Meg Harris Delivers Personal Best in 200 Free at 2025 Queensland Championships
2025 Queensland Championships
- Saturday, December 13 – Friday, December 19
- Brisbane Aquatic Centre
- Long Course Meters (50m)
- Meet Central: https://qld.swimming.org.au/events/2025-hancock-prospecting-queensland-championships
- Day 1 Recap: https://swimswam.com/shayna-jamie-jack-rule-relays-on-day-one-of-2025-qld-championships/
- Live Results: https://liveresults.swimming.org.au/QLD/SQ2025-26/2025CHAMPS/index.htm
Following the Australia vs. The World competition that wrapped up yesterday, the 2025 Queensland Championships commenced at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre. The meet brings a wave of international entries to Brisbane, including athletes like Great Britain’s Duncan Scott and Angharad Evans, Korea’s Kim Woomin, Hwang Sunwoo and Lee Juho, New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt, the Netherlands’ Milou van Wijk, and Nyls Korstanje, among others.
Meg Harris, the Olympic gold medalist, made a striking early impact by winning the women’s 200m freestyle in 1:55.97, a new personal best. Her splits were 26.45, 29.23, 55.68, and 30.39, giving her the fastest time of her career to date.
Before this meet, Harris held a personal best of 1:56.29 from the 2021 Olympic Trials, meaning she has dropped under the 1:56 barrier for the first time and is now Australia’s 12th-fastest all-time in this event.
Lani Pallister of St. Peters Western touched the wall in 1:56.87 for second place, about two seconds behind her season-best 1:54.77 from this year’s World Championships. The 19-year-old Hannah Allen completed the podium with a time of 1:57.99, a personal best by nearly two seconds.
Harris’ victory places her third in the current season’s world rankings for the event.
Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan swam in the morning heats, posting the top seed with 1:57.77 before withdrawing from the final.
2025-2026 LCM Women 200 Free rankings (top entries):
- Bingjie Li (CHN) 1:55.67
- Yaxin Liu (CHN) 1:56.01
- Jiaping Li (CHN) 1:55.81
- Simone Manuel (USA) 1:56.66
Pallister also swam in the final of the women’s 800m freestyle, winning in 8:18.31 to win by more than 10 seconds over the field. Open water Olympic medalist Moesha Johnson was second in 8:29.16, with Brazil’s Maria Fernanda Costa third in 8:31.82. Pallister now sits at the top of the world rankings in this event.
2025-2026 LCM Women 800 Free rankings (top 5):
- Yihan Mao (CHN) 8:27.34
- Ichika Kajimoto (JPN) 8:29.85
- Gao Weizhong (CHN) 8:29.94
- Airi Ebina (JPN) 8:31.54
In the men’s 200m freestyle, 20-year-old Edward Sommerville from Brisbane Grammar emerged victorious with a 1:45.38, narrowly ahead of Great Britain’s Duncan Scott, who clocked 1:46.26 for silver. Sam Short was third in 1:46.46. Sommerville’s time was just shy of his 1:45.34 gold at the recent Japan Open and sits near his lifetime best of 1:44.93.
Maximillian Giuliani won the B final in 1:47.28, with Tom Dean of Great Britain at 1:47.98 for a close race. Veteran Lee Juho, at 30 years old, claimed the men’s 100m backstroke title in 53.71, narrowly beating 17-year-old Henry Allan of Bendigo East (53.72) for silver, while Enoch Robb took bronze in 55.07. Lee’s time stands as a national record from 2022 at 53.32, and he’s currently ranked among the world’s top performers.
Henry Allan’s 53.72 marks a new personal best, shaving 0.01 seconds off his Aussie Age Championship time of 53.73 and placing him as Australia’s ninth-fastest man in the 100m backstroke history.
Korean teammates Kim Junwoo and Olympic medalist Kim Woomin also earned medals in the men’s 1500m freestyle. Kim Junwoo, 18, clocked 14:58.68, marking a new personal best and making him Korea’s third-fastest ever in this event. Woomin hit 15:19.04 as the runner-up, adding to his season-best 15:03.43 from the Korean National Team Trials. Benjamin Goedemans finished fourth (15:19.58), just ahead of Elijah Winnington in fifth (15:20.14).
Additional Notes
- The women’s 200m breaststroke was a relatively slow field, led by 21-year-old Ella Ramsay of Griffith University with 2:24.63. Matilda Smith (Miami) was close behind at 2:25.64, with Angharad Evans taking bronze in 2:26.19.
- In the men’s 200m breaststroke, Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook was the lone swimmer under 2:12, recording 2:09.37 for gold. Bailey Lello was 2:12.32 for silver, and Finlay Schuster went 2:12.41 for bronze.
- The women’s 100m backstroke final did not dip below 1:00. GBR’s Lauren Cox won in 1:00.25, edging 2025 World Championships medalist Iona Anderson (1:00.50) and 18-year-old Jaclyn Barclay (1:00.72) for bronze.
In This Story
- Duncan Scott
- Lani Pallister
- Li Bingjie
- Mollie O’Callaghan
- Sam Short
- Tom Dean
- Zac Stubblety-Cook
About Retta Race
Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta “Retta” Race continues to thrive in a busy career, recently balancing an MBA with full-time IT work and owning French 75 Boutique, while also providing swimming insights for BBC.
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