FAITH and redemption.

It’s what gets Elijah Winnington through the water – and it’s also what is inked on his skin and sits in his heart.

Every time he races, there is a moment Winnington will drop to one knee and say a quick prayer but not for what is about to happen. Rather – he gives thanks for what he has already been given.

And when he lines up for the 400m at the Paris Olympics, the middle-distance swimmer will be given a second chance of that elusive individual Olympic medal.

Winnington has moved on from the disappointment of the Tokyo Games, where he finished seventh despite going into the Olympics as the fastest-ranked swimmer in his favourite event, the 400m.

In addition to moving on, he has also moved coaches and his mindset.

“I’m just not putting as much pressure on myself about the result or achieving something … I’m just going in expecting nothing but doing the best I can. That’s what I’ve done for the past 12 months, and it’s proved pretty fruitful.”

Winnington broke through for the first individual international gold of his swimming career when he won the 400m freestyle at the 2022 Budapest World Championships in 3:41.22 seconds, which ranked him fifth-fastest in history.

That time ranked him only 1.14sec behind Ian Thorpe’s best.

He then went on to win the 400m freestyle at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (3:43.06), beating fellow Australians Sam Short (3.45.07) and 2016 Rio gold medallist Mack Horton (3:46.49).

There were a further two relay golds for Winnington in Birmingham as he helped Australia defend the 4x200m freestyle relay gold he had contributed to on the Gold Coast four years earlier, while he also was a member of Australia’s triumphant 4x100m freestyle relay side.

He also came away from the meet with a bronze (1:45.62) after just being touched out in the final of the 200m freestyle by Scotland’s Duncan Scott (1:45.02) and England’s Tom Dean (1:45.41).

Throughout his junior years, Winnington trained at Bond University swimming club under coach Richard Scarce and by the age of 18 had earned 26 National Age Championship gold medals.

His leadership qualities were evident early, he was named captain of the 2016 Junior Australian Team – and today, is an athlete leader of the Dolphins Paris 2024 campaign.

Now training under Dean Boxall at St Peters Western in Brisbane, Winnington missed the podium in the 400m at the 2023 World Championships in Japan but returned to form at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, winning silver in the 400m and 800m freestyle.

At the Australian Open Championships in April 2024, Winnington won the 400m freestyle title, touching the wall in 3:41.41 to edge out 2023 world champion Sam Short by just 0.23.

The result underlined Australia’s depth in the 400m – and the resurgence of Winnington.

POD POP UP STAT: Winnington works regularly with a mind coach and said letting go has been the catalyst to his turnaround.

“These little distractions, whether they’re disappointments or whether they’re just negative thoughts or negative energy – we use the phrase that where your energy flows, your body will go.”

“If you’re focusing on positive things and just enjoying it, your energy flows that way, that is where your body follows.”

“(I found that if) … I didn’t even really care about what was going to happen in the race and that is really where my performances flowed from.”