Holy heck! Our swimmers are in good knick!

As I write, it’s currently 242 days to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics!

That means, there are athletes all around the world diving into the next phase of their training as they edge closer to the pinnacle of their sport. The qualification process for the Olympics, is a tough process, it requires, determination, a hard work ethic, skill and mental toughness. But, for each sport each qualification is different. Some sports are time based and some are based on the amount of wins you’ve had etc

But, last night for our Aussie Swimmers it was their night to shine at the 2019 Australian Swimmer of the Year Awards in Sydney and if you haven’t heard of Ariarne Titmus, well then I better give you a good edmu-mi-cation. This girl is 19 years old and already this year became the World Champion in the 400m Freestyle, after beating world record holder and American superstar, Katie Ledecky. Keeping in mind Katie, hadn’t been beaten since the Rio Olympics in 2016. Ariarne also, claimed another three medals including a gold and a world record in the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay. So, it was only fitting that she walked away last night with three major awards!

-‘Hancock Prospecting Olympic Program Swimmer of the Year’, the ‘Short Course Swimmer of the Year’ and the ‘Hancock Prospecting Patron Award’.

It was a big night also for Kareena Lee from Noosa, she’s amazing and I’m bias because she’s a fellow Sunny Coast gal! She cleaned up and took home Open Water Swimmer of the Year. She got a top ten finish at World’s which means she automatically qualifies for the 2020 Olympics and in fact, is the only swimmer who has qualified so far for the games. (Pool trials held next June) Kareena, is such a tough competitor and an extremely hard worker (and you need to be, if you’re going to make it 10km in the open water. (Am I right? Am I right? or Am I right?)

Our para- athletes also cleaned up with joint winners; Tiffany Thomas Kane and Lakeisha Patterson winning ‘Paralympic Program Swimmer of the Year.’ Such an amazing effort and next year’s Paralympic Games are going to be incredible!

The moral of this story, is to tell as many people as we can about the good form our swimmers are in right now. After the London and Rio Olympic Games, it felt like our Aussie Swimmers had copped it a bit and I can’t help but feel for these athletes who give so much to Aussie sport. There’s certainly been a change in the guard with a wealth of young swimmers coming through.

The other week we also saw Minna Atherton (another Brissy girl), break the World Record int he 100m Backstroke SC. What an extraordinary achievement and it just makes me so excited for next years games, when all of our swimmers will be on show and ready to take on the rest of the world.

Giddy up!