Try, try, try - and try again: after four near misses between 2:05 and 2:05.5 since 2023, Elizabeth Dekkers finally dolphined into the 2:04 club of 200 'fly swimmers with a 2:04.95 victory on Day 4 at Australian Trials in Sydney this evening.

The win qualified her for the defence of the Commonwealth crown in Glasgow next month.

Day 4 also witnessed an 8:13 win in the 800m free from Lani Pallister, who, like Dekkers, is coached by Dean Boxall at St Peters Western. And all this too:

Chalmers To Coventry & Co: The Olympic Games At A Tipping Point On Your Watch

“We’re in a really tough spot in our sport, and I just feel like it’s on me to actually speak up ... I think that there’s a very big false narrative out there that if you’re an Olympic athlete winning gold medals that you’ve kind of set yourself up in life - very far from the truth” - Kyle Chalmers

State Of Swimming +Nicole Jeffery

McKeown’s Eighth Sub-2:04 Wonder For World of 200 Back

Inside her World-record pace to half way, Kaylee McKeown was asked if slight illness had knocked her chances: “No, I think it’s a bit of everything ... nerves, being crook, everything. Sometimes you just can’t get all the stars to line up, but... I’m happy with that - my fastest of this year”

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Dekkers, 22, has been scaring the 2:05 mark since her teens. Today, she became the 13th member of the all-time sub-2:05 club - which, in the face of superstition, is lucky for some, as in the Baker's Dozen becoming the Dolphins' Dozen, or in the way Taylor Swift considers the No13: a personal good luck charm.

Lizzy Dekkers' 2:04.95 set an All-Comers record and got inside her own 2:05.20 previous best from the Australian Championships in April 2024. It also ranks her second run the world so far this year adrift a 2:04.72 from Olympic and World champion Summer McIntosh (of Canada but not entered for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, though the two will meet at Pan Pacs in California in August).

On 2:06.95, Brittany Casteluzzo also made the cut for her next Dolphins campaign.

Dekkers with Nicole Jeffery poolside in Sydney for SOS:

So, you must have really liked seeing a 2:04 on the board there?

"Oh my god, I was stoked. I know I was just under, but just to get under that 2:05 has been such a huge goal for me for years now. I was stoked to do that."

You must have felt it coming after Aus Open?

"Yeah, that's the frustrating thing. I feel like, you know, my training's been there and I definitely feel like I'm capable of more, but to finally crack that, I feel like, you know, hopefully that'll give me the confidence to move forward."

Why do you think this happened now?

'I just think it's where I'm at. You know, the training club, um, that St. Peters, and Dean Boxall as a coach. It's just the environment that I've needed to kind of stabilise in the sport and kind of keep moving forward."

On the commentary, they said you broke your ankle, ice skating, and your wrist skiing last year?

"Yeah, I went on holiday with a few of the girls after the Olympics, and decided to try ice skating for the firstst time and I snapped a few tendons on my ankle and had to have surgery on that. And then a few weeks after that, on that ankle I decided to go snowboarding and broke my wrist. So last year started with about three 3 months' worth of rehab and I came to the trials last year and missed the team because the work wasn't there. But I really started to kind of build through after that, and I'm in a really good place this year now.

What did you learn from missing the team last year?

It's mainly learning not to take anything for granted. Missing the team last year was a huge disappointment, but it made me want to be back on that team more than ever. And it felt like a fresh start almost, just like, when I was younger.

Thoughts on defending your CG title?

"Yeah, making the Commonwealth Games team again is huge for me. That was my 1st ever international medal, and I ended up winning it, and I still remember the feeling, it was, I genuinely didn't believe I'd done it, so it's really exciting to go back and try and defend my title."

How different of an athlete, do you feel now from then?

"Insanely different. I was only 18 at the time and thinking of all the ups and downs I've been through since then, I'm really excited to go there with a little bit more confidence and hopefully I can just enjoy the moment to start."

And then obviously, Pan Pacs, you get to race your real competitors?

