Francis Grabs a Medal Treble at Oceania Swimming Championships
North Shore swimmer Grace Francis grabbed a treble of medals in the final session of the Oceania Championships in Samoa.
The 20 year old saved her best for last, coming from behind to win the gold medal in the women’s 200m individual medley. She turned around two events later to claim the silver in the 200m breaststroke final before playing her role in the silver medal won by the medley relay team at the Tuanaimato Aquatic Centre in Apia last night.
New Zealand swimmers won seven medals on the final night of competition with silvers to Steven Kent and Hannah Saunders and bronze medals to Luke Westgaard and the two medley relay combinations.
Francis was the New Zealand star on the final night, setting things up with a brilliant effort in winning the 200m individual medley. The North Shore swimmer came from behind to storm home to win in a slick time of 2:14.89, only a second outside the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard.
She made up more than a second on the breaststroke leg to overtake Australian Jenni O’Neil and two more seconds to take the lead on the leg, clearing out to win well.
Francis produced a solid 2:34.40 effort to finish second to Australian Rebecca Kemp to claim silver in the 200m breaststroke and swum a strong breaststroke leg as the New Zealand women’s team took silver behind Australia in the medley relay.
Kent (United, Auckland) was edged out by Australia’s Mitch Larkin in the men’s 200m medley relay to take second in 2:05.95.
Christchurch’s Saunders (QEII) scored her second medal of the meet finishing second in the final of the 50m freestyle in a close finish to Australian Amy Allen in 26.36.
Aucklander Westgaard (Roskill) impressed in his first international competition to finish with the bronze in the men’s 200m breaststroke in 2:21.01.
This gave New Zealand a tally of 37 medals for the championships with eight gold, 17 silver and 12 bronze to finish second behind a strong young Australian team.
Swimming New Zealand General Manager Performance, Jan Cameron said there were some impressive performances at the meet.
“This was a chance for the swimmers who just missed out on the Commonwealth Games to put their hands up,” Cameron said. “There were some excellent performances across the board from our youngest in Sophia Batchelor at 15 years up to our most experienced in Andrew McMillan at 25.
“It was the first chance for many to be away overseas in a team environment which will prove invaluable and the opportunity is now there for these swimmers to take that next step on the world stage.”
Final day New Zealand results:
200m individual medley: Mitch Larkin (AUS) 2:04.14, 1; Steven Kent (NZL) 2:05.95, 2; Jarrod Killey (AUS) 2:07.72, 3.
200m individual medley: Grace Francis (NZL) 2:15.89, 1; Jenni O’Neill (AUS) 2:17.27, 2; Tiffany Papaemanouil (AUS) 2:20.36, 3.
50m freestyle: Amy Allen (AUS) 26.25, 1; Hannah Saunders (NZL) 26.36, 2; Amelia Evatt-Davey (AUS) 26.53, 3.
200m breaststroke: Jeremy Meyer (AUS) 2:15.27, 1; Thomas Dahlia (CAL) 2:17.16, 2; Luke Westgaard (NZL) 2:21.01, 3.
200m breaststroke: Rebecca Kemp (AUS) 2:26.83, 1; Grace Francis (NZL) 2:34.40, 2; Marona Bong (CAL) 2:52.99, 3.
4x100m medley relay, women: Australia 4:08.92, 1; New Zealand (Renee Stothard, Francis, Charlotte Webby, Saunders) 4:18.54, 2; Hawaii 3.
4x100m medley relay, men: Australia 3:43.97, 1; New Zealand (Dylan Dunlop-Barrett, Nick Ferrif, Shaun Burnett, Andrew McMillan) 3:49.55, 2; New Caledonia 3:55.23, 3.