Kenrick Monk took another quantum leap towards next year’s Beijing Olympics while Stephanie Rice added her second Commonwealth record in two weeks in a thrilling night’s racing at the Telstra Australian Short Course Championships at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
Monk, 19, held on to beat Australian Team Captain Grant Hackett – one of the men he has often dreamt about beating in the 200 metre freestyle final.
Fresh from his maiden international victory in the same event at last week’s Japan International, Monk led from the start and as hard as Hackett tried, he could not quite catch the “man mountain” from Sydney, who stopped the clock at 1:43.27 – a personal best by a full second.
The only Australians to have swum faster are world record holder Ian Thorpe (1:41.10) and Hackett (1:42.48).
Hackett, after his stunning 800m time of 7:27.81 (the second fastest all-time) this morning, backed up to push Monk all-the-way to the wall in 1:43.45, with Monk’s fellow young guns 20-year-olds Kirk Palmer (1:44.17) third and Grant Brits (1:44.35) fourth.
There were also encouraging signs for Athens Olympian Nicholas Sprenger, who was fifth in 1:44.93.
“That was a massive personal best and a major confidence booster to beat Grant,” said Monk, fourth behind Michael Phelps at this year’s FINA World Championships.
“I knew Grant would come at me over the final stages – he showed that in the heats so I had to be quicker through the middle 100 metres.
“I learnt in Japan that I have to swim my own races and that’s what I tried to do tonight.”
Meanwhile Commonwealth Games golden girl, Rice continued on her winning ways, breaking the Commonwealth record in the 400 metres individual medley, clocking a time of 4:32.48 – a second-and-a-half faster than Lara Carroll’s mark of 4:34.08 set in 2005.
Just last week in Japan, Rice smashed Jennifer Reilly’s Commonwealth long course record when she finished second to Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry.
Tonight she admitted she has now warmed to short course swimming.
“It’s not a chore anymore – I’m learning more about short course swimming and that was actually a 10 second PB – but for me long course still rules,” said Rice.
In the women’s 200m butterfly final Athens Olympian Felicity Galvez gave Chinese girl Yang Yu’s world record a real nudge, stopping the clock at 2:04.74 – 0.70 outside the 2004 world mark and 0.58 outside Susie O’Neill’s Commonwealth record of 2:04.16.
Galvez cleared out on youngster Samantha Hamill (2:07.01) with an ailing Jessicah Schipper third in 2:07.02.
World records tumbled in the Multi Disability events with Paralympic “super boys” Matthew Cowdrey and Peter Leek and future Paralympian Annabelle Williams all establishing new world records in finishing first and second in the 100m freestyle.
Cowdrey, one of the stars of the 2006 Commonwealth Games with his two gold medals, clocked a stunning 54.42 secs, while Leek stopped the clock at 59.79.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Williams clocked her first world record in winning the 100m freestyle, clocking 1:05.13. Her Games team mate Lichelle Clarke (Warragul Vic) won silver in 1:13.80 with Prue Watt (Nu Swim, NSW) third in 1:02.48.
Places in Multi Disability events are calculated on the percentage of the world records in the respective classifications.
MEN’S 200M FREESTYLE
Enter the new breed of Aussie male. Nineteen-year-old Kenrick Monk (SOPAC Swim Club) won his first National Short Course title in the 200m freestyle tonight to match his win in the same event at this year’s long course Australian Championships. Monk clocked a “massive personal best” of 1:43.27 – bettered only by Ian Thorpe (1:41.10, WR) and Grant Hackett (1:42.48). It was Hackett who Monk had to keep at bay down the final 100m and he dug deep to do just that. Hackett touched in second in 1:43.25 with another rising star in Kirk Palmer (Barker Aquatics, NSW) clocking a personal best of 1:44.17 for third.
WOMEN’S 200M BUTTERFLY
Olympic finalist Felicity Galvez shook the life out of Chinese girl Yang Yu’s world record and Susie O’Neill’s Australian record in the 200m butterfly final. Galvez (Unattached, NSW), stopped the clock at 2:04.74 – a time only bettered in Australia by O’Neill (2:04.16) and Jessicah Schipper (2.04.42). Galvez, the winner of five gold and one silver on this year’s Mare Nostrum tour has rocketed into contention for her second Olympic team next March. Youngster Samantha Hamill (Quad Park, Qld) clocked a PB of 2:07.01 to edge out an out-of-sorts Schipper (Redcliffe Leagues-Lawnton, Qld), 2:07.02.
