'Arcy…finally the monkey and everyone else is off his back as he swam his way onto the Commonwealth Games team and dedicated his win in the 200m butterfly to his late grandmother Doreen.
After being dropped from the 2008 Olympic Games and 2009 World championships teams D'Arcy no one would have blamed D'Arcy for walking away from the sport.
Tonight he put the past behind him and let his swimming do the talking when he won the 200m butterfly in a time of 1.54.61 – just a touch outside his best.
D'Arcy led from start to finish winning by two body lengths and touched the wall only just outside his personal best time set at last year's championships. Second place went to the consistent Chris Wright 1.56.23 with training partner and champion National Age grouper Jayden Hadler 1.57.07 claiming the bronze.
It's been three years since D'Arcy represented Australia as a member of the Australian swimming team.
His last appearance was in 2007 where he made the semifinal of the 200m butterfly at the World Championships in Melbourne finishing 12th in 1.57.15.
"It was a tough race… I went out hard and tried to hold on, It's been tough over the last few years and there has been a few dark times but tonight I want to dedicate this swim to my grandma who passed away just last week," said D'Arcy. "The last thing she said to me was she wanted me to race fast for the rest of the year. She wanted me to get some wins under my belt. I was hoping she could stick around long enough to see this race but unfortunately she passed away. I want to thank her and this win means so much that I can do this for her."
D'Arcy has learnt the hard way and now takes nothing for granted.
He has matured as a swimmer and as a person and now he wants to win gold at the Commonwealth Games to thank his family and friends for standing by him.
NUGENT TO THE RESCUE…AGAIN
Day one of the meet also saw a fresh start for the Australian swimming team with former Australian Youth Coach Leigh Nugent announced as the new head coach of the Australian team until 2013.
With the unfortunate departure of Alan Thompson earlier in the year there is no doubt Nugent is the best person for the job.
I was fortunate enough to have Nugent as my home coach for four years of my career at the Nunawading swimming club in Victoria where he was head coach from 1979-2000.
He has been a tremendous asset to the National Youth Coach position and showed in 2004 that he can lead a team to success when he stepped into the head coach role for the Athens Olympic Games team.
"To be involved with this team is always a very humbling experience and one that should never be taken for granted" said Nugent who will see the team to 2013 with an option to continue to 2016.
Nugent 59, is passionate about the sport of swimming, he has an eye for technique and is a great leader. His 30-plus years of experience will be valuable to the teams success in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Olympic gold and silver medallist Brooke Hanson made her debut for the Australian Swimming Team in 1994 before going on to represent Australia over 25 times at major international championships, winning a then record six gold medals at the 2004 FINA World Short Course Championships in Indianapolis.