Cowdrey and the men
Young Australian Matthew Cowdrey showed his able-bodied male teammates the way to gold tonight, setting a new
world mark in winning the 50m freestyle for Elite Athletes with a Disability at the MSAC.
17-year-old Cowdrey finished the race in third place but he was the only swimmer to break a world record
in his class (S9), giving the South Australian first position and the solitary gold medal in the pool so far
for the men.
However, there were plenty of close shaves and minor placings this evening, with Matt Welsh (23.63) taking
the silver behind South African Roland Schoeman (23.34) in the 50m butterfly. Schoeman proved too good,
bursting away in the initial 25 metres and holding on for a deserved victory.
Michael Targett came third behind Welsh, but he was soon disqualified for movement on the starting blocks,
elevating Michael Klim (23.74) to the bronze.
The men’s 100m breaststroke was dominated by England, with Christopher Cook (1:00.98) and James Gibson
(1:01.10) filling the top two spots on the dais. Minus the controversially disqualified Jim Piper,
Australia’s Brenton Rickard performed admirably, claiming third place after a titanic struggle with the
English pair on the final lap.
It was a similar story in the men’s 4x200m, as the no-name team of Nicholas Ffrost, Kenrick Monk, Andrew
Mewing and Joshua Krogh tried valiantly to continue Australia’s 24-year domination of the long distance
relay.
Though missing superstars Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, the Aussies led going into the last leg, however,
Krough couldn’t hold off England’s Ross Davenport or Scotland’s Robert Renwick in the mad dash to the
line.
Ultimately, the highlight was Cowdrey’s sparkling performance, the eighth occasion he has broken a world
record in the new Melbourne pool, but the first time he has done it as a fully-fledged member of the
Australian swim team.
“It’s just fantastic to be a part of the Australian side,” he said.
“It was amazing tonight, the way the crowd got behind the swimmers. I was just so excited, a little bit
tense, this means everything to me.”
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