Jenna Strauch - Olympian. It has a nice ring to it.
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The Bendigo swimming product booked a seat on the plane to Tokyo when she won the 200m breaststroke final at the Australian Olympic trials in Adelaide on Wednesday night.
Needing to swim an Olympic qualifying time of 2:24.18 and finish inside the top two to guarantee a place in the Australian team, Strauch produced a personal best time of 2:23.18 to win impressively.
The 24-year-old, who is now based on the Gold Coast, was embraced poolside by her coach Richard Scarce.
"It's crazy,'' a jubilant Strauch told broadcaster Amazon Prime after the event.
"I knew I had to PB to get on the team and I took some confidence from the 100m (earlier in the week).
"I just wanted to get out there and enjoy it."
Strauch was joined on the team by second placegetter Abbey Harkin, who swam a time of 2:23.59.
"I'm so glad that Abbey has qualified with me,'' Strauch said.
"We've been on this journey together and it's a true testament to the Australian character that we're all here swimming fast after everything we've been through."
Earlier in the week Strauch finished third in the women's 100m final with a personal best time of 1:06.96, which was inside the Olympic qualifying time.
Strauch's swimming career started as a junior at the Bendigo East club.
She moved to Melbourne at the start of 2012 to further her swimming career before later heading north to the Gold Coast to swim and study at Bond University.
Strauch had a breakthrough year in 2019 where she made the Australian team for the world championships and qualified for the semi-finals in the 200m breaststroke.
Read more: Strauch in peak form for Olympic trials
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