Ed Sommerville Rocks 1:44.93 200 Free To Make Aussie Trials Statement

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2025 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

• Monday, June 9th – Saturday, June 14th
• SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Oaklands Park, South Australia
• Prelims at 11am local (9:30pm ET night before)/Finals at 7:30pm local (6:00am ET) nights 1&2; 7pm local (5:30am ET) nights 3-6
• LCM (50m)
• Swimming Australia World Championships Selection Criteria
• Meet Central
• Start List
• Heat Sheets
• Results
• Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2

One of the highlights on day two of the 2025 Australian World Championship Trials came in the men’s 200m freestyle, with Ed Sommerville cranking out a lifetime best to steal the show.

After establishing himself as the second seed with a morning swim of 1:46.02 out of the heats, Brisbane Grammar’s Sommerville fired off a monster effort of 1:44.93 to take the gold.

20-year-old Sommerville split 24.24/26.05 (50.29)/26.02/27.72 to get the job done, easily clearing the World Championships qualification time of 1:46.70 in the process.

He got to the wall with a healthy advantage over Olympian and 400m free victor here Sam Short who snagged silver in 1:46.71 while Flynn Southam ripped a PB of 1:46.85 for bronze.

According to the Swimming Australia results database, Sommerville’s previous career-swiftest 200m free mark entering this meet rested at the 1:47.54 notched at the Sydney Open just last month. That means the rising star completely bypassed the 1:46 1:45 zone en route to clocking his impressive 1:44.93 tonight.

Furthermore, Sommerville’s performance now checks him in as the 4th-best Aussie men’s 200m freestyler of all time.

Australian Men’s Top 5 LCM 200 Freestyle Performers All-Time

1. Ian Thorpe – 1:44.06, 2001
2. Maximillian Giuliani – 1:44.79, 2023
3. Clyde Lewis – 1:44.90, 2019
4. Ed Sommerville– 1:44.93, 2025
5. Thomas Fraser-Holmes – 1:45.08, 2014

He ranks 4th in the world on the season, with Singapore on the horizon.

Although the name ‘Ed Sommerville‘ may be new to some, he’s not a newcomer to anyone who followed the Australian Short Course Championships last September.

At this same pool, Sommerville crushed a mark of 1:40.64 to win the men’s 200m freestyle title, taking down Olympic champion Cameron McEvoy‘s 2015 All Comers Record in the process. Sommerville, McEvoy and Kyle Chalmers remain the only Aussie men ever to delve under the 1:41 barrier in the SCM 200 free, with Sommerville’s mark checking him in as the 7th-best performer in history worldwide.

Sommerville made his senior Australian international roster debut at last year’s Short Course World Championships. There in Budapest, he teamed up with Maximillian Giuliani, Elijah Winnington and Harrison Turner to claim men’s 4x200m free relay silver.

On his performance this evening at these Championships, Sommerville told Nine.com, “It just makes me want to stay on top even more.

“I’ve worked hard to get here but I’ve still got a way to, so I’ll just keep working on hard.”

He continued, “I think it’s just a combination of everyone in my support crew’s hard work, like parents, siblings, coach, physios. I’m glad to show what I can do.”

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