Top guns lead Dolphins

IT wasn’t quite plan B.

But Australian swimming coach Jacco Verhaeren has picked a 49-strong Gold Coast Commonwealth Games squad despite many relying on a B qualifier for selection. Recordbreaking Cate Campbell and Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers will spearhead the Dolphins at April’s Games after launching successful comebacks at the four-day trials that concluded on Saturday night.

Teenager Ariarne Titmus was the standout after becoming the first woman in 14 years to nab the 200m-400m-800m freestyle national treble, setting a new Australian record along the way.

However, only 12 swimmers in 15 of 32 events earned A qualifying times. Verhaeren still selected a squad close to their maximum quota of 50 for the Games with B qualifiers used as their guide.

The A qualifiers were based on world top eight times.

“The A times are the reference, top eight in the world is our goal,” Verhaeren said.

“But this is Commonwealth Games and it’s always great actually to be able to select a little bit of a broader team.”

Verhaeren still believed the cream had risen to the top at the trials.

“I think we’ve got, almost without exception the best people in their best events,” he said.

“I think that’s important because if you want to defend titles and want to make the most out of the medal prospects in five weeks’ time you need your best people there.

“We want a full team and we want to compete in every event for medals — simple as that.”

Campbell looks set to lead the medal hunt in April after a stunning return from a 2017 sabbatical to cope with her Rio Olympic disappointment.

The ex-world champion ap- pears back to her best after setting new 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle national records and nabbing the 100m freestyle gold.

The 19-year-old Chalmers also revelled in his comeback, claiming his maiden national titles — the 100m-200m freestyle double.

Ex-dual world champion James Magnussen grabbed his last chance to earn an individual swim when he placed third in the 50m freestyle.