Evans Hits New PB in 400m IM at Berlin World Cup
Western Australian swim star Blair Evans has won a bronze medal and set a new personal best in the 400m IM at the Berlin World Cup short-course meet in Germany.
The London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympian produced her fastest ever swim in the 400 to touch home in a new best of 4:29.56.
Evans’ swim earned her a bronze medal – behind the 2017 long-course World Champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary and Spain’s world championship silver medallist Mireia Belmonte.
Her return to full fitness comes after a frustrating 2017 domestic season that saw her compete at April’s Australian Championships off the back of an injury interrupted preparation.
Despite this, Evans still managed to snare gold and a national title in the 400m IM but outside of the qualifying time for last month’s World Titles in Budapest.
Her European form however, will no doubt spark confidence that she can reach a second Commonwealth Games for Australia, with the talent – who trains under Bud McAllister at the Northern High Performance Training Centre in Craigie – part of Australia’s gold medal winning 4x200m freestyle relay team in Delhi in 2010.
The Padbury resident also swam in the final of the women’s 200m freestyle in Berlin, clocking 1:56.48 for seventh place. The gold medal went to Swedish superstar Sarah Sjostrom.
Meanwhile, Western Australian breaststroke swimmers George Harley and Tommy Sucipto have both returned medal winning efforts at the recent US Open Swimming Championships in New York.
Harley claimed gold in the men’s 200m breast final in a time of 2:10.57, overhauling Texan Jonathon Tybur in the final 50m.
Sucipto picked up a silver medal and a new personal best in the 100m breast final, setting a time of 1:00.67 for second place behind Ian Finnerty. Harley finished in fourth position in a time of 1:00.96.
Sucipto also clocked the 11th fastest time in the 50m free.