Aussie World Champs Trials
The 2023 Australian World Trials took place at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center from June 13th through June 18th. The competition represented the sole qualifying opportunity for July's World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Australia’s biggest names stepped up to the blocks for their chance at a spot on the Australian team with F-Teamers Brendon Smith and Isaac Cooper booking their ticket to Japan at the end of a big week.
Griffith University's Brendon Smith returned home to Melbourne, in front of friends and family, to defend his national record in the 400IM, the event in which he won bronze in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. On the last day of competition Brendon swam a 4:10.64 finishing first and swimming under the qualification time, securing his spot on the team. This time ranks him 7th in the world this year. He had a big program over the course of the week making finals in the 200 with a time of 1:47.20 which was a big PB, and 400 Freestyle, winning silver in the 200IM and capping off the week with gold in the 400IM. Brendon felt that he had prepared well for the meet having tapered and is happy with the results and is looking forward to pulling on his APEX Predator X to compete in his third World Championships.
Olympian Isaac Cooper stood on the podium for all three of his events. In the 100m backstroke Isaac touched the wall first with a time of 53.46 moving him up to 15th fastest in the world this year. He then swam a 24.56 in the 50m backstroke which earned him a gold medal but was slighlty slower than the 24.38 he swam at the NSW State Champs in March. Showing versatility he won bronze in the 50m freestyle with a personal best time of 22.00.
Sprinter Jamie Jack had an exciting meet in Melbourne starting off with a swim-off with Cody Simpson in the heats of the 100m freestyle. While he didn't make it through to the finals for the 100 he had a great swim in the 50m freestyle final finishing 5th with a time of 22.22.
Max Giuliani had a mixed performance at the World championships trials, finishing 8th in the 200m freestyle event with a time of 1:48:05. Although he was happy with his swim in the heats, Max felt the pressure in the finals and felt he wasn't able to perform to his full potential. However, he noted that both his heat and finals swims were personal bests. Max had tapered for this meet and was aiming to qualify for the worlds team, but ultimately fell short of his goal. Despite this, he remained positive and acknowledged that this was his best trials performance yet. Looking ahead, Max is hoping to be selected for the Aus A team and potentially compete in England with the QLD team in the coming months.
Victorian breaststroker Calvin Reed put in a solid performance at the Trials, setting personal bests in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke events. Although he fell short of his goal time in the 50m event, he was pleased to have come close and was happy with his progress. However, in the 100m event, he felt like he cracked under pressure in the final. Overall, he felt positive about his performance and was glad to have competed fully tapered. Calvin has no major meets coming up and will be returning to training in Melbourne to continue his progress.
Be sure to follow our socials to keep up to date with our F-Teamers' achievements.
Instagram: @funkytrunks