Evans Misses Medals in 400 and 200m Freestyle Finals

Published On: 19 March 2012

WAIS swimmer Blair Evans has missed out on medals in both the 400m and 200m freestyle finals at the Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide.

After the excitement of claiming her London place with a silver medal in the 400m IM earlier in the meet, Evans qualified seventh fastest for the final of the 400m freestyle with a swim of 4:12.42mins.

In a high quality field, Australian star and Beijing Olympic medallist Kylie Palmer claimed the win – and a new Australian record (4:03.40) in front of Bronte Barrett (4:05.74) and 14 year-old Remy Fairweather (4:08.63).

Evans’ fourth place finish wasn’t enough to earn a second ticket to London, despite a solid time of 4:08.92.

The Matt Magee coached swimmer was back in action again on day three, progressing well through the heats (1:57.86) and semis (1:57.78), but appeared to tire in Sunday night’s final, finishing seventh in 1:57.91.

Bronte Barrett (1:55.99) upstaged her Queensland teammate Kylie Palmer (1:56.04) for the win, whilst Southport Olympics swimming club’s Mela Schlanger (1:56.73) rounded out the top three. Evans’ seventh place saw her miss the top six cut for the Australian 4x400m freestyle relay team, which judging by the quick qualifying times will be well in contention for a medal in London.