Haileybury Waterlions superfish Kelly Stubbins and coach Wayne Lawes were delighted with Stubbins’ stellar performances in the pool during the Australian team’s West Coast tour of the US last month.By Marc McGowan
HAILEYBURY Waterlions swimming champion Kelly Stubbins showed she is on track for the Beijing Olympic Games with a stunning display at the Australian team’s west coast tour of the United States last month.
Stubbins, 23, competed at the Pan Pacific Invitational in Stanford and the Santa Clara International Invitational Grand Prix, and emerged victorious at both meetings.
The 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medallist won the 200-metre freestyle events at each competition and also enjoyed success as part of several relay squads.
Not only did Stubbins win but she did so in remarkably quick time, considering she is still in heavy training.
She swam 2:00.13 in triumphing in the 200m at Stanford before backing it up with a time of 2:00.33 at Santa Clara.
Stubbins’ personal best in the event is 1:59.61, which she achieved at the Commonwealth Games trials on a full taper.
“I didn’t expect to go that fast, so I’m really happy with it,” she said.
“(Waterlions head coach) Wayne (Lawes) expected me to go well, but I have a belief when I’m in hard training that I don’t swim as well as I’d like to.”
Stubbins also recorded notable performances in the shorter freestyle distances and is pleased with where she is in her preparation.
“Especially at the first meet, I was actually feeling a bit of jet lag and only had three days to acclimatise, so it’s pretty exciting where I’m at,” she said.
“Definitely at the moment things are going pretty well, and I have short course coming up, so I have to keep my times down for them at the moment.”
‘Exciting’ seems to be the buzz word in the Belgrave star’s camp, with Lawes just as thrilled with his charge’s effort.
“It’s quite exciting because she swam really consistently over the two meets,” he said.
“With the travel and going in there unrested and training right through, it was quite an exciting performance.”
The Australian Short Course Championships run from 29 August until 2 September at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
It will be Stubbins’ first step in regaining her spot on the Australian team after missing out for March’s World Championships at Susie O’Neill Pool in Melbourne.
“We don’t have long course again until September, so until then I really need to put in the hard yards on my turns, which are something I’m really working on to improve from America,” she said.
“I should have made (the Australian short course team) last year, and the year before last I kept not doing the right times in the heats and missing the final.”
If Stubbins can qualify she will be off to Manchester for the World Short Course Championships in April, which come a month after the Beijing Olympic Games trials in Sydney.
“If I made the Australian short course team, for me, it would take a bit of pressure off the Olympic trials, even though I want to make ii for the confidence boost as well,” she said.
“I don’t want to think about not making the short course team, but if I did I would just have to work harder for the Beijing trials.”
