12-Yr-OId Grayson Coulter Of NZL Clocks 1:54.40 LCM 200 Freestyle

2024 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2024 Queensland Championships at Brisbane Aquatic Centre are over halfway completed with elite stars to the tune of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Jamie Jack and Rikako Ikee of Japan taking center stage.

However, the age group set has been putting up some impressive performances throughout the competition with one youngster setting himself apart from the pack in a big way.

New Zealand’s 12-year-old Grayson Coulter has been turning heads with every swim, racking up Queensland All Comers Records in the process.

First, in the boys’ 200m freestyle for his age group, Coulter ripped a monster time of 1:54.40 to grab the gold.

After hitting 1:54.76 in the prelims, the Kiwi shaved another .36 off to carry an over 10-second advantage over the field.

Coulter split 26.07/28.56/29.95/29.82 to utterly destroy the previous Queensland All Comers Record of 1:59.11 Japan’s Kato Kosei put on the books in 2015.

Coulter’s result is especially eye-opening as the 12-year-old’s previous personal best in this 2free rested at the 1:59.68 produced just this past summer. For additional perspective, his time would have obliterated the current U.S. National Age Group Record of 1:59.72 Winn Aung established in 2015.

On day three, Coulter took on the 200m IM/100m fly double, topping the podium in each event.

In the former, Coulter stopped the clock at a massive 2:11.16 to establish a new Queensland All Comers Record. Kosei also held that former benchmark, a time of 2:12.00 logged in 2015.

Coulter’s time in the 100m fly checked in at 58.53, splitting 27.52/31.01 to score the sole time of the field under the 1:00 barrier. His performance handily surpassed Iori Takeno‘s former Queensland All Comers record of 59.50 logged 2 years ago.

Then day four, Coulter tried the boys’ 50m free on for size where he ripped a lifetime best of 24.53 for the gold.

That crushed the former Queensland All Comers Record of 25.16 Japan’s Iori Takeno put on the books in 2022.

For perspective, the U.S. National Age Group Record of 11-12-year-old boys’ 50m freestyle stands at 24.98 from Ronald Dalmacio so Coulter’s outing was nearly half a second under that.

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Mark Rauterkus
1 hour ago

Where does he live? What is his team? Who is his coach – or coaches?

Swimmerfromjapananduk
Reply to  Mark Rauterkus
1 hour ago

Swims for north short swim club, apparently the best club in New Zealand. Seems to pump some of the best swimmers they have each year

SwimCoach
2 hours ago

Swimming 2.0 has definitely dropped and these new times are wild.

transfer portal veteran
3 hours ago

swimswam’s time converter has that around 1:39 in yards. seriously impressive work! hope he enjoys the sport as much as he is good at it. wishing him nothing but the best!

theswimflationguru
5 hours ago

1:54.4 at 12 good lord

Ross
Reply to  theswimflationguru
2 hours ago

Just doing the conversion in my head, I think that’s right at 1:40. Maybe a bit under it. Blazing fast for his age, even for 13-14.

monsterbasher
5 hours ago

That would be a very respectable yards time for a 12 year old kid…

PFA
5 hours ago

That is 2 insane swims right there wow. That has to be the fastest time ever at that age right?

BigBoiJohnson
Reply to  PFA
5 hours ago

I have to imagine Thorpe was maybe somewhere around there? He was a 1:51.46 at age 14. But honestly… yeah, it probably is

Swimmerfromjapananduk
Reply to  PFA
4 hours ago

For the 200 free, he’s the fastest 12 year old ever. My country’s (Japan) age group record is 24.85 so he’s definitely one of it not the fastest 12 year old in 50 free. Kato holds our age group record for 200 IM at 2:09.42. For 100 fly, it sits at 58.16 so Coulter almost likely sits top 3 fastest in history in 200 IM and 100 fly in the world

jeff
Reply to  PFA
3 hours ago

i saw somewhere else that the fastest ever before this was like a 1:56 mid but don’t remember who it was

Joel
Reply to  jeff
2 hours ago

Kosei again

BigBoiJohnson
5 hours ago

Damn! That’s actually nuts. For context, the fastest ever 12&U in Canada went a 2:01.72

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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