What budding astronaut Cam McEvoy started last night to win the 100m freestyle in a star-studded 47.56 at the Perth Aquatic Super Series he finished off superbly tonight.
The 21-year-old Griffith University science student produced two more impressive victories over 200m freestyle in 1:46.71 and the 50m freestyle in a personal best time of 21.73 to spearhead Australia to a resounding victory over Japan and China at HBF Stadium in Perth.
The Dolphins won the overall point-score and McEvoy was named the Male Swimmer of the Meet for his time in the 100m freestyle.
And if that wasn’t enough he rounded out the entertaining two-day meet with a rousing split of 21.59 to anchor the Australians to a come-from behind victory in the 4x50m freestyle relay.
The 200m saw McEvoy take charge early, spitting 52.09 through the first 100m and finishing off the second 100m in 54.62.
He proved too slick and too strong for fellow Australian Dolphin David McKeon who held on for second in 1:49.18 with Fuyu Yoshida from Japan third in 1:49.34.
It wasn’t long before he was back in the water with Dolphins sparring partner James Magnussen in the 50m dash and right from the get-go it was the very much in form McEvoy who was off the blocks like lightning in easily the fastest reaction time to clock a personal best time of 21.73, ahead of Magnussen 22.32 and China’s Yu Hexin 22.49.
His time makes him the fourth fastest Australian behind Ashley Callus, Eamon Sullivan and Magnussen – but the second fastest textile time to Magnussen.
“It’s nice to break through for some wins at this meet after three silvers in all three events for the past two years, so it’s nice to win all three and swim PBs in two of them,” said McEvoy.
“With the 50 I’m still 0.6 behind current world champion Florent Manaudou which in a 50 is miles; he could finish, have a coffee and watch me finish after that but it’s still nice to know that my momentum is still going and I’m on the steady improvement.
“The 50 is a fun event for me and is normally at the end of the meet but by then I’ve blown out all the cobwebs and I can give it my all for one lap.
“It’s good to get up with no pressure and see if I can beat myself – but it’s the 100 and 200 which are my main events – they go hand in hand.
“I had set myself a goal post Kazan to swim my 100 in 47 anything and I hit that earlier than I thought.
“Although I have improved in leaps and bounds in my training it still leaves mysteriousness and unknown when it comes to competitions but it’s nice to know where I sit in this point in time.”
In other men’s events dual world champion Mitch Larkin held on to win a tightly-contested 200m backstroke in 1:56.61 from China’s Xu Jiayu 1:57.21 and Japan’s Masaki Kaneko 1:57.57, while Mack Horton was relieved and pleased with his 15:07.61 to record a comfortable win in the 1500m freestyle.
And in one of the swims of the night in the women’s 200m breaststroke, Japan’s Beijing Olympian Rie Kaneto clocked a sizzling 2:20.04 – a new Australian All-Comers record and just outside the world record of 2:19.11, set by Denmark’s Rikke Pedersen in 2013.
With that time Kaneto, the 2014 Pan Pacific Championship silver medallist, was easily fast enough to take out the Female Swimmer of the Meet.
The 27-year-old relegated rising Australian star Georgia Bohl to second and London Olympian Tessa Wallace (2:26.97) to third.
Bohl hit the wall in 2:24.52 to set a new personal best time in the event and is riding a wave of confidence boosting best times that will hopefully continue all the way to the Australian Championships in April.
Over the past three months Bohl has emerged as a genuine Rio contender as she powers her way up the Australian rankings.
After a stunning personal best to finish second in the 100m last night in 1:06.63 (fourth fastest all-time Australian) the 18-year-old daughter of Olympic coach Michael Bohl repeated the dose tonight clocking 2:24.52 (sixth fastest all time Australian).
And in doing so has swum faster than three of Australia’s greats in Sam Riley, Rebecca Brown and Brooke Hanson.
The Aussie girls then demonstrated their dominance, taking the top two spots in both the 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke events.
With just 0.07 of a second separating Cate and Bronte Campbell in the 50m freestyle last night, the sprint sisters were once again fighting for first place, this time in the two-lap dash.
After taking the lead early and demonstrating her trademark speedy second lap, it was Cate who once again took bragging rights, stealing the win in 53.02 ahead of Bronte’s 53.30.
Third place went to China’s Menghui Zhu in a time of 54.19.
Cate said she was “certainly liking ‘this order’ a lot better than the order from last year” when Bronte won the world titles in both the 50 and 100m
“I was breathing towards Bronte and I could see her and I thought, ‘Oh man, she is really making me work for my money here’,” said Cate.
“And full marks to Bronte after coming back from her hip injury which certainly hasn’t been much fun for her.”
Then dual world champion Emily Seebohm proved too strong in the backstroke and managed to hold off a fast finishing Madison Wilson to pick up the points for Australia and add to her 200m win from last night.
Seebohm secured the win in 59.03 with Wilson a touch behind in 59.49 while third place went to Jie Chen from China in 1:00.36.
PERTH AQUATIC SUPER SERIES, Day 2, Finals:
MEN
50m freestyle
Cameron McEvoy (AUS) 21.73
James Magnussen (AUS) 22.32
Yu Hexin (CHN) 22.49
200m freestyle
Cameron McEvoy (AUS) 146.71
David McKeon (AUS) 1:49.18
Fuyu Yoshida (JPN) 1:49.34
1500m freestyle
Mack Horton (AUS) 15:07.61
Wu Yuhang (CHN) 15:23.26
David McKeon (AUS) 15:23.47
200m backstroke
Mitch Larkin (AUS) 1:56.61
Xu Jiayu (CHN) 1:57.21
Masaki Kaneko (JPN) 1:57.57
100m butterfly
Li Zhuhao (CHN) 51.97
Takeshi Kawamoto (JNP) 52.44
Takuro Fujii (JPN) 53.04
200m individual medley
Hirom Fujimori (JPN) 1:57.66
Takeharu Fujimori (JPN) 1:59.90
Travis Mahoney (AUS) 2:00.26
100m breaststroke
Yasuhiro Koseki (JPN) 1:00.33
Yan Zibei (CHN) 1:00.35
Jake Packard (AUS) 1:00.77
4x50m freestyle relay
Australia 1:28.88
Japan 1:29.60
China 1:31.10
WOMEN
100m freestyle
Cate Campbell (AUS) 53.02
Bronte Campbell (AUS) 53.30
Zhu Menghui (CHN) 54.19
400m freestyle
Jessica Ashwood (AUS) 4:05.76
Li Bingjie (CHN) 4:09.41
Ai Yanhan (CHN) 4:09.42
100m backstroke
Emily Seebohm (AUS) 59.03
Madison Wilson (AUS) 59.49
Chen Jie (CHN) 1:00.36
200m butterfly
Wang Siqi (CHN) 2:07.24
Emma McKeon (AUS) 2:07.68
Suzuka Hasegawa (JPN) 2:08.14
400m individual medley
Sakiko Shimizu (JPN) 4:38.13
Miho Takahashi (JPN) 4:43.54
Ye Shiwen (CHN)
200m breaststroke
Rie Kaneto (JPN) 2:20.04
Georgia Bohl (AUS) 2:24.52
Tessa Wallace (AUS) 2:26.97
4x50m medley relay
Australia 1:48.50
China 1:51.38
Japan 1:51.99
Swimming Australia contributed this report.
