2024 AUSTRALIAN AGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The last session of the 2024 Australian Age Championships in Southport, Queensland wrapped up tonight with some of the competition’s dominant teens collecting additional hardware.
These championships served as a stepping stone for the upcoming Australian Nationals, as well as the nearby Australian Olympic Trials. For others, this competition is a qualification opportunity for slots on the Junior Pan Pacific Championships roster.
On the team front, St. Peter’s Western collected the most points, taking the squad trophy ahead of Knox Pymble and Rackley.
St. Peters Western – 2338 pts
Knox Pymble – 1977 pts
Rackly – 1879 pts
Final Day Highlights
15-year-old Ava Gaske of Chandler secured her 4th gold of the meet, taking her age group’s 400m IM event.
Gaske stopped the clock at 4:46.55 to hold a healthy advantage over Rock City’s Amelie Smith who touched in 4:49.49 for silver and the only other time under 4:50.
Gaske’s performance checks in as a big-time personal best, erasing the 4:53.47 logged at the 2023 edition of these championships. She now ranks as the 5th-best Aussie 15-year-old performer in history.
Her other golds here include 200m fly (2:15.65), 800m free (8:48.84) and 400m free (4:18.93).
17-year-old Marcus Da Silva demonstrated his improvements once again, clearing the field in his age category’s 100m free,
The Cranbrook athlete cranked out a winning effort of 49.37 as the sole swimmer of the field to get under the 50-second barrier. Thomas Booth was next to the wall in 50.22 while Xavier Collins rounded out the podium in 50.81.
Splitting 24.02/25.35, Da Silva produced a new lifetime best, beating the 49.45 put up at January’s South Aussie States. He now ties Olympic legend Ian Thorpe as Australia’s 6th-fastest 17-year-old boys’ 100m free performer all-time.
Da Silva’s PB pairs with his best-ever result of 1:48.45 in the 200m free already notched at this meet.
St. Peters Western’s World Championships medalist Jaclyn Barclay concluded her Age Championships campaign with a decisive win in the girls’ 200m back.
The 17-year-old posted 2:09.09 to beat the field by over 7 seconds en route to gold.
Barclay split 30.29/32.51/33.20/33.09 en route to clocking the 2nd-best time of her young career. Her PB remains at the 2:08.76 put on the books at last December’s Queensland Championships.
The teen completed the backstroke treble after already having claimed victories in the 50m (28.87) and 100m (1:00.19) distances.
17-year-old Olivia Wunsch of Carlile closed out her campaign in style, ripping a time of 58.62 to take her age group’s 100m fly.
Opening in 27.73 and bringing it home in 30.89, the sprint ace raced to the top of the podium ahead of Jessica Cole and Elloise Doolan. The former hit 59.07 for silver and the latter 59.85 for bronze.
As for Wunsch, the teen’s performance tonight represents the 2nd-fastest of her career. She’s been as swift as 56.78 from last summer’s NSW State Championships.
Wunsch was one of the most successful swimmers at this meet, wrangling up the following collective results:
- 50m fly gold – 26.34
- 50m free silver – 25.03
- 100m free gold – 53.99
- 100m fly gold – 58.62
Additional Notes
- 15-year-old Henry Allan captured gold in his age group’s 100m back, posting 56.93. That marked the Bendigo East swimmer’s first-ever foray under the 57-second barrier.
- Taking the boys’ 16-year-old 200m back event by almost 4 seconds was Jack Morrow. Coached by Olympian Ash Delaney, Morrow punched a time of 2:02.39.
- Bond’s Mikayla Bird got to the wall first in the 16-year-old girls’ 200m fly. She punched a result of 2:12.38 to get the edge over SOSC’s Rafaela Kopellou who settled for silver in 2:12.81. Isabella Osborn also landed on the podium in 2:14.49 as the bronze medalist.
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