Medals Elusive on Night Four of Finals

Medals proved elusive for WA’s elite swimmers on night four of finals at the Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide.

But there were some near misses with three athletes falling narrowly shy of acquiring competition bling.

Ashton Brinkworth’s breakout performance continued with 19 year-old qualifying for the final of the men’s 200m freestyle race.

Having already made an impact in the men’s 100m final, he proved just as impressive in the four-lap race, qualifying safely in 1:49.24, before dipping well below that mark in the final for fourth place in a quick 1:48.77.

Kyle Chalmers earned a third individual gold medal, stopping in 1:46.30 ahead of another young gun in Elijah Winnington (1:46.91) with Clyde Lewis (1:47.92) in third.

Brinkworth’s efforts secured him another qualifying time for the World University Games.

The depth of talent in the women’s freestyle ranks was well evidenced in the 50m final with the Campbell sisters sharing the podium with second placed Shayna Jack.

The race was won by Cate Campbell in 24.30, with younger sister Bronte in third (24.51). Jack was mighty close to Campbell’s winning time in 24.38, whilst Barratt kept herself in the hunt throughout with a 24.91 for fourth place.

Blair Evans enjoyed a hitout in the women’s 200m breaststroke final and swam well for fifth place in 2:30.01.

Evans was this week named as one of three Western Australian high performance athletes who are lending their support to a new Australian Institute of Sport initiative in tandem with Lifelife through the Community Custodians Program. You can read more about that announcement here.

Jenna Strauch won the women’s 200m breaststroke national title in 2:24.88 with Abbey Harkin (2:25.12) and Zoe Deacon (2:27.66) rounding out the podium.