By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
2026 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Monday, April 6th – Wednesday, April 8th Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, Southport, Queensland, Australia Prelims M 9am local (7pm ET previous night)/Finals at 6pm local (4am ET) LCM (50m) SwimSwam Preview #1 SwimSwam Preview #2 Meet Central Start List Day 1 Recap Live Results Livestream (Aussie only or use VPN)The 2nd day of the Australian Open played host to several fast swims and featured a very special appearance from… bugs.
Among the standout swims throughout the session from some of Australia’s best, one of the highlights came in the women’s 100 backstroke, a race that featured Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O’Callaghan in one of the strongest event fields thus far, as it was full of bugs, both figuratively and literally.
Initially, the timing system had “bugged out”, showing that O’Callaghan pulled the upset on McKeown by taking the win in one of McKeown’s signature events. However, O’Callaghan touched nearly a full second slower than McKown, 58.98 to 58.06, respectively.
Then the two superstars shared a post-race laugh after finding a literal bug in the water (appearing to be a grasshopper as per an Instagram post from Swimming Australia).
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O’Callaghan shared the post on her story with the caption: “Poor cricket just wanted to race us. [McKeown] made sure to retire him”.
McKeown also joked about the post-race insect appearance, captioning her story: “Sorry, dude, you crashed our party. Also, sorry to the official I accidentally threw it at.”
According to a report from ABC News Australia, the flawed timing system for the women’s 100 back and the insect in the pool were not the only bugs to make an appearance in Queensland; in the women’s 200 breast, 18-year-old Hayley MacKinder missed the start of the 200 breast entirely.
One thing that was not a bug, was the speed on display from one of Australia’s most consistent sprinters over the last decade as Kyle Chalmers stormed to the top time in the world this season in the 50 butterfly, swimming his 3rd sub 23 second race of his career in 22.77, nearly cracking the long-standing 2009 Australian Record of Matt Targett from the World Championships of 22.73. That swim also notched a new All-Comers Record, besting his previous 22.89 from the 2025 World Championship Trials. This record is similar to a US Open Record in America, as it is the fastest time produced on Australian soil.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Bugs in the Timing System, Bugs in the Water at Australian Open in Queensland
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