Stevens swims his way to Commonwealth Games

Opening night of finals at the Commonwealth Games Swimming Trials saw a mixture of both established and new faces cement their places in the Australian team.

Craig Stevens cemented a place in the Commonwealth Games team after swimming after claiming the 400 metres freestyle title with a time 3:50.53 seconds, breaking the dominance of Ian Thorpe in this event.

Stevens, facing a lot of pressure leading into this meet due to the non appearance of an injured Grant Hackett, and Thorpe contesting only selected events in his return to national competitions was happy to get his trials off to a good start.

“I’m very happy to make the team and the Commonwealth Games will some open fields without Grant (Hackett) and Ian (Thorpe).”

Libby Lenton claimed second place in the 200 metres freestyle final behind Linda McKenzie and rising star of Australia swimming, Queenslander Bronte Barratt finishing in third.

“I was a bit more nervous and it’s the first time for me swimming in a big final like this.”

McKenzie, who has been overshadowed by Lenton in recent years, was very happy to finally claim the title.

“I do well in the big ones and like to swim fast, but the 400 (metres) is my best event.”

Matt Welsh qualified for tomorrow night’s final of the 50 metres backstroke with the fastest time of 26 seconds and will be looking to continue his dominance of Australian backstroke swimming.

Australia’s world record holder for the 50 metres breaststroke, Jade Edminstone, qualified for the final with a time of 30.37 seconds and was only a fraction slower than the World mark of 30.31 that she set during her heat.

Crowd favourite, Brooke Hanson, qualified fourth fastest for the final of the 50 metres breast stroke with a time of 31.60 seconds and is looking forward to the rest of her events and is excited to have the Commonwealth Games in front of a home crowd.

“I’m happy to make the Commonwealth Games team and it’s great to be back in Melbourne.”

Jessicah Schipper finished in the top eight with a time of 27.31 seconds to qualify for the 50 metres breast stroke final.

“So far, so good for me at this meet and I don’t have the 100 (metres butterfly) heats or finals until Wednesday.”

Tonight’s crowd exceeded all expectations, with general admission tickets almost sold out and crowds are expected to build each day of the trials which run until Saturday.

Tomorrow morning’s heats will see more fierce competition to make the Commonwealth Games team and two of the highlights including two time Olympian Adam Pine in the 50 metres butterfly and Giaan Rooney starting her trials campaign in a heat of the 100 metres backstroke.

Related Article:

Trials start with new world record (Mon Jan 30)

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