Throssell Set on Rio Test

Published On: 11 April 2016

WAIS athlete Brianna Throssell will tonight swim for a spot in the Australian Olympic Team for Rio after qualifying second fastest for the final of the women’s 200m fly.

In Sunday night’s first semi-final, Throssell eased through after touching the wall first in 2:09.17 and the City of Perth swimmer will be joined in action tonight by fastest qualifier and winner of the second semi, Madeline Groves (2:09.04).

The pair are considered favourites to earn Olympic nomination, with the A-Qualifying time set at 2:07.69, with two spots available via tonight’s final.

Throssell – who finished fourth in the 200m fly on her Australian Dolphins debut at last year’s FINA World Championships in Russia, is looking to join already qualified WA swimmers Blair Evans (400m IM) and Tamsin Cook (400m free).  

Cook can entertain thoughts of adding a relay spot to her individual event for Rio, after she finished fifth in the final of the women’s 200m freestyle last night. Typically, the top six qualifiers earn selection for freestyle relay teams, meaning Cook at 17, stands a very good chance of competing in both the 400m free and 4x200m freestyle relay this August.

Evans came a whisker from adding a second event to her Rio portfolio, after finishing third in the final of the 200m IM by a fingernail, to second place-getter Kotuku Ngawati.

Evans – who emotionally won a national championship title in the 400m IM earlier in the meet – touched home in 2:11.14, a mere fraction off Ngawati’s 2:11.03, whilst title holder Alicia Coutts was further out in 2:09.95.

WAIS athlete Nicholas Brown performed strongly in the final of the men’s 200m fly, clocking 1:58.17 for sixth place, whilst in the semis of the 200m breast, three WA athletes earned qualification for tonight’s final.

Lennard Bremer (2:12.85) was the fourth fastest qualifier, ahead of fellow WAIS scholarship athletes, Alex Milligan (2:13.72) and George Harley (2:14.10).

In the women’s 100m fly multiclass final, Kat Downie touched home third, but finished sixth on points. Her time of 1:09.97 accrued 755 points. Downie is back in action in the 100m free MC in Monday’s racing.