Less Than a Week Until Kaylee McKeown, Ariarne Titmus Headline Australian Championships (Psych Sheets)
Less than a week remains until the start of the Australian Swimming Championships at the South Australia Aquatic & Leisure Centre. The five-day competition will be used as a primary component to name the Australian squads which will race at this summer’s World Championships in Budapest and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
A handful of leading Aussies have indicated they will bypass the World Champs and focus on the Commonwealth Games, including seven-time Olympic medalist Emma McKeon and Kyle Chalmers, a two-time Olympic medalist in the 100-meter freestyle. McKeon will not compete in Adelaide while Chalmers will only contest the butterfly events, but both swimmers have been given wildcard entries to Commonwealths.
Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus will be in action at the Aussie Champs in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle, but she will not compete at Worlds. The same cannot be said for Kaylee McKeown, the Olympic titlist in the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. McKeown plans to chase world championships in her specialty events and is also entered at the Aussie Champs in the 200 individual medley and 400 IM.
On the men’s side, Olympic gold medalist Zac Stubblety-Cook is the top seed in the 200 breaststroke and will seek qualification for Budapest in order to add a world crown to his collection. Meanwhile, veteran Mitch Larkin is entered in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 individual medley, his prime disciplines, and Elijah Winnington is expected to headline the middle-distance freestyles.
Here are the entry lists in alphabetical order, and a live-results link which shows seed order.
Do you already know for sure that Kaylee participates in the World Champs?