The former West Australian gymnast made the most of her breakthrough first World Championships campaign in Doha in February to snatch silver behind US star Claire Curzan in a thrilling 100m backstroke final.

Swimming at her first World Championships, the 18-year-old then doubled down to place second in the 50m backstroke final – again behind Curzan – by just two hundredths of a second. Iona, who grew up in Perth’s northern suburbs, then was part of the Australian team that won gold in the 4x100m medley relay.

In the absence of superstar Kaylee McKeown, who opted to skip the Doha world championships, Iona claimed her place among an emerging new wave of backstroke stars.

Iona, from the Breakers Swim Club, out of Perth, is coached by former British coach Ben Higson at the WA Institute of Sport (WAIS), and her times in the past 12 months have rocketed her up the Australian All-time rankings.

In what was a history-making final of the women’s 100 backstroke at the Australian Selection Trials, Iona added her name to the record books – claiming a national age record that was established by McKeown during her rise to prominence.

Anderson swam to a new lifetime best of 58.43, lowering McKeown’s Aussie Age Record for 18-year-old girls of 58.52 set in January 2020.

POP UP POD STAT: Iona threw herself into gymnastics until the age of 13 when swim coaches noticed her potential in the pool and convinced her to swap the bounce pads for the touch pads.

“When I was younger, swimming was not my main focus, my primary sport was gymnastics up until the end of 2017,” she said.

“At my first session in a competitive swimming squad, I was asked to pick a stroke other than freestyle to be my form stroke. I weighed up my options and chose backstroke, as butterfly was too hard and I didn’t like breaststroke with much passion.

“I also get the benefit of breathing whenever I want throughout backstroke, unless I’m doing endless kicks under water.”