Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
National and world records were broken as Australia’s best swimmers sizzled on the opening night of finals at the Australian short-course championships in Sydney.
Ed Sommerville set the scene early with an Australian 200m freestyle short-course record in the 200m at Sydney’s Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Tuesday night.
Sommerville’s time of 1:40.16 was more than enough to hold off Marcus Da Silva (1:41.91) and Max Giuliani (1:42.02).
Ben Armbruster then chipped in with another record, becoming the first Australian to go under 22 seconds in the men’s 50m butterfly.
Armbruster’s time in the final broke the national mark of 22.00 he had set earlier in the heats.
He clocked 21.90 in the final, with Jesse Coleman second (22.22) and James Ward third (23.21).
Josh Collett claimed the men’s 100m breaststroke title, breaking the national record in the process.
Collett shaved 0.01 off the men’s Australian mark to set a new time of 56.61. The record was previously held by Josh Yong, who placed second on Tuesday.
But when Rowan Crothers launched his 196-centimetre frame from the water after winning the 200m freestyle multi class, spreading his immense wingspan in delight, it was a moment of pure, unmatched accomplishment.
Crothers (1:49.93) clocked the biggest swim of the night with an S10 world record.
In the same race, good mate and Dolphins teammate Alex Tuckfield also went under the world record to finish second (1:50.79).
And how did Crothers celebrate that world record? By backing up 40 minutes later to win the men’s 50m fly multi class.
“I did not see that coming at all, not even close,” Crothers said.
“Unfortunately, the 200m freestyle isn’t a Paralympic event for my classification (S1), but we’re going to keep working on it and keep building on the 200m because it’s just great training and it’s going to help my 100m massively.”
Tuckfield, still absorbing the enormity of going under the world record, was thrilled to finish second.
“Every time I race him, I get a bit better, and it shows with tonight’s PB that is under the world record,” he said.
“I couldn’t be prouder that we both went under the world record.”
It was a big night for Lani Pallister, who set a women’s 1500m freestyle all-comers record, clocking 15:18.68.
Earlier in the night she won the 200m freestyle in 1:51.99, with Brittany Castelluzzo second (1:53.07) and Jenna Forrester third (1:54.63).
Sam Short went under the qualifying time in the 800m freestyle. His winning time of 7:25.55 was more than 12 seconds ahead of the field, with 19-year-old Tex Cross second (7:38.45) and Alec Mander third (7:38.76).
