Barratt and McClure Shine on Night Six of #AusChamps16

Published On: 13 April 2016

A title win to WAIS athlete Holly Barratt in the 50m fly and a world record to Jeremy McClure in the 50m backstroke (S11) has highlighted the WA action on day 6 of the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide.

Barratt swam a career personal best of 26.19 to take-out the national title crown in the non-Olympic event, ahead of Marieke D’Cruz and Sara Saal.  

With Barratt at 28 years of age, flanked on the podium by D’Cruz (30) and Saal (29) she could see the funny side as she updated her follows on Instagram.

“With a combined age of almost 90, us old girls did pretty well tonight I think!” she said.

Fellow WAIS athlete Brianna Throssell finished seventh in the final.

In a meet that has had so many terrific stories, Jeremy McClure added his to the mix, with the 28 year-old, triple Paralympian setting a new world record in the men’s 50m backstroke S11 class, that classifies vision impairment.

McClure – who is legally blind – has only returned to competitive swimming in recent times, and he showed that he has lost none of his competitive nous, clocking 32.84 to break a world record and put his name forward for Paralympic selection, when announcement of the Rio Team is made on Thursday.

There was also medal success for Kat Downie and Tommy Sucipto on Tuesday night, via the 200m IM and 50m breaststroke finals respectively.

Downie who is aiming to qualify for a second Paralympic team, earned silver in the 200m IM final, earning 832 points, after touching the wall in 2:34.84. Gold went to Tiffany Thomas Kane, who accrued 879 points after swimming home in 3:08.98.

Sucipto dead-heated for third place in an entertaining 50m breaststroke final, that was won by Joshua Palmer.

Palmer shaved the final stopping the clock in 27.85, a mere one-hundredth of a second ahead of Jake Packard in second, whilst Sucipto shared third step on the podium with Matthew Treloar.

In Wednesday’s action, Rio 2016 qualified athlete Tamsin Cook will contest the final of the women’s 800m free, looking to add a potential third event to her Olympic schedule. There will also be strong interest in the women’s 50m free, men’s 100m fly and finals across backstroke, breaststroke and multiclass, ensuring another must watch night ahead on the Road to Rio.