Future swim stars in action
April 13th 2009 11:43
SWIMMING’S Australian Age Championships kicked off this morning with more than 1000 athletes competing for national glory.
The sport rarely attracts major headlines in this country outside of Olympic years despite Australia’s ongoing dominance.
But swimming is one of the most exciting sports as far as producing new talent and that was no better displayed than at last month’s Australian Swimming Championships.
Ten rookies made Australia’s 41-strong squad for this year’s Rome World Swimming Championships following their performances at the national event.
The youngest of those was 16-year-old Queenslander Ellen Fullerton, who is set to follow Stephanie Rice and Libby Trickett in becoming a household name of Australian swimming in the coming years.
Fullerton has been on national selectors’ radar for several years after regularly dominating at Australian Age Championships level.
She is back again in 2009 despite making her first open national team and is sure to leave the six-day meet with another huge medal haul.
Fullerton is one of six national team members competing at this week’s Australian Age Championships.
The other five are 16-year-olds Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm and 18-year-olds Blair Evans, Merindah Dingjan and Ryan Napolean.
All six competed in finals at the championships tonight and they managed a combined four gold, one silver and one bronze.
Campbell, Fullerton and Seebohm fought out the 16-year-old girls’ 100m freestyle – finishing in that order – with just over two tenths of a second separating them.
They are sure to wreak further havoc as the week goes on.
But who else is set to dominate the Age Nationals?
A good place to start looking is 14-year-old Mikkayla Maselli-Sheridan – another Queenslander – who already boasts two gold medals after night one of the competition.
The former South Australian won the 200m individual medley by almost five seconds before beating home talented Haileybury Waterlions up-and-comer Sam Wilkins by eight tenths of a second in the 100m butterfly.
Maselli-Sheridan is almost certainly set to achieve more success this week after claiming seven gold at last year’s instalment.
To view the results, visit Swimming Australia.
The meet runs until Saturday.
The sport rarely attracts major headlines in this country outside of Olympic years despite Australia’s ongoing dominance.
But swimming is one of the most exciting sports as far as producing new talent and that was no better displayed than at last month’s Australian Swimming Championships.
Ten rookies made Australia’s 41-strong squad for this year’s Rome World Swimming Championships following their performances at the national event.
The youngest of those was 16-year-old Queenslander Ellen Fullerton, who is set to follow Stephanie Rice and Libby Trickett in becoming a household name of Australian swimming in the coming years.
Fullerton has been on national selectors’ radar for several years after regularly dominating at Australian Age Championships level.
She is back again in 2009 despite making her first open national team and is sure to leave the six-day meet with another huge medal haul.
Fullerton is one of six national team members competing at this week’s Australian Age Championships.
The other five are 16-year-olds Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm and 18-year-olds Blair Evans, Merindah Dingjan and Ryan Napolean.
All six competed in finals at the championships tonight and they managed a combined four gold, one silver and one bronze.
Campbell, Fullerton and Seebohm fought out the 16-year-old girls’ 100m freestyle – finishing in that order – with just over two tenths of a second separating them.
They are sure to wreak further havoc as the week goes on.
But who else is set to dominate the Age Nationals?
A good place to start looking is 14-year-old Mikkayla Maselli-Sheridan – another Queenslander – who already boasts two gold medals after night one of the competition.
The former South Australian won the 200m individual medley by almost five seconds before beating home talented Haileybury Waterlions up-and-comer Sam Wilkins by eight tenths of a second in the 100m butterfly.
Maselli-Sheridan is almost certainly set to achieve more success this week after claiming seven gold at last year’s instalment.
To view the results, visit Swimming Australia.
The meet runs until Saturday.
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Comment by Glen Atwell