By JARROD POTTER
JOSH Beaver has booked his ticket to Rio.
It all boiled down to one race on Tuesday night at the South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre for Beaver’s hopes of qualifying for the Rio Olympic Games in his pet event – the 200m backstroke.
Needing a first or second place finish and to beat the Olympic Games A qualifying time of 1.57.12, Beaver, 23, from Tooradin, did more than enough to qualify.
He touched in at 1.56.17 to clinch his spot on the Australian Dolphins Swimming Team and add an Olympic Games campaign to his swimming resume.
With Australian champion Mitch Larkin on his left shoulder in lane four for the final lap, Beaver brought it home in the final 50 metres to finish in a personal best time and earn his first trip to the Olympic Games.
After just missing out on a spot at the 2012 London Olympic Games team, Beaver couldn’t believe just how quickly it all happened as he became an Olympian in the blink of an eye.
“Absolutely stoked with that,” Beaver said on Channel 7 after the race. “There was this energy rollercoaster the whole week which has been great.
“Super stoked to be on the team – I don’t remember it (looking up at the timing boards) to be honest – I don’t remember that whole race.
“l haven’t done it by myself and have a huge support crew behind me and thanks to everyone that’s gotten behind me and it means the world to me.”
Larkin was just as proud to see Beaver make the team as everyone around the Dolphins camp was barracking for their nice guy.
“I’m really stoked Beav made the team,” Larkin said. “He’s one of the nicest guys around the pool-deck.”
Beaver’s long-time training partner and current Casey TigerShark Matson Lawson was also in the 200m backstroke final and finished third.
Mitch Larkin continued his domination of the 100m/200m backstroke double with a 1.53. to book his second spot in the Rio team from as many races.
Beaver and Lawson have one more chance to qualify for Rio – with the 50m backstroke preliminaries and finals on Wednesday night.