"Yeah, I love racing, so I'm so excited for Pan Pacs, to see what I can do, hopefully, go a little bit faster. I'm going to need to go faster to race those girls, but it's really exciting."

In other finals:

Women's 800m free:

With a 8:05 stunner in the bag for silver a sticker behind Katie Ledecky at World titles last year, Lani Pallister has made 8:13.41 look like a breeze. Of course, it's not - and after qualifying, with Molly Walker through to the Games, too, on 8:26.01 to make her first senior Dolphins team, the champion threw up.

Asked about it in the mixed zone, Pallister said:

"Becoming pretty regular for me now, but I'll go speak to Dean, talk to him about how he feels and whatnot, and, go from there. It's become pretty regular for me now, from the 2 (200) to the 15 (1500m), which is a bit random. I never grew up throwing up in training or that sort of thing, and now it's pretty regular, post 800-1500, after the 200 at the Olympic trials, so, it's fine. I think that's just a part of sport and pushing yourself to the extremes of what you're capable of."

How much a difference does it make for you to have other swimmers with you in a race?

"I love racing and I love being eye to eye and I think I get a kick out of it when I'm with the boys in training. So I think it takes real skill to be able to race on your own when you don't really know where you are in the pool. I went 8:11 on the Gold Coast in April and 8:13 now So in terms of in-season swims and being under my previous best time from before June last year, 8:13 is still a decent swim. I think it's what, 4th or 5th all time if you take out everyone's repeat efforts. So I don't think that's bad by any means. It's just another race."

But you seem slightly disappointed with it?

"Yeah, I mean, who's not going to be disappointed when you're plus seven?"

The seed times explains the maths:

Men's 200m medley - Petric

Will Petric clocked 1:57.55 to win the 200m medley but the time was an agonising 0.06sec shy of the selection cut.

In the mixed zone, Petric is asked: So, I guess that's kind of bittersweet, a really good swim, but just not quite there for the qualifier?

"Yeah, not really. This morning I think I did really well in terms of execution. Probably put the pace on to about 125, and then shut it down, whereas tonight was just rippled with errors. I found my breakouts were a bit iffy. But that happens in finals, there are errors all around, and you've just got to, I don't know, embrace those imperfections is something I try to do with my racing. I don't know if it was complacency or what it was, but it wasn't what I wanted to do, which is the bottom line of it, and I guess I've got to use that as fuel."

It’s a pity because it does seem like you've made some good gains this year?

"For sure. I'm not saying it's a step back, but it's really just a blip. And, you know, I do that race again tomorrow night and I feel like there would be an opportunity to go faster, but that's not how it works here, right? I've just got to take that on the chin and mope around with it, probably while I'm cooling down, and then before I go to bed go, all right, that's done and let's take the next opportunity."

You've got another chance - in the 400IM, right?

“Exactly, and at the Australian Open, I went maybe 1:58 in that event, or maybe 1:59, and then was still able to go a PB in the 400 IM. So, around this time, and, yeah, it bodes well for the 400 to see where I'm at."

And you'll obviously have some fuel out of this one.

"Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe now I won’t be complacent. (A bit annoyed?). And that's good if you can control it. You know, they say to fighters, don't go in with any malice or anger. You gotta let go of that because you'll go out swinging. So I do need to also be in my own head."

In terms of qualifying times, this seems quite hard. What do you think of them, considered that time would have won the bronze medal at the last Comm Games?

“Yeah, I know. I said probably to you a couple years ago, I don't want to go over there and be a finalist, or even just a bronze medallist, I want to be competing for the win. And standards like this, make sure all season that I’mmy toes. I think last time, the QT was a 59 zero. I went 58 something, and, you know, you’re a full second under the QT, you go. Yeah, this is awesome, but something like this, I go a full second faster than last year, and I missed the QT. So, yeah, I guess that's a good thing, but if I miss the plane, I'll be saying otherwise, probably. I’ll be like, I wish it was a bit easier, but yeah, it's great for the team. There’s a reason why 28 million of us can compete against countries with 300 million to a billion people in them, and that's because of the standards we set for the country.”