Barratt Makes Dolphins Debut
Western Australian swimmers Holly Barratt and Zac Incerti were both in action in the 100m backstroke on day two of swimming events at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest.
Both swimmers are making their senior long-course World Championship debut for the Dolphins in Hungary, with Barratt becoming the oldest swimmer to achieve the milestone at 29 years of age.
In the morning heats, Barratt swam well to record the seventh fastest qualifying time overall, after stopping the clock in 59.87.
Barratt returned in the evening to race the semi-finals, but would not earn entry into the final, setting the 11th quickest time of 59.95 to miss the top eight qualification. Australian Emily Seebohm (58.85) was second fastest qualifier for the final and will look to defend her world title on day three.
Incerti at 21 years of age swam his first individual event at World Championship level, one day after appearing for the Australian men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team.
The Broome product clocked 54.82 in his heat for the 20th fastest time, which missed the top 16 cut-off for semi-finals.
The UWA-West Coast club member has made giant strides in a short amount of time and he will now look to earn back-to-back representative honours ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Emma McKeon was the story of day two action for the Dolphins team, with the Rio Olympian earning world championship silver in the women’s 100m butterfly behind world champion Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden.
Photos: Swimming Australia Ltd