Meg Harris Rips 52.56 100 Freestyle At Queensland Championships

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2025 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, December 13th – Friday, December 19th
• Brisbane Aquatic Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results

The 2025 Queensland Championships continued at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre with 23-year-old Meg Harris putting up another powerful performance.

After ripping a lifetime best of 1:55.97 to win the women’s 200m free last night, the Olympic gold medalist from Rackley followed suit with a stellar outing in the 100m free.

Harris stopped the clock at a time of 52.56, beating the domestic field by over a second.

St. Peters Western’s Shayna Jack was next to the wall, with the two-time Olympic relay gold medalist hitting 53.85 for silver.

Behind her was St. Andrew’s Chloe Rowe-Hagans, who rounded out the podium in 54.81.

As for Harris, her outing tonight fell just .04 outside her lifetime best, a time of 52.52 established at the 2024 Olympic Trials to become Australia’s 6th-fastest performer in history.

Harris already ranked #1 in the world this season entering these championships, courtesy of the 52.86 nabbed at the Rocky City Twilight meet last month. Paired with Hong Kong Olympic multi-medalist Siobhan Haughey, they represent the sole swimmers globally who have been sub-53 seconds this season.

The men’s open 100m fly saw 21-year-old Harrison Turner deliver a career-best en route to gold.

After clocking 51.66 in the morning, the Nudgee College ace got to the wall in 51.49 in the final, with both times overtaking his previous PB of 51.81 from this year’s World Championships Trials.

Tonight Turner split 24.36/27.13 to hold off Korea’s Yang Jaehoon, who was also sub-52 seconds in a mark of 51.93. He owns his nation’s record with the rapid 51.29 logged at the Korean National Sports Festival this past October.

Griffith University’s Thomas Nankervis bagged the bronze in 52.41.

Turner was one of the breakout stars from Singapore this year, where he busted out a lifetime best and Aussie national record of 1:54.17 to take the bronze in the 200m fly. The World Championshps represented his first-ever elite senior international roster slot and he took full advantage of the opportunity.

Ever-consistent Lani Pallister dominated the women’s 400m free final, logging a result of 4:04.48 to beat the pack by nearly 4 seconds.

Visiting Brazilian Maria Fernanda Costa collected silver in 4:06.24 while Jenna Forrester also landed on the podium in 4:08.24, good enough for bronze.

Pallister, who claims a PB of 3:58.87 on her resume, now becomes the 4th-best performer in the world at the moment.

Forrester took on the tough double of also racing in the 400m IM this evening, where she upgraded to gold in 4:38.68.

Ella Ramsay of Griffith University clocked 4:42.60 as the runner-up as 17-year-old Amelie Smith got on the board with 4:49.79 as the bronze medalist.

The men’s edition of the 400m free saw 22-year-old Olympian Sam Short reap the top spot, posting 3:45.88.

That held off reigning Olympic bronze medalist in this event, Kim Woomin, with the Korean settling for silver less than a second behind in 3:46.61.

Teammate Kim Junwoo, the 18-year-old who grabbed 1500 free gold yesterday, secured bronze in 3:48.11.

Short and Woomin shared the podium in this event at the 2025 World Championships with Short snagging silver in 3:42.37 and Woomin the bronze in 3:42.60 behind champion Lukas Märtens of Germany (3:42.35).

Additional Notes

• Lily Price turned in a time of 57.55 as the decisive victor in the women’s 100m fly. The 23-year-old Rackley swimmer split 26.61/30.94 to get to the wall in a new PB, striking .03 off her previous best-ever outing of 57.58 from this year’s World Championships, where she finished 11th overall. Tonight, Somerville House’s Josephine Crimmins nabbed silver in 59.13 and Abbey Connor reaped bronze in 59.65.
• British national record holder Angharad Evans put up a result of 1:07.13 to lead the women’s 100m breaststroke field. Ramsay touched in 1:07.49 and Sienna Harben notched 1:07.84 for a 3rd-place finish. 17-year-old Lily Koch registered 1:08.81 for 4th place.
• The men’s 100m freestyle was on the subdued side, with no one breaking the 48-second barrier. Although he was 48.55 in the morning heats, Edward Sommerville added slightly to ultimately stop the clock at 48.68 for gold. British Olympic multi-gold medalist Duncan Scott also added time, hitting 48.81 in the heats but touched in 49.02 for 4th place. In between were Korea’s national record holder Hwang Sunwoo who secured silver in 48.75 and Jamie Jack who hit 48.90 for bronze.
• The men’s 400m IM saw Kiwi national record holder Lewis Clareburt own the race begin-to-end, turning in a time of 4:12.15. St. Peters Western Olympic medalist Brendan Smith posted 4:16.07 and Korea’s Kim Minseop‘s effort of 4:18.95 earned him the bronze.
• In age group news, 16-year-old Leny Grigor ripped a new personal best of 1:02.59 in the 100m breaststroke (29.23/33.36).  His prior PB sat at 1:03.13 from earlier this year so he delved under the 1:03 threshold for the first time.
• Lilly Ribot-de-Bresac followed suit in the 16-year-old girls’ 100m breast race, smashing 1:08.59 for a new PB by a second.
• Finally, 16-year-old standout Lincoln Wearing of Chandler delivered a powerful performance in his age category’s 400m free. Wearing punched a time of 3:48.15 to destroy his previous career-swiftest time of 3:54.02 put on the books at this year’s Australian Age Championshps. The rising teen now checks in as Australia’s 19th-best performer of all time. For perspective, Wearing’s 3:48.15 would render him the #2 American boys’ 15-16-year-old performer ever, sitting only behind the 3:45.30 Luka Mitajovic established this year.

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