Five Takeaways From Day 4 At The 2026 Australian Swimming Trials ...Middle East

By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam

2026 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

Kaylee McKeown Is Just So, So Good

There have been 12 swims now under the 2:04 barrier. Kaylee McKeown owns eight of them, and the last time she was beaten in the event was seven years ago at the 2019 World Championships, where she took silver behind a precocious 17-year-old named Regan Smith.

McKeown was reportedly ill at the start of the week, which caused her to pull out of the 200 IM. She has still thrown down swims of 27.13 in the 50 back, 57.77 in the 100 back, and now 2:03.98 in the 200 back. Regan Smith is the only swimmer who has bettered any of those times at a world championships or Olympics since 2021.

Is McKeown the best female backstroker in history? Personally, yes. Her body of work over the last half decade, including her unbelievable knack for getting her hand on the wall first, must be one of the densest concentration of gold medals won by any swimmer. In total in that period, she has won ten individual backstroke medals and is unbeaten in the 100 back and 200 back. Win at least one gold in LA, and there should be no debate.

Her swims this week point to that being more than a realistic outcome. Watching McKeown race is an event unto itself. Make sure to just enjoy it.

Max Giuliani‘s Inconsistency Has Proved His Undoing This Week

Max Giuliani has been a somewhat frustrating swimmer to follow since he broke out at the 2023 TYR Pro Championships, where he notched times of 48.21 in the 100 free and 1:46.23 in the 200 free. He dropped even more time through the fall of 2023, clocking 1:45.42 at the Budapest stop of the World Cup Tour and following that up with a 1:45.67 at the 2023 Hancock Championships in December.

He was 1:45.83 at the Australian Olympic Trials in the 200 free, then placing 7th in Paris in 1:45.57, but was just 8th at Trials in the 100 free in 49.17, nearly a second off his best. An Oceanian record of 1:40.36 in the 200 free came at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, and he seemed primed to take the next step.

However, he failed to qualify individually for the world championships last summer, placing 5th in the 200 free (1:46.17) and 3rd in the 100 free (48.34) at the 2025 Trials. He delivered some key relay splits in the 4×100 free relay (47.63) and 4×200 free relay (1:44.92) which won gold and bronze respectively, but the next step would be to nail down an individual spot.

That has not happened this year. His in-season bests, 49.70 in the 100 and 1:47.28 in the 200, were off his recent results, and he finishes the meet with a best finish of 7th, which came in today’s 100 free. Missing the ‘A’ final in the 200 free was a shock miss, but he was just 48.67 in the 100 free this week and 1:47.48 in the 200 free.

Giuliani has proved that he has the talent, but he is still yet to have a trials meet where he hits in both of his events. In 2024 it was the 100 free that didn’t quite stack up, and in 2025 it was the 200 free. This year, unfortunately for his international team hopes, it was both.

Tommy Neill‘s Comeback Meet Has Been A Solid One

Thomas Neill was an elite presence in the 200 free in the last Olympic cycle, placing 9th in Tokyo in 1:45.74 and 10th in Paris in 1:46.18, while also clocking some elite relay splits on the 200 free relay. However, he sat out the 2024/25 season, recovering from injury and taking what he said was a much-needed reset.

Australia’s 4×200 free relay remained elite without him, winning bronze last year behind a pair of 1:44-point splits from Max Giuliani and Kai Taylor, but Neill’s return would be a welcome boost regardless. His prowess in the IM events would also help shore up a relatively weak area for Australia’s men, with only William Petric currently proving elite.

This has not been Neill’s first meet back since Paris – he was 1:48.11 in the 200 free at the Queensland Championships in December, and swam the 400 free (3:56.18) at the Australia Open Championships in April. But this was the meet where he looked most like his old self, clocking 1:46.79 in the 200 free and winning silver in the 200 IM in a time of 1:58.90.

He dipped under the Priority 3 time for the Commonwealth Games of 1:59.05 in the latter, and could be set for his first Commonwealths this summer. Still just 23 years old, he has put in a good shift this week.

Harrison Turner Has Proved To Be Far More Than Just A 200 Flyer

Harrison Turner was a surprise bronze medalist in the 200 fly out of lane 8 at the 2025 World Championships, but has been one of the top swimmers so far at these trials. Ironically, the only event of the four he has swum so far that he has not set a lifetime best in has been that 200 fly, where he won gold in 1:55.18, a second of his Australian Record of 1:54.17.

He placed 3rd in the 200 free in 1:45.71, a massive drop from his 1:47.01 PB, and shaved 0.02 seconds off his 100 fly to win bronze in 51.47. Yet another impressive swim this week came in the 100 free – his secondary stroke, at his secondary distance.

Turner swam 48.76 in prelims, sneaking into the final by just 0.14 seconds, but dropped more than half a second to place 4th in 48.22. That is a PB by 0.21 seconds, and moves him to #14 on the Australian all-time list. He was sub-25 on the second 50, a feat which generally only those elite in the event are able to achieve.

With no events left this week, Turner has closed out his Trials meet with 48.22/1:45.71 free swims and a 51.47/1:55.18 fly combo. Last summer’s bronze medal looks like the start of what should be a deluge this summer.

Elizabeth Dekkers Is The Best In The Mortal Tier In The 200 Fly

If she had burst onto the scene four or five years earlier (which essentially translates to being born four or five years earlier), Dekkers would likely have at least one world gold medal by now. Ever since her breakout swim of 2:07.62 in the 200 fly at the 2022 Australian Trials, she has been incrementally improving to become one of the best 200 fly swimmers in the world.

Finishes of 5th (2022), 2nd (2023), 4th (2024), and 3rd (2025) at major international summer meets make her one of the most consistent in the event too, and a new lifetime best of 2:04.95 here stands her in great stead to continue her streak of international finals this summer.

Behind Regan Smith and Summer McIntosh, Dekkers seems pretty clearly the best and most consistent performer right now. She has ended the year in the world top five in every year since 2022 – no swimmer other than McIntosh and Smith has done so more than once – and she is now the #13 performer in history, and #4 among active swimmers. As #3 is Zhang Yufei, who has not broken 2:05 since her 2:03.86 at the Tokyo Olympics, she is the de facto #3.

The Commonwealth Games, where neither Smith nor McIntosh will be in attendance, will be a clear sign of where she sits among the rest of the world. She won gold four years ago in Birmingham in 2:07.26. She figures to be much faster this time around.

A bonus takeaway for Molly Walker‘s 800 free swim, in which she cut 3.5 seconds off her best to qualify for the Commonwealth and Pan Pac team this summer. Her time of 8:26.01, which featured a blistering 1:00.63 final 100, means that she has lowered her best by over 20 seconds in the two years since she turned 18. She may be the next Australian distance freestyler to break out on the world stage.

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