It was a big night out for three teenage boys from Bond University, Bundaberg and the Blue Mountains who embarked on a record breaking second night of finals at the Australian Age Championships on the Gold Coast.
FLYING FLYNN: Two swims for two wins for Bond’s flying Flynn Southam. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
Bond Swimming’s Flynn Southam showed why he is one of Australian swimming’s latest excitement machines – breaking his own Australian 15 Years and All Comers 100m freestyle records clocking an impressive 49.55.
Pulling away from the field at full flight with 25 metres to go, the rising star took 0.10 off the record he set at the Queensland State Championships – faster than 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers at the same age.
“It’s a good feeling, but the job’s not done, I’ve still got a big week ahead of me,” Southam said.
“I’ll process it and then move on to the next race.”
Next up was the boy from Bundaberg Isaac Cooper who 24 hours after his 50m freestyle win re-wrote the boys 17 years Australian Age and All Comers 100m backstroke records, stopping the clock in in 54.56, taking Alex Graham’s time set in 2013 by .31secs.
An ecstatic Cooper, born in Bundaberg, educated in Toowoomba and now in Brisbane for University and training with Damien Jones at Rackley, Centenary, was pleased his hard work is paying off, saying: “Feels amazing, I’ve been training for this for so long.
STAKING HIS CLAIM: Rackley’s Isaac Cooper after breaking the Australian 17 years 100m backstroke record. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
“Last year I missed the record by 0.40 of a second so to come back and thrash it, it’s a massive relief off my shoulders, we just worked harder and harder and it’s really paid off.”
And to finish off the record breaking came the boy from the Blue Mountains Alex Buckingham (SOPAC).
Buckingham smashed club mate Matt Wilson’s 17 years Australian and All Comers record in the 100m breaststroke – clocking a time of 1:02.08 – faster than Wilson’s 2015 time of 1:02.31.
And ironically both boys hail from the Blue Mountains region – one of the most picturesque tourist destinations in NSW – and now being made famous in the swimming world by Wilson – who set a world record in 2019 and a kid who is quickly following in his footsteps.
While Buckingham set a new record he was pushed all the way by Nunawading’s William Petric who clocked his personal best time of 1:02.76 with fellow Victorian Issac Ballinger (1:04.48) third
And while it wasn’t a record breaking swim, it was still an eye-catcher, featuring three emerging freestyle stars in Rackley’s Sam Short who managed to keep Kai Taylor (St Peters Western) and Maximillian Giuliani (The Hobart Aquatic Centre) at bay in the 200m freestyle final – Short powering to victory in 1:47.69 to Taylor’s 1:49.81 with Giuliani third in 1:50.85.
And not wanting to be left out, Cairns swimming sensation Ike Martinez (TAS Swimming) collected his third gold medal of the meet, blitzing the field from lane four in the boys 14 Years 400m freestyle in a time of 4:04.51.
Trying to chase him down from lanes five and three was MCA’s James Leigh and City of Sydney’s Marcus Da Silva, however Martinez was too strong for the duo. Leigh clocked 4:08.26 to receive silver and Da Silva followed narrowly behind in 4:08.90 to bag bronze.
Meanwhile, Ella Ramsay from St Peters Western once again showed her mettle in the pool, this time taking the spoils in both the girls 16-years 50m freestyle and the 16 Years 100m breaststroke.
The freestyle event proved to be an absolute nail biter, with Ramsay just managing to scrap in ahead of Wests Illawarra’s Chelsea Jones, with only two one hundredths of a second separating the duo at the final touch – 25.77 to 25.79.
Jones’ teammate from Wests Illawarra Sydney Brown rounded out the podium in 25.92. While in the breaststroke Ramsay posted 1:09.61 to triumph over, Matilda Smith (The Hobart Aquatic) who took home silver in 1:09.98 and Charlotte Hansen (Rackley) who received bronze in 1:10.95.
GOING THE DISTANCE: Rockhampton’s Taryn Roberts adds the 800m freestyle tomthe 200IM and 400m freestyle Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia.
Rockhampton’s 14-year-old Taryn Roberts had to wait until the last event of the night to add to her impressive medal tally – winning her third gold of the titles in the 800m freestyle in an impressive 8:48.41.
And Bond’s Mikayla Bird added a gold medal to her list of achievements after securing the Age title in the Girls 13-year 100m Butterfly.
Gliding to the finish line and swooping the top honour in 1:02.05, Bird edged out Nelson Bay’s Ebony Nix (1:03.20) and Geelong’s Matilda Brynes (1:04.25).
It was an MLC Flippers trifecta in the Girls 16-years 400m Freestyle as Sunshine Coast surf–swim star Jamie Perkins (Cotton Tree), went head-to-head with Tiana Kritzinger (Nudgee College) and Lucinda Macleod (Griffith University) with Perkins surging to the title in 4:13.72 ahead Kritzinger (4:14.35) and Macleod (4:15.68).
The night concluded with a host of epic relay events, access the results here.
The action continues tomorrow at 9am (local time). You can catch every race live from the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre on Amazon Prime Video or via SwimTV.
More results from night four:
Boys 16-years 400m Freestyle
Gold – Benjamin Goedemans, Acacia Bayside, 3:57.18
Silver – Thomas Connellan, Nudgee College, 3:58.92
Bronze – Robert Thorpe, St Peters Western, 3:59.67
Girls 15-years 100m Freestyle
Gold – Sophie Martin, Brisbane Grammar, 56.90
Silver – Calveria Johnson-Tiumalu, St Peters Western, 57.00
Bronze – Semra Olowoniyi, St Peters Western, 57.21
Girls 14-years 200m Backstroke
Gold – Jaclyn Barclay, St Peters Western, 2:14.68
Silver – Sally Vagg, Rocky City, 2:17.71
Bronze – Inez Miller, St Hildas, WA, 2:19.67
Girls 13-years 200m Individual Medley
Gold – Ainsley Trotter, St Peters Western, 2:23.58
Silver – Julia Remington, Palm Beach Currumbin, 2:24.33
Bronze – Indianna Cameron, Knox Pymble, 2:25.37
Boys 16-years 50m Freestyle
Gold – Hugh Dolle, St Peters Western, 23.34
Silver – Yanning Zhang, Nunawading, 23.41
Bronze – Tane Bidois, Knox Pymble, 23.44
Girls 15-years 200m Butterfly
Gold – Abbey Connor, Revesby Workers, 2:13.53
Silver – Holly Shore, Helensvale, 2:17.07, 2:17.07
Bronze – Julia Kater, St Hilda’s Aquatics, QLD, 2:17.88
Boys 15-years 200m Butterfly
Gold – Karl Albertyn, Knox Pymble, 2:05.96
Silver – Ryan Clifford, Marion, 2:06.02
Bronze – Billy Moody, Singleton, 2:06.51