Tokyo Paralympic medallist Alex Tuckfield is on a mission to earn back his spot on the Australian Paralympic Swim Team after missing out on Paris at the 2024 Australian Swim Trials by less than a second.

Tuckfield, 20, began his athletic journey competing in cross country running at National Titles before the physical demand on his legs turned him towards swimming for rehabilitation. Born with right hemiplegic cerebral palsy, where one side of the body is primarily affected with weakness, Tuckfield currently competes in the S10 classification.

The Sydney local showed immense promise in the pool and it wasn’t long until he was discovered by SLC Aquadot head coach at the time, Gavin Stewart, who immediately saw his Paralympic potential.

Tuckfield made his competition debut in 2015 at SLC and quickly rose through the New South Wales ranks to be selected for the Para Flippers Development Squad. His efforts saw him compete at the 2020 Australian Virtual Short Course, where the then 16-year-old set a world record in the men’s 200m freestyle S9 event (2:01.41).

At the beginning of 2024, Tuckfield made the move to AquaBlitz Toongabbie Swim Club in Sydney to continue to train with coach Stewart.

“The very first time I met Gav (Stewart) he was watching me swim laps at the SLC pool and when he introduced himself, he immediately set the goal to get me on the Tokyo Paralympic Team,” said Tuckfield.

“I’ve been training with him for over 12 years, and I can’t imagine training under anyone else … he’s been rock solid my entire life.”

Together they achieved that goal and more when Tuckfield made his Dolphins debut at 16 and won bronze at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in the men’s 400m freestyle S9 event.

After Tokyo, Tuckfield was re-classified as a S10, which presented challenges in continuing his career in mid-distance swimming for which he had always trained for. With no S10 400m or 200m Paralympic events currently offered, Tuckfield had to take a sharp turn in his training towards sprinting and Paris.

Recovering from injury plus a 2am fire alarm the morning of his event at the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials, Tuckfield was off his game but missing qualification in the S10 100m event by just 0.2 seconds kickstarted something new in him.

“Paris was a shortcoming but sometimes you just have to deal with the adversity, even more so in sports,” Tuckfield said.

“Tokyo was always the biggest goal for me. Back then every single morning I would wake up energised to make that team and now, post Trials, that feeling is back.

“I know now that I want more than anything to be on the team for Worlds, for LA and for Brisbane. I don’t want to miss a single thing.”

If successful at the 2025 Australian Swimming Trials held in Adelaide, the 2025 Singapore World Para Swimming Championships in September would mark a triumphant return of Tuckfield to international competition.

If the boy from Bonnet Bay wasn’t swimming up a storm, he would be cooking up one. The proud mixed Polish Australian has inherited from his Polish family of chefs and bakers a passion for cooking.

Combining his keen culinary and sporting interests, Tuckfield plans to pursue a career in sports nutrition or physiotherapy after he hangs up the goggles.