Swimming

Ella Ramsay Turns In 1:06.87 100 Breaststroke PB At 2024 Sydney Open

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By Retta Race on SwimSwam

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2024 SYDNEY OPEN & UNISPORT NATIONALS

Day 2 of the 2024 Sydney Open & Unisport Nationals brought another session of speedy results ahead of next month’s Olympic Trials. Racers are tuning up and making their final preparation ahead of June’s main event which is the sole competition determining who will represent the green and gold in Paris this summer.

19-year-old Ella Ramsay made some noise tonight in the women’s 100m breaststroke, letting her fellow Aussies know she’s a contender for Paris qualification.

The Chandler ace fired off a time of 1:06.87 to beat the field by over 3 seconds en route to establishing a monster new personal best.

Splitting 31.82/35.05, Ramsay hacked her previous career-quickest mark of 1:07.64 to bits. That prior result was posted at last December’s Queensland Championships. With tonight’s performance, Ramsay now rockets up the list of all-time Aussie performers to land in slot #11.

Her result this evening is already within striking distance of the Swimming Australia-mandated Olympic Qualification Time of 1:06.31 needed to punch her ticket to Paris. Ramsay is now the fastest Aussie this season which bodes well for what she’ll need to accomplish next month against the likes of Jenna Strauch and Chelsea Hodges.

Ramsay has shown her versatility through just 2 days of this competition. She won the 400m free on night one in a big-time personal best of 4:11.49.

New mom Emily Seebohm was also in the water, competing in the women’s 100m backstroke.

The 31-year-old representing St. Margaret’s got to the wall in a mark of 1:00.72 to beat the field by nearly one second.

Runner-up status went to 20-year-old Layla Day who touched in 1:01.52 while 24-year-old Gemma Cooney rounded out the podium in 1:01.63. Of note, Minna Atherton, the SCM 100 backstroke world record holder, settled for 5th in 1:02.33.

Seebohm’s outing is a nice new season-best for the successful veteran, overtaking the 1:01.21 logged at April’s National Championships. Her lifetime best remains at the 58.23 from the heats of the 2012 Olympic Games.

It’s not out of the question for Seebohm to make a run at the 59.62 Olympic QT with her steady improvements since returning to the pool. World record holder Kaylee McKeown is a shoo-in for the top roster slot but there is not a sure thing for position #2.

Mollie O’Callaghan crushed a personal best of 58.09 last month as a warning shot, but we’ll need to see if she includes the event in her Olympic Trials lineup.

Just as with the men’s 200m IM last night, Daiya Seto of Japan and Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand battled it out in the 200m butterfly in tonight’s session.

29-year-old Seto got his hand on the wall first, producing a time of 1:55.45 to eke out the victory over 24-year-old Clareburt. Clareburt, the reigning world champion in the 400m IM, settled for silver in 1:55.64. Bowen Gough represented the fastest Aussie, who stopped the clock at 1:58.39.

Splits for Seto included 25.64/29.72/30.24/29.85 compared to Clareburt who notched 25.99/29.82/30.26/29.57 to charge home and just miss out on gold.

Seto is the Japanese record holder in this 2fly, owning a lifetime best of 1:52.53 from the 2020 Champions Series. Clareburt won this 2fly at this year’s New Zealand Olympic Trials, hitting 1:57.06. However, he’s been as fast as 1:55.60 from when he topped the 2022 Commonwealth Games podium.

Although the men’s 50m free final took place yesterday, several swimmers dove back in for a time trial as part of tonight’s competition.

Cameron McEvoy once again got to the wall first, punching a time of 21.94 as the sole sub-22-second swimmer. That was nearly identical to the 21.91 he registered for gold last night.

16-year-old Joshua Conias was nearly at his same mark as well, posting 22.37 tonight compared to this 22.35 from the primary race. Grayson Bell touched in 22.78 and Clareburt turned in 22.88 for 4th place.

William Yang continued his momentum from the heats of the 100m free to ultimately grab the gold when it came to tonight’s main event.

SOSC’s Yang busted out a time of 48.47 to get to the wall half a second ahead of 18-year-old Flynn Southam who nailed 48.97. New Zealand’s Carter Swift also landed on the podium in 49.18 for bronze while Matt Temple finished 4th in 49.22.

As for Yang, tonight’s performance is par for the swimmer’s comeback course, with Yang registering a series of consistent swims since returning from back surgery before championship season in 2023.

Last month’s Australian Championships saw Yang post a personal best of 48.20 to put his countrymen on notice as a viable candidate to take a spot in the 1free on the Aussie roster for Paris.

Additional Winners

  • The women’s 400m IM saw 17-year-old Arabella Bahr produce a time of 4:59.60 for the victory.
  • Mark Nikolaev was too quick to catch in the men’s 50m back, hitting 25.23 to Ben Armbruster‘s runner-up result of 25.45. The 200m backstroke victor here, Kane Follows of New Zealand, bagged bronze in 25.79.
  • Bailey Lello notched a winning effort of 28.17 to take the men’s 50m breast. Bond’ Joshua Collett secured silver in 28.27 as former world record holder in the 2breast, Zac Stubblety-Cook, was 3rd in 28.27.
  • Visiting Olympian Rikako Ikee topped the women’s 50m fly podium in a solid 25.58, beating the field by over a second. Ikee logged 25.53 at last month’s Aussie Nationals for her best time of the season and was right near that tonight.
  • Brittany Castelluzzo nabbed gold in the women’s 200m free, posting 1:58.89. 17-year-old Olivia Wunsch of Carlile turned in 1:59.38 and Chandler’s veteran Leah Neale earned bronze in 1:59.52 as a warm-up for next month’s Trials.

SwimSwam: Ella Ramsay Turns In 1:06.87 100 Breaststroke PB At 2024 Sydney Open

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