Bronte Campbell Takes 100 Free On Day Two Of Aussie SC Championships

2023 AUSTRALIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2023 AussieShort Course Championships rolled on from Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre with multi-Olympic medalist Bronte Campbell in the pool.

The 29-year-old representing Cruiz Swim Club took on her first event of the 100m free, topping the podium in a time of 52.39. Campbell opened in 24.84 and closed in 27.55 to get to the wall nearly 2 seconds ahead of the next-closest competitor.

Sydney Brown punched 54.17 as the silver medalist while her teammate Sarah Locke rounded out the top 3 in a result of 54.98.

Campbell’s time checked in as a season-best overtaking the 52.52 she produced at the New South Wales Championships earlier this month.

Going into this meet, Campbell said, “If I think about the road ahead, and this whole year to go … it becomes quite overwhelming so I just kind of take it one session at a time.”

On the men’s side, it was 26-year-old Cody Simpson who grabbed the 1free gold, registering a winning effort of 47.85. That gave him the edge over Tomas Kapocius who touched next in 47.94 as the only other sub-48-second swimmer. Joel Ivory, last night’s 200m free gold medalist, bagged the bronze in 48.16.

Simpson owns a lifetime best of 47.07 in this 100m free, a time he scored at the 2022 Australian Short Course National Championships.

Also making some noise for the men was 16-year-old Oscar Kreutzberger in the 400m IM. The North Albury Swimming Club athlete logged a big-time personal best, putting up an effort of 4:16.86.

The teen’s personal best entering this competition rested at the 4:22.12 produced at July’s New South Wales Short Course Country Championships. This evening’s result overtook that by over 5 seconds en route to Kreutzberger posting his first-ever outing under the 4:20 threshold.

He now ranks as the 6th-quickest Australian 16-year-old boy in the SCM 400 IM.

Additional Winners

• Cruiz Swim Club’s Abbey Webb notched a time of 2:07.61 to take the women’s 200m back, with Adriana Fydler of Miami also under 2:08 in 2:07.80.
• Thomas Hauck of All Saints got it done in the men’s 200m back, posting 1:53.08 for the gold.
• The women’s 50m breast saw Maaike Vrij and Tara Kinder battle to the wall, with the former getting there first in 31.55. Kinder settled for silver in 31.58.
• Last night’s top 2 finishers in the men’s 100m breaststroke flipped their positions in this evening’s 50m breast contest. Nash Wilkes clocked 26.74 while Haig Buckingham notched 26.94, with both swimmers representing the sole competitors under the 27-second threshold.
• Kayla Hardy nabbed the top spot in the women’s 400m IM, hitting 4:35.64. That is Hardy’s 3rd-fastest performance.