WOMEN’S 400m INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist Stephanie Rice added Commonwealth record number two in as many weeks when she added the Commonwealth Short Course mark to her Long Course standard set in Japan last week. Rice clocked 4:32.48 to lower Lara Carroll’s previous record by two seconds. Rice staged a neck-and-neck battle with the experienced two-time Olympian Jennifer Reilly (Rockingham, WA) who finished second in 4:34.28, with Hamill backing up after her 200m butterfly silver to take bronze. Carroll was fourth in 4:40.90.
MEN’S 100M FREESTYLE MULTI DISABILITY
Paralympic “super boys” Matthew Cowdrey (Norwood, SA) and Peter Leek (Wizards, NSW) both established new multi-disability world records in finishing first and second in the 100m freestyle. Cowdrey, one of the stars of the 2006 Commonwealth Games with his two gold medals clocked a stunning 54.42 secs, while Leek stopped the clock at 59.79. Leek had posted his world record of 58.95 in the morning heats. Third place went to Matthew Levy (Warringah Aquatic, NSW) in 1:00.40.
WOMEN’S 100m FREESTYLE MULTI DISABILITY
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Annabelle Williams (Pro-Ma Miami, QLD) clocked her first world record in winning the 100m freestyle for Multi Disability athletes, clocking 1:05.13. Winning silver was her Games team mate Lichelle Clarke (Warragul Vic) 1:13.80 with Prue Watt (Nu Swim, NSW) third in 1:02.48. (Places in Multi Disability events are calculated on the percentage of the world records in the respective classifications).
MEN’S 4x100m FREESTYLE RELAY
Grant Hackett completed a successful day in the pool at his new home when he anchored the Melbourne Vicentre 4x100m freestyle relay team to victory when he split 48.57 to hold off a powering Kenrick Monk (SOPAC Swim Club) 47.63. Patrick Murphy led off for Melbourne Vicentre in 49.33, followed by Matt Targett (47.57) and Michael Papaioannou (49.62) for a combined time of 3:14.90, followed by SOPAC (3:17.55) and Yeronga Park (3:17.75).
WOMEN’S 4x200m FREESTYLE RELAY
Albany Creek, with Kylie Palmer leading off in 1:56.11 (seventh fastest All-Time by an Australian), anchored by Bronte Barratt (1:55.67) and well supported by Sarah Hoschke-Edwards (2:01.47) and Morgan Lee-Barnes (2:01.86) set a new Australian Club record of 7:55.12. Carey Aquatic (8:03.11) won silver and Pro-AM Miami (8:05.12) claimed bronze.
SEMI-FINALS
100M BREASTSTROKE
The stage is set for a classic one-on-one contest in the men’s 100m breaststroke final after long course Australian champion Brenton Rickard (Brothers, QLD) (59.60) and defending Australian Short Course champion Christian Sprenger (Commercial, Qld) (59.76) won their respective semi-finals. Rickard shares the Australian record with Jim Piper at 58.53.
WOMEN’S 50M BREASTSTROKE
If the men’s is a face-off then the women’s 50m final will be much the same. World record holder Jade Edmistone (Commercial, Qld) nudged her own world mark – stopping the clock at 30.04 – compared to her three-year-old standard of 29.90, while defending champion and long course queen Leisel Jones (Carey Aquatic, Vic) won her semi-final in 30.57. Jones’ Carey team mate Sarah Katsoulis was the third fastest qualifier in 30.89.
WOMEN’S 100m BACKSTROKE
Young guns Emily Seebohm (Brothers, Qld) and NCAA champion Rachel Goh (Melbourne Vicentre, Vic) head the qualifiers for tomorrow night’s final, clocking personal best times of 58.65 and 58.74 respectively, with Commonwealth record holder Tay Zimmer (Kingscliff, NSW) third in 58.87. Seebohm and Goh moved up the Australian rankings at a rate of knots – both from outside the All-Time Top Ten to second and third behind Zimmer.
MEN’S 100M BUTTERFLY
Veteran Adam Pine (Ginnenderra, ACT) has sent out a clear message to his younger rivals: “Catch me if you can” for tomorrow night’s 100m butterfly final, winning his semi-final in 52.05 from Matt Targett (Melbourne Vicentre Vic), at 21 – 10 years his junior, and Andrew Lauterstein (Southport Olympic, Vic) at 20 – 11 years his junior. Pine is the defending Australian champion with his sights on his third Olympic team next March.
