Dual world swimming champion Mitch Larkin has won two gold medals on the second night of finals at the Victorian Open Championships at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
The 22-year-old Larkin (1:59.31) demonstrated his versatility when he started on Saturday night by winning the 200m individual medley over a quality field in Kenneth To (2:01.40) and Justin James (2:01.76).
Not long after, Larkin was back in his pet event, the 200m backstroke. He touched the wall more than two seconds clear of world championship teammate Josh Beaver (1:57.89) in 1:55.16, while the bronze medal went to Keelan Bridge (2:00.97).
On February 5 and 6, Larkin will come up against tough backstroke competition at the Perth Aquatic Super Series in which Japan and China will field strong teams.
In the women's 100m backstroke, Larkin's training partner Madison Wilson stopped the clock at 59.22 to get the better of local Victorians Belinda Hocking (1:01.29) and Hayley Baker (1:01.52) and set the only sub-one-minute time in the field.
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Wilson, the silver medallist in this event at the 2015 world championships, along with Hocking were originally disqualified from the event after the heats and were then re-instated after officials analysed video footage.
Meanwhile, another Wilson - Matthew Wilson - won the men's 100m breaststroke final. Matt Wilson (1:01.87), who will make his senior Australian Dolphins debut at the Perth super series, finished comfortably ahead of To (1:02.15) and Matthew Treloar (1:02.39).
The women's 200m breaststroke final was a fight to the finish with the top three competitors all touching within half a second of each other. Taylor McKeown was first in 2:25.42, a fingernail ahead of rising star Georgia Bohl (2:25.62) with Chloe Tutton from Wales third (2:25.82).
Bohl again improved on her personal best, maintaining her spot in the Australian all-time top 10 and set to be a strong contender for the breaststroke events at the April national championships.
It was another tight finish in the men's 200m freestyle final. Daniel Smith stole the win in 1:48.23 followed closely by Kurt Herzog (1:48.45) and Stephen Milne from Scotland (1:48.85).
In the women's 400m freestyle, Bronte Barratt recorded a speedy 4:06.03, winning gold and showing great fitness early in the swimming season. Bronze medallist in this event from the 2015 world championships, Jessica Ashwood, had to settle for second (4:08.00) ahead of Leah Neale (4:11.18).
