Throssell Earns Short Course Selection

WAIS swimmer Brianna Throssell has earned selection for the Australian Short Course Team to compete at next month’s World Championships in Doha after the 2014 National Championships completed in Adelaide over the weekend.

18 year-old Throssell will be the youngest member of the Australian squad, with the Matt Magee coached, City of Perth swimmer making her second appearance at the Short Course World Championships, having previously competed in 2012.

Throssell added a second national championship to her collection after winning the 800m freestyle title to go with her earlier victory in the 200m fly.

One of the stars of the meet was WAIS athlete and dual Paralympic gold medallist Katherine Downie. Downie claimed a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke on the opening night of competition, before adding two titles in the 200m IM and 50m freestyle, whilst also adding further silver and bronze medals to her collection in the 100m and 50m backstroke respectively.

Downie took to social media following competition to tweet: “All done and dusted at Australian Short Course Championships happy with 2 titles, bling and decent pb’s,” it read in part.

Her Short Course success added to a year that saw the 18 year-old medal at National long course, Commonwealth and Pan Pac level.

Downie is coached out of Westside Swim Club under the guidance of Paul Bruce, and the coach saw another of his charges return a medal performance in Adelaide, with Lennard Bremer claiming a silver medal in the men’s 200m breaststroke.

Tommy Sucipto enjoyed a productive meet, dead heating for third place in the men’s 50m breaststroke. Visiting Polish swimmer Michal Zawadka won the race, meaning Sucipto – coached by Stacey Scott – was actually equal second of the Australian swimmers.