McKeon flies on final night of Aussie Champs

Dolphin Emma McKeon (pictured) signed off on the last night of finals at the Australian Open Championships on the Gold Coast with a gold medal in the women’s 100m butterfly (56.58) and more importantly, the permission to rest.

The permission had to come from the decorated Olympian herself and this week’s meet – with a PB and gold in the 50m fly – cemented the revelation: “I’ve just got to rest”.

McKeon said: “My training has been going well, I’m really happy with it. It’s probably been the best it’s been since Tokyo … but I am 30 in a month, so I’ve got to get used to everything is changing. I have to be happy that my training is holding up to the level it was in Tokyo.

“I’ve just got to rest my body to race fast.”

Also racing fast on the final night of finals was world 200m record-holder Mollie O’ Callaghan. The 20-year-old clocked 1:53.57 to win gold with Ariarne Titmus second (1:55.38) and Lani Pallister third (1:55.99).

Pallister then backed up to win the 1500m free in 15:57.01.

“I think that’s probably where I should be, although I would like to go faster – I always do,’’ she said.

In other results:

• Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown flirted with her own 200m backstroke record, touching in 2:03.84 – 0.7 second short of world’s best practice. This was in addition to national records in the 200m and 400m individual medley.
• Doha world champion Sam Williamson won the 50m breaststroke in 27.60, while Bowen Gough won the 200m butterfly (1:57.85).
• Kyle Chalmers continued his good form, clocking 47.63 in the 100m freestyle ahead of William Yang (48.20) and Kai Taylor (48.69).
• In multi-class events, Tokyo Paralympian Jasmine Greenwood (S10) won the women’s 50m freestyle in 28.79. while Benjamin Hance (S14) claimed the men’s final in 23.50.

Live results can be found:  https://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2024Opens/