HomeNews ArticlesDolphins, dreams and drizzle on Day 2 of Aus Open Water Championships
Club and Community | 24 January 2025

Dolphins, dreams and drizzle on Day 2 of Aus Open Water Championships

GENERATION Next showcased its talent at the Open Water Championships and OceanSwim Festival at Busselton today with teenager Olivia Galea (pictured) a standout.

Galea, from St Peters Western in Brisbane, won the Girls’ 15 years 5km open water swim in choppy seas after exploding from the start in only her third ever ocean swim, producing a performance that caught the eye of national open water head coach Fernando Possenti.

Boasting stinger welts and a gold medal, the 15-year-old said: “My game plan today was to just break away as quickly as possible. I like to do a pre-brief before going into the race, so I kind of knew that I’d be a little bit ahead, but I didn’t expect to be that far ahead!”

“I was like ‘holy hell’ this is hard. I just kept telling myself to stay on top of the waves but I was getting smashed, it’s pretty choppy out there.

“I’d love to make it to the Olympics one day and I hope to break world records. I’m not there yet, but it’s a good goal to have.

“Water conditions were pretty choppy today. Lots of waves and lots of stingers. I actually almost swallowed one of them so that’s not good at all.”

The day’s racing featured aspiring LA and Brisbane 2032 Olympic talent in the 14-15 years’ boys and girls 5km events as swimmers were chaperoned around the 1.25km course by stingrays.

In the 14 years’ 5km, Rocky City’s Mackenzie Wyeth won gold; Kobi Mead (SLC Aquadot) won the boys’ 14-years; and Thomas Valassis (Revesby Workers) the boys’ 15 years 5km.

In a cracking start to the mixed 4×1.25km freestyle relay, Japan’s Misa Okuzono set up her country’s breakthrough gold after being out-touched on the last two strokes for silver last year.

“We like the sea here, it is very tough and we think Australia is beautiful. It makes it very exciting to have big waves and there are jellyfish, we feel this is real … to swim here.”

For Dolphin Kyle Lee, anchor swimmer for the North Coast team, today’s second-placed finish was also his second gold of the meet with the Western Australia club receiving gold as the first Australian team that finished.

Lee, who won the national 10km open title on Thursday, said: “It never gets easy. I knew I had Tommy (Raymond) right behind me and Japan was in front but my teammates put me in a really good position. In the end I guess Japan was just too strong and we weren’t able to catch them.

“But I love conditions like today … they provide opportunities to create gaps and just throws another element in the mix that you wouldn’t get on a flatter day. So I think if you can use the conditions to your advantage that’s a win.

“And it’s very special to share the gold with three other teammates and watching everyone swim so well, it motives you to also perform the best you can. We’re all very happy with our performance.”

For the second year running, the event blends high-performance racing with the community focused OceanSwim Festival races tomorrow (January 25), attracting elite athletes and hundreds of amateur swimming enthusiasts.

A variety of distances are on offer for the community swim, including 500m, 1.25km, 2.5km, 5km, 7.5km and 10km options, with registrations to be taken right up to race time via openwaterswimming.com.au

TOP RESULTS from Day 2 of Australian Open Water Championships

Boys 14yrs 5km Open Water

  1. Kobi Mead (SLC Aquadot) 1:02:59.10
  2. Ashton Bone (Gosford Stingrays) 1:03:37.30
  3. Carter McGee (Cranbrook) 1:06:53.60

Boys 15yrs 5km Open Water

  1. Thomas Valassis (Revesby Workers) 1:02:44.80
  2. William Thorpe (St Peters) 1:02:44.80
  3. Finn Kelly (Nepean) 1:04:28.50

Girls 14yrs 5km Open Water

  1. Mackenzie Wyeth (Rocky City) 1:06:57.90
  2. Delinda Thompson (Nepean) 1:08:22.40
  3. Lexi Mulcahy (Carlile) 1:08:22.80

Girls 15yrs 5km Open Water

  1. Olivia Galea (St Peters Western) 1:05:39.00
  2. Neela Carrel (Noosa) 1:07:56.40
  3. Sutton Miller (Unley) 1:08:33.80

Mixed 4×1.25km Freestyle Relay

  1. Japan (Misa Okuzono, Kiyomi Tani, Ryo Nakamitsu, Kazushi Imafuku) 1:01:04.2 – Gold
  2. North Coast (Rosie Wilson, Bianca Monaco, Adam Sudlow, Kyle Lee) 1:01:43.30 – Gold
  3. Noosa (Ella Reynolds, Nolan Carrel, Esther Davies, Kilian Carrel) 1:02:10.40 – Silver
  4. St Peters (Riley Meares, Callum Boyle, Macy Beuzeville, Jacqueline Davison-McGovern) 1:02:47.70 – Bronze

*North Coast win gold as first Australian team that finished.