Golden doubles to McKeon and Larkin on night two of Short Course

Swimming Australia: 26 October, 2018:Emma McKeon and Mitch Larkin have claimed double gold on night two of the Hancock Prospecting Australian Short Course Championships at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

McKeon (Griffith Uni) defended her women’s 100m butterfly title clocking 56.72 with Laura Taylor (TSS Aquatic) and Gemma Cooney (Brisbane Grammar) taking out silver and bronze in 58.16 and 58.72 respectively.

Adding another gold to her tally, McKeon took out the women’s 50m freestyle in 24.01 ahead of Rockingham WA’s Holly Barratt in 24.15 and Nunawading 18-year-old Julia Hawkins in 25.00.

Larkin (St Peters Western) again showed his class taking out the men’s 200m backstroke in 1:49.07 from Jorden Merrilees (Melbourne Vicentre) in 1:51.32 and Southport Olympic’s Tristan Hollard in 1:52.97.

 

The dual Olympian and Commonwealth Games star then backed it up in the 200m individual medley to come home in 1:53.02 (just a touch outside his pb of 1:52.96) ahead of SOPAC’s Matthew Wilson adding the IM to his repertoire with a second pb of the day of 1:53.93 –with last year’s title holder Travis Mahoney (Marion) third in 1:54.98.

In the women’s 100m backstroke Brisbane Grammar teammates Emily Seebohm (56.53) and Minna Atherton (56.66) again took the spoils in a repeat of last night’s 200m battle with USC Spartan’s Youth Olympic Games champion Kaylee McKeown claiming bronze in 57.80.

Commonwealth Games triple gold medallist Ariarne Titmus (St Peters Western) set a blistering pace in the women’s 400m to claim gold in a personal best time and Australian All-Comers record of 3:59.19 with the consistent Carla Buchanan (Acacia) taking silver in 4:02.70 and Madeleine Gough (TSS Aquatic) the bronze in 4:03.62.

 

Her second pb of the meet after her nail-biting second to Sunshine Coast rising star Lani Pallister in the 800m the night before- with both girls clocking personal bests – Pallister 8:13.26 and Titmus 8:13.41 as did Maddie Gough (TSS Aquatic) 8:15.24.

In the multi-class events 15-year-old Ricky Betar (Auburn) continued his hot form from night one picking up gold in the men’s 100m freestyle to go with his 50m title from the previous night. USC Spartan’s Daniel Fox (52.81) took home the silver and University of Queensland’s Jack Ireland (53.21) the bronze.

Lakeisha Patterson (Lawnton) claimed gold in the women’s 100m freestyle multi-class with double Paralympian Ellie Cole claiming the silver in 1:02.08 and Katja Dedekind (USC Spartans) the bronze 1:02.01.

Dedekind improved on her earlier result to claim gold in the 100m backstroke in 1:10.57 with Patterson picking up her second medal of the night in 1:16.66 and Cole in third in 1:08.91.

Grant “Scooter” Patterson (Central Cairns) won the men’s 100m backstroke multi-class event in 2:02.83 ahead of Betar in 1:00.02 and Jacob Templeton (USC Spartans) in 1:02.94.

Rockingham’s Tommy Sucipto (58.35) took home the gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke with the fast finishing West Brisbane’s Zac Stubblety-Cook (58.39) taking silver and TSS Aquatic’s Grayson Bell (58.40) the bronze.

In the tightest of margins, Marion’s Kyle Chalmers (1:43.76) won the gold in the men's 200m freestyle from Bond teammates Elijah Winnington (1:43.77) and Alexander Graham (1:44.10).

While Bond University’s Jenna Strauch led all the way in the women’s 200m breaststroke in a new pb of 2.21.09 ahead of Nunawading’s Jess Hansen also in a pb of 2:21.69 and St Peters Western’s Abbey Harkin in a pb of 2:23.47.

The final day’s heats begin at 9.30am with finals starting at 4.30pm. The action can be live streamed on the 7plus app.