Six Queenslanders led by Paris Olympic team nominee Chelsea Gubecka (Yeronga Park) and recently crowned State champions Nick Sloman (Noosa) and Moesha Johnson (Griffith University) will contest the final leg of the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in Portugal in December – with the Paris Olympics on their minds.
Sloman and Johnson were amongst a host of swimmers impressing the selectors after each won their respective Men’s and Women’s 10km events at last Saturday’s Queensland State Open Water Championships in Coolum – that attracted entries from over 50 clubs.
Results at the World Cup will be a major step towards who represents Australia at next year’s Olympic qualifier at the Doha World Championships in February – and ultimately at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Joining Gubecka, Sloman and Johnson in the official eight-strong Australian group for Funchal, Portugal on December 2 and 3 will be exciting Brisbane teenager Robert Thorpe(St Peters Western), the Sunshine Coast’s Tom Raymond (Noosa) and Brisbane’s Bianca Crisp (Yeronga Park) along with Madeleine Gough (Carlile, NSW) and Kyle Lee (North Coast, WA).
Johnson, 26, powered her way around the Oz Ski Resort course to take the Queensland women’s 10km title in 1 hour 54 minutes 22.11 seconds ahead of 24-year-olds Gough (1:56.14.08) and Crisp (2:00.03.08).
The Gold Coaster had returned from her German training base in Magdeburg where she trains alongside Tokyo Olympic Games marathon swimming champion Florian Wellbrock amongst others, as she plots her pathway to Paris.
While 25-year-old Sloman kept his cool after overcoming issues with his goggles in the early stages of the race to continue his 10km domination in 1:48.26.72 ahead of an impressive performance from 18-year-old Thorpe (1:48.40.59) with 20-year-old Raymond third home in 1:52.23.42.
A top 13 finish in Doha will secure a second female nomination for Paris, alongside already nominated Rio Olympian Gubecka, with both male spots up for grabs as well.
Australia will be looking to fill all four places on the Olympic marathon swimming team for the first time since Open Water debuted in Beijing in 2008.
Gubecka, second in the World Championship 10km event in Fukuoka in July to secure her automatic nomination for Paris, didn’t race in Coolum after already earning her spot on the team for the World Cup final.
But no matter the result in Funchal, Gubecka will not race the 10km in Doha, allowing the other girls an opportunity to qualify for their shot at joining her in Paris. Instead Gubecka is an automatic inclusion in the 5km event for Doha.
Greg Shaw, the GM of Performance Support at Swimming Australia was impressed with what he saw in Coolum.
“Moesha showed on the weekend that she is clearly getting a series of performances under her belt that are starting to solidify her places and prowess in international open water racing,” said Shaw.
“She has headed back to Germany to get back into training again before Portugal for our second qualification race in December for the World Championships in Doha in February.
“Moesha is certainly building confidence in her capability while Madeleine Gough will be chasing her, trying to secure that second 10km open water spot.
“Nick Sloman is also starting to build some confidence in his capability, and he is getting some consistent delivery and his performance on the weekend was really dominant while the other boys are trying to position for places in Doha.
“We’ve got a group of guys around the same place for that second spot – with the likes of Robert Thorpe coming through, Tom Raymond, Kyle Lee, Jack Wilson, and Bailey Armstrong there as well as Rob Bonsall from WA.
“So, we are really building a real core group of competitive domestic swimmers who are also going to be competitive internationally as well – we are starting to build that depth in the males to go with that depth in the females as well.
“Rob Thorpe has done the work to prepare him for a 10km race and is only doing his third 10k and while it will be a learning opportunity for him, he did a great job of putting himself in the race in Coolum with Nick …holding his position.”
The Oz Ski Resort saw the cream of the Queensland and Australia’s Open Water swimmers converge on the Coolum course for a successful day’s racing from the Open 10km swimmers to 7.5km, 5km and 2.5km events for all ages.
Sunshine Coast Grammar, under head coach Luke Stafford won the Overall Point score with 232, from St Peters Western (205), Noosa (154), Yeronga Park (138), Rocky City (134), Emmanuel College (97), Cottom Tree (93), Albany Creek (86), Rackley Swim Team (70) and Goodlife Community SC (62).
Photo Courtesy of Wade Brennan
