Pan Pacific Championships, Night Three Finals: Matthew Temple, Ben Armbruster 1-2 in 100 Fly
The summer has been good to Australian butterfliers. All three medalists at the Commonwealth Games in the 50 were Aussies. They took both minor medals in the 100 and 200.
Two of them belonged to Ben Armbruster, including the co-title with Kyle Chalmers in the 50, and two belonged to Matthew Temple. Enough to convince them to try their hand at one more international race this year far from the gloom of Glasgow.
In the summer sun of California, they went 1-2 again.
Temple swam away with the win in 50.39 seconds, lowering the meet record set in 2018 by Caeleb Dressel at 50.75 seconds. Armbruster was second in 50.59 to go with gold in the 50.
The 1-2 is another strike for the Aussies, especially from an impressive men’s contingent in Irvine.
“Doesn’t get any better,” Armbruster said. “I think best-case scenario would probably be like Commies with Kyle and I sharing first. I’d love would have loved to get a gold alongside Matt, but you know.”
Third place went to Luca Urlando, who went to 50.99 after a best time in the morning. Shoon Mitsunaga was fourth in 51.16, with Shaine Casas fifth in 51.24.
Temple moves ahead of the man who beat him by .01 in the Commonwealth Games final, Josh Liendo, in the world rankings. It doesn’t quite match the speed of three sub-50-second times authored at European Championships. But it is a marker for the Aussies as the Los Angeles Games loom in two years.
“That’s my second-fastest time ever, which I’m pretty happy with,” Temple said. “And my PB is I think three years ago now. So to get so close to my PB, I think I’m doing something right in training, and I’m looking forward to moving forward. And yeah, would be nice to get that 49 barrier but aiming to go quicker in the years to come.”
Temple was one of the Aussies to make a later call to add Pan Pacs to his calendar. It’s a decision that has paid off handsomely.
“I love racing. So more races, the merrier,” he said. “I don’t really like to travel to sort of be away for six weeks. I think it’s a long time for me. So I’m looking forward to getting home and I’m getting in the car and going camping as soon as I land in Australia. So I’m looking forward to that.”
Thomas Heilman won the B final in 51.20. Dare Rose, who lost a swim-off with Casas for the second American spot in the A final, lost another touch, in 51.49. He had been 51.01 in the swim-off, .01 behind Casas. Urlando was nearly a half-second better than his previous best in the morning, going 50.86.
