Aus Age Champs opens with national record smashed

ON the same day astronauts of Artemis II completed their record-breaking moon mission, the boy from Bendigo Henry Allan (pictured) celebrated his own splashdown at Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.

Junior Dolphin Allan took all of 1min:57.56secs to break Mitch Larkin’s 200m backstroke record (1:59.09) in the boys’ 17 years age group at the Australian Age Championships – a record which has stood for 15 years.

Over the next eight days, thousands of athletes will converge on the Gold Coast to chase medals and selection into youth teams, with opportunities to compete overseas or win invitations to various training camps staged throughout the year.

For Australia’s emerging stars, Age Nationals double as a qualifier for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Vancouver, in August.

But long term, the search is on for the next wave of stars to carry the Dolphins to the LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 – and the Age Championships are a proven breeding ground and pipeline of future success.

The Dolphins current stars – those breaking world records, winning world titles and in the running for Commonwealth Games gold – nearly all have a national age record to their name.

Sprint king and multiple Olympic medallist Kyle Chalmers still holds seven freestyle records ranging from 13 years to the 18-year age group, world record holder and GOAT Kaylee McKeown holds nine age group backstroke records and Mollie O’Callaghan has four – in both backstroke and freestyle.

But Australia’s 31-year-old and newly-minted 50m free world record holder, and Olympic champion in this distance, Cam McEvoy has none.

World-class middle-distance swimmers Sam Short and Elijah Winnington have none and neither does emerging flyer Harrison Turner proving that every athlete develops at a different stage of life.

In all, 15 national records were broken at last year’s Age Nationals and 56 of the current age group record holders own a Dolphin number – including legends Ian Thorpe, Ariarne Titmus, Kieran Perkins and even Tracey Wickham all had their first big moment at national age championships.

How fast will Allan go in tonight’s final and who will join him in the record books? Find out as we enter the first night of finals at the Australian Age Championships on the Gold Coast, starting 6pm AEST.