Flynn Southam Bond For Glory With Gold Coast Playing Host To Flying Fortnight
One of Australian swimming’s discoveries of 2022, Flynn Southam, will headline this week’s Australian Age Championships at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre before taking on Dolphins sprint king Kyle Chalmers in the Open titles.
The eight-day Age Championships got underway last night despite an hour long rain delay but swimmers and coaches have woken up on the Gold Coast this morning to the start of a clear day for a meet that will culminate in the selection of the World Junior and Commonwealth Games Youth teams.
STARGAZER: Flynn Southam has a flying fortnight ahead on the Gold Coast. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
Australia will send a 32-strong team to the 2023 World Aquatics Junior Championships to compete in Netanya, Israel from September 4-9.
And a team of 10 (five girls and five boys) to the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Team from August 4-11 in Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.And for Bond University’s Southam, the chance to race at both the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka in July and then World Juniors in Israel in September.
He is just one of a record number of over 2,600 competitors who have swarmed to the Gold Coast over the Easter Holiday break for the Age Championships – to one of the strongholds of swimming in Australia.
Southam will be joined by Bond team mates Jesse Coleman and Fergus McLachlan who along with Southam were also part of Australia’s 4x100m medley relay team that won Junior Pan Pac silver in Hawaii last year – Coleman and Mclachlan will also contend the Open Championships.
With Mikayla Bird and Milla Jansen also part of strong emerging Bond connection expected to dominate this competitive Age Championship meet.
Southam, still just 17, lived up to all his expectations in a breakout 2022 which saw him force his way into Australia’s Commonwealth Games and World Short Course Championship teams last year – powering his way into a freestyle sprint group with its sights set on Paris 2024.
The Australians young guns are buoyed by Chalmers leadership and undying devotion to relays as he spearheads a next gen squad the Australian men are developing to match their all-conquering women’s sprinters.
Southam will line up in the 50, 100, 200m and 400m freestyle events at the Age and then the 50, 100 and 200m at the Open meet which follows age at the same Gold Coast Aquatic Centre venue – climaxing a fortnight of premier swimming.
His opening appearance at the Age Championships coming tomorrow in the 400m freestyle.
The Chris Mooney-coached Southam broke through as a dominant young freestyle sprint force in 2022 after emerging as a real prospect in the QLD and Australian Age Group ranks.
In what would be a breakout year for the Gold Coast teenager, he made his Commonwealth Games debut in spectacular fashion, winning gold in the 4x100m with Olympic champion Chalmers, Will Yang and Zac Incerti.
He would then go on to the Junior Pan Pacs winning the 50 and 100m freestyle and as a member of the 4x200m freestyle relay as the Australian men dominated the freestyle events in Hawaii and the Fina World Short Course in Melbourne – winning five relay medals – including gold in the 4x50m freestyle. Set 16 years Australian and Australian All-Comers records in the 100m freestyle of 48.60.
MAKING A SPLASH: Kyle Chalmers in relay heaven. Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Chalmers, who finished 2022 with that slashing final 100m freestyle anchor leg to earn a thrilling world record-setting dead-heat in the 4x100m medley with the USA at the World SC in Melbourne is motivated by his young squad and his relay aspirations.
“Seeing these young guys fly through and keeping me accountable is always exciting…..I love the relays more than individual racing and I just want relay success when it comes to Paris and I know if I’ve got three really good guys around me in that event but also the eight to 16 guys that are going to push us towards the Olympic Games is going to be special,” said Chalmers.
“The World Short Course is a meet I’ll remember for a long time and again a lot of relay success that makes me very happy and a world record in that medley relay to finish it all off and it keeps me motivated to continue on and do it all again.”
The Age Group Nationals will continue until Saturday April 15 before the four-day Open Championship Meet starts on April 17